This fall Iowa Law welcomed the Class of 2024–the most academically qualified class in school history.

“The Boyd Law Building has come back to life this fall. Our new entering class marks not only the start of a new academic year, but it feels like a new chapter in our history. Like the classes before them, our 1Ls bring a variety of perspectives to the classroom while being academically gifted. Last year’s entering class was our most diverse and the Class of 2024 has the highest median LSAT and UGPA in school history,” said Dean Kevin Washburn.

With a median LSAT score of 163 and a median undergraduate grade point average of 3.69, these exceptional students have higher scores on both of those metrics than any other entering class in the history of the College

of Law.

“The numbers are good,” shared Collins Byrd, assistant dean of enrollment management, “however, the feature of this cohort that stands out in equal fashion is the collective career focus. Whether it is the challenges exposed because of the impact of the pandemic, such as health care or workers’ rights for critical workers, immigration policies, government leadership, public policy, civil rights, or the fallout from the murder of George Floyd, this group has clear and well-defined reasons for needing a law degree. This strong sense of career focus for the collective group really stood out. This group seems to know why they’re here. That is positive for everyone.”

The incoming class represents 26 different states, 86 undergraduate institutions and 45 undergraduate majors. The top 5 majors are political science, English, history, economics, and psychology. Top undergrad schools include three of the Iowa Regents Institutions (UI, ISU and Northern Iowa), with the University of Wisconsin-Madison in fourth place. Others in the Top 10 include the University of Minnesota, Michigan State, Luther, Drake, Grinnell, and NYU.

The Class of 2024 is 53% male and 47% female. Students of color make up almost 20% of the class (as reported by ABA Standards) and LGBTQ students make up 4% (self-opt-in reporting). At least 11% of them are first-generation earners of an undergraduate degree, meaning that they are the first in their families to finish college.

Their ages range from 20 years old to 41; the average age is 24. Some of our youngest students are enrolled in the 3+3 program offered at Iowa Law and in partnership with several approved institutions. The program allows students to fulfill their senior year of undergraduate credits through the successful completion of their first-year law school courses and graduate with both degrees in six years, saving one year of tuition and related costs.

Iowa Law is also proud to welcome its largest class of students pursuing an Advanced Standing JD for Foreign-Trained Lawyers. Thirteen students joined us this fall from 6 countries across the globe. These international students bring a wealth of experience and worldly knowledge to broaden learning in the classroom and expand perspective in practice. Diversity comes in many forms at Iowa Law.

In 2020, the entering class was the most diverse in the school's history. It also included a record number of University of Iowa alums, with 50 of the 165 entering students being Hawkeyes. This year’s incoming class at 160 students is slightly smaller but it remains more diverse than most recent years and has the second highest number of Hawkeye undergrad alums in at least a decade. For the second year in a row, English is the second most common major here at the "Writing Law School" at the Writing University. After difficult times during the pandemic, the new entering class is helping to restore the strong sense of community for which Iowa Law is known.