We're excited to welcome Iowa's incoming class of 2025! At 5,561, it's the second largest class in university history. It's also one of the highest-achieving, with an average high school grade-point average of 3.86, besting last year's mark of 3.83.

This year's class features 2,879 students who are Iowa residents, representing 93 of Iowa's 99 counties. Outside of Iowa, the class also represents 47 U.S. states and territories, and 37 countries. About 23% (1,260) are coming from rural areas, 19% (1,074) identify as first-generation students, and more than half (3,289) arrived on campus with existing college credit.

In her speech delivered Aug. 22 during Kickoff at Kinnick, Lexi Vazquez, a marketing major from Marshalltown, Iowa, reminded her fellow first-year peers that they enrolled at Iowa for more than a degree.

“The Hawkeye experience is about something deeper. It’s about finding yourself in the unexpected ways,” she said. “Maybe it’ll happen in a lecture hall when a professor says something that shifts your perspective. Maybe it’ll happen during a late-night conversation with your new roommate. Maybe it’ll even happen trotting up the hill midwinter. So, let’s make a promise tonight … let’s lean into the unknown and honor our growth, lead with heart, and create a legacy we’ll be proud of. We have so much ahead of us, and this is just the beginning.”