Every fall, a new group of students enter Temple University Beasley School of Law and embark on the journey of becoming Temple Lawyers. The 2026 entering class brings characteristically strong academic credentials, wide-ranging life experience, and a shared commitment to advancing justice, strengthening the rule of law, and serving the public good.
In August, 255 new J.D. students joined Temple Law, including 225 in the Day Division and 30 in the Evening Division — one of the largest entering classes in recent years.
The new 1Ls had a median LSAT score of 165 and a median undergraduate GPA of 3.77. Those combined statistics make it the highest academically credentialed class in the law school’s history.
Diverse Perspectives, Shared Purpose
Temple Law is distinctively composed of students who are not only academically gifted but also bring a diverse range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives that enrich the law school’s community. This year’s entering class adds further to this special Temple Law quality, animated by an array of notable features:
- 19% are the first in their families to attend college.
- 36% identify as students of color.
- 55% identify as women, 41% as men, and 4% identify otherwise.
- 21 students identify as LGBTQ+.
- 53% are Pennsylvania residents, and 47% come from outside the commonwealth.
- 141 students speak more than one language.
They hail from 33 different states and countries and earned undergraduate degrees from 134 colleges and universities, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth, the University of Chicago, NYU, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, and Duke. Temple Law also continues to attract students from schools in its own backyard, with Temple, Pitt, and Penn State serving as the top feeder schools for the 1L class. In addition, ten percent of the class already have earned an advanced degree. Their fields of study are as varied as their backgrounds and experiences, spanning such subject matter areas as political science, history, English, biology, accounting, engineering, economics, business management, finance, public affairs, urban studies, supply chain analytics, philosophy, journalism, theater arts, anthropology, and many more.
The class also includes talented athletes, performers, and artists. There are runners, a pole vaulter, boxers, powerlifters, swimmers, and skiers, as well as standouts in many competitive team sports, including basketball, football, rugby, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, rowing, and more. Beyond the realm of athletics, the new 1Ls excel in an impressive array of artistic endeavors. There are gifted actors, singers, dancers, filmmakers, playwrights, poets, artists, pianists, violinists, bass guitarists, drummers, woodworkers, and photographers.
Life Experiences Beyond the Classroom
Apart from their personal backgrounds and accomplishments, the incoming students also bring to Temple Law a rich assortment of work, cultural, and leadership experiences.
Notably, 78 percent of the class — 198 students — spent at least a year out of college before starting law school. Fifty worked or studied abroad, in such countries as Spain, Morocco, Germany, Egypt, Ireland, Greece, Italy, England, and the Turks and Caicos. Others have worked for the betterment of various communities through AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, and Teach for America, and five have served the United States in the Air Force, the Army Reserve, the Marines, and the Navy.
Fourteen students — 5.5% of the class — come to Temple with family ties to Temple Law alumni, continuing a tradition across generations.
Carrying Temple Law’s Mission Forward
