Admission Requirements

Applicants for admission to The University of Iowa College of Law must complete all requirements for the baccalaureate degree before beginning law school.

Fulfillment of the basic requirements does not guarantee admission. The College of Law Admissions Committee selects applicants it deems best able to help the college fulfill its primary missions of providing a high-quality legal education in a diverse and stimulating environment and preparing students to serve as leaders in their professional and civic communities. Preference is given to applicants who are residents of Iowa (approximately 50 percent of each entering class is drawn from Iowa residents).

The services that College of Law graduates are called upon to perform are so varied, and the possible fields of endeavor are so broad and diverse, that the college prescribes no uniform undergraduate program for those planning to enter law school. With the assistance of faculty advisers, each student should develop an undergraduate program that explores and develops that student's particular intellectual interests.

Iowa strongly endorses the three basic objectives recommended by a committee of the Association of American Law Schools: education for comprehension and expression in words; education for a critical understanding of the human institutions and value with which the law deals; and education for greater power in thinking. Anyone thinking of attending law school should keep these objectives in mind while planning an undergraduate course of study.

The association's recommendations emphasize that undergraduate education of students for a full life through liberal education is far more important than education directed too pointedly toward later professional training and practice. Students are urged not to sacrifice broad perspective for detailed specialization.