Class of 2013 Profile

The Class of 2013 was selected from the largest applicant pool in the Law School's history. The 368 students in the class come from 42 states, the District of Columbia and seven foreign countries, and attended 155 undergraduate institutions. The Class of 2013 also is the most ethnically diverse class on record: 29 percent identify themselves as minority students.

Median LSAT: 170
25%-75% LSAT: 166-171
Median GPA: 3.85
25%-75% GPA: 3.51-3.92
Average age: 24 (range is 20 to 37)

368 students enrolled from among 8,560 applicants
56% men, 44% women
29% identify themselves as minority students
65% have work experience after college
2 years on average of post-college experience
11% have graduate degrees

Geographic Representation

Students come from 42 states, the District of Columbia, and seven foreign countries. In addition to Virginia, the following states are represented by five or more students:

New York27
California20
Texas19
Florida17
Georgia16
North Carolina15
Maryland14
Washington, D.C.12
Illinois11
Massachusetts10
New Jersey10
Ohio9
Utah9
Pennsylvania7
Tennessee6
Alabama5
Arizona5
Washington5

Foreign Students
International students come from Canada, China, England, South Korea, Japan, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

Academic Backgrounds

Class members have undergraduate and graduate degrees in accounting, aerospace engineering, American civilization, anthropology, architecture, art history, biology, biomedical engineering, business administration, chemistry, child development, civil engineering, classics, computer engineering, computer science, criminal justice, drama, economics, electrical engineering, English, environmental design, finance, French, German, history, industrial relations, international relations, journalism, linguistics, literature, mathematics, mechanical engineering, music, philosophy, physics, political science, pre-law, psychology, public affairs, religion, Russian, sociology, Spanish and transportation. A total of 129 members of the class pursued more than one major

MEMBERS OF THE CLASS OF 2013 COME FROM 155 UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS.
Schools with five or more alumni include:
 
University of Virginia38
Duke University14
College of William and Mary12
University of Florida10
University of North Carolina9
Brigham Young University8
Princeton University6
University of California - Los Angeles6
University of Pennsylvania6
Virginia Tech6
Vanderbilt University6
Georgia Tech5
University of Georgia5
University of Texas5

Life Before Law School

TESTING THE LEGAL WATERS

Members of the Class of 2013 have worked at law firms as paralegals and interns, but many obtained perspective on lawyering and public policy from working in European parliaments, on Capitol Hill and for the governments of France, Ireland, Canada and the United Kingdom.

FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE

Members of the Class of 2013 worked for the U.S. departments of Justice, State, Commerce, Homeland Security, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services, as well as the National Park Service, the Federal Communications Commission, the National Security Agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Social Security Administration. Others have served in the military, including as an anti-submarine warfare officer and an intelligence officer at the Air Force Special Operations Command. Several students served in AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps and Teach for America.

LOCAL PUBLIC SERVICE

Some entering students worked in governor's offices in Arizona, Virginia and California; the Offices of Attorneys General in Illinois, New York, Maryland, North Carolina and Michigan; and the chambers of federal and state judges across the country. Others worked for local government organizations such as the Seattle Public Utilities Commission and the Employee Retirement System of Texas.

PRIVATE INDUSTRY

Many members of the class have been analysts, consultants or researchers with private-sector firms, think tanks, institutes, and foundations. They have worked as teachers, salesmen, investigative journalists, editors, bloggers, film production interns, radio DJs, construction workers, real estate agents, software testers, bartenders and restaurant staff, patent examiners, engineers, freelance Web developers, a wine wholesaler, a gallery docent, a freelance photographer, a pharmaceutical sales representative, an auto mechanic, a fundraiser, an ice rink operator, an antiques dealer, an air traffic controller, a grocery store butcher, a professor of social work, a seamstress, a pawn shop manager, a day care director, a soft soap factory machine operator, a figure skating judge, an embassy interpreter, a fencing instructor, a party planner, a voice actor, an importer/exporter, a libertarian talk radio show host, an auto parts distributor, a fashion model, a tennis pro, a diamond buyer, a consumer credit counselor, a fraud examiner and a ranch hand. Working Abroad Members of the Class of 2013 have worked in business consulting in Saudi Arabia, in radio broadcasting in Korea, at an international labor union in Switzerland, in the finance sector in China and Scotland, for members of parliament in Ireland and Scotland, as a community development intern in Ghana, at a restaurant in Greece, as a botanist in South Africa, in an opera company in the Czech Republic and Hungary, and as a winter sports instructor in New Zealand. Many more have also worked, lived or volunteered abroad and are proficient in numerous foreign languages. 

In Their Spare Time

VOLUNTEERS

Members of the Class of 2013 have participated in a variety of volunteer and extracurricular pursuits. These include service and advocacy on behalf of children, the environment, the mentally and physically disabled, the homeless, the wrongfully imprisoned, senior citizens, victims of domestic or sexual abuse, people battling addiction and migrant farm workers. Others saved lives as volunteer firefighters, tutored and mentored students, taught English and other languages in the United States and abroad, served as missionaries, and fundraised and campaigned for political candidates at the local, state and national level. Finally, a few have pledged their entire future to the oldest volunteer institution around: parenthood.

FOR FUN

There are very few couch potatoes in a class whose members have enjoyed dancing (ballroom, latin, ballet, jazz, lyrical, swing, flamenco, ballet folklorico, bellydance), being NCAA athletes, scuba diving and numerous sports, including boxing, horseback riding, racquetball, rock climbing, broomball, bodybuilding, basketball, football, soccer, surfing, wakeboarding and kickball. Others have acted in Shakespeare productions, practiced marksmanship, competed in mediation tournaments, restored vintage automobiles, sewed medieval and 1950s period costumes, fenced, practiced shorin-ryu karate, competed in triathlons and practiced astrophotography for fun. The class includes an eight-time world champion unicyclist, the creator of a prize-winning Oscar Meyer advertisement and a helicopter pilot.

Class of 2012 Profile

Benita Williams
 

"I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO BECOME A LAWYER and give back to my government and my community through public service. UVA has such a great reputation for providing law students with the tools necessary to do that. Plus, the faculty and students are friendly, and the Grounds are beautiful. I knew I wanted to come here after the first time I visited."

—BENITA WILLIAMS graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and was most recently stationed in Norfolk, Va.

 

Jonathan Guynn

"I CHOSE UVA LAW because I felt that it had the greatest balance of serious academic rigor, tradition, quality of life and employment prospects of any top school I was considering. I know that I'm getting my legal education in a place I'll enjoy remembering and visiting the rest of my life."

—JONATHAN GUYNN has lived in Canada, England and France and graduated from Brigham Young University