LSAC’s Knowledge Report: The 2024 1L Profile

Building on LSAC’s 2023 1L Profile and The Composition of the First-Year Law School Class and Enrollment Trends reports, this 1L Profile report focuses on the 2024 first-year (1L) class, adding details about the first class admitted mostly after the June 2023 SFFA v. Harvard decision. This report contributes to the collective legal community understanding of: 

1. who is enrolling in law school, 
2. where they enrolled, and 
3. how they made their enrollment decision. 

This report provides several important insights that may help law schools recruit and support future law students along the prelaw through practice journey. The overall 2024 1L class enrollment data and data from the 2024 LSAC Matriculant Survey reveal that the 2024 1L class: 

• Was as racially and ethnically diverse as the 2023 1L class. 41.8% of the 1L class were from racially and ethnically minoritized[1] groups, 56% were women, 14.8% were LGBTQ+,[2] 23% were first-generation college graduates, and 75% were the first in their families to go to law school. 
• Enrolled differently based on identity and background. 91% of the 1L class enrolled in a full-time program. Students who enrolled in part-time programs were more racially and ethnically diverse and were more economically under-resourced than their peers in full-time programs. While the class was almost equally distributed across all law schools based on law school selectivity, the top 25% highly selective law schools were less racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse than other law schools.[3]
• Were multidimensional enrollment decision-makers. Like their 2023 peers, the factors that drove 2024 1Ls’ final decision on where to attend — their current law school — were multidimensional and varied based on respondents’ needs and goals. Cost of attendance was the leading factor that informed the majority of 1Ls’ decision-making process.  
• Were confident they enrolled in the right law school for them. Leveraging effective guidance and resources has resulted in 8 out of 10 1L respondents reporting they were confident they are attending the right law school for them. However, confidence and access to effective guidance and resources were experienced differently in the enrollment process for students from marginalized groups. 
• Enrolled in their preferred law school. 96% of the 2024 1Ls respondents indicated they enrolled in a preferred law school. 
• Sought support for law school success. Similar to their 2023 peers, about one in five 2024 1L respondents (20%) reported they participated in 0L/bridge programs. 

The 2024 1L class was as diverse as the 2023 1Ls based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Therefore, it is not surprising that the factors important to this class when deciding where to enroll varied. The 2024 1L class utilized a wide range of information sources, spaces, tools, and opportunities to gather law school information to help them make their individual decisions on where to attend and how to prepare for the first semester of law school. As a result, most reported they were at a law school today that was right for them.  

To learn more, download the report here. If you have any questions related to this project or future work informed by the results, please contact LSAC Applied Research at StrategicResearch@LSAC.org.

[1] The term “minoritized” refers to populations that have been treated as less important than the dominant population in terms of access, power, and other aspects of social processes. Minoritized incorporates an understanding of social structures rather than being numerically/statistically smaller/fewer. Minoritized can be used to describe various populations and is not synonymous with or limited to racially/ethnically underrepresented populations. This term is used interchangeably with marginalized.

[2] LGBTQ+ refers to people who identify with any sexual orientation other than heterosexual and/or people with any gender identity other than cisgender man or woman.

[3] Using LSAC data, law schools are each assigned a selectivity index based on each school’s 2024 admission rate, median LSAT of admitted students, and median UGPA of admitted students. The top 25% highly selective law schools are in the first quartile (Q1), and they are the first 49 law schools with the highest index score.