Washington and Lee Welcomes the Class of 2030 Hailing from 38 states and 44 countries, the Class of 2030 represents an impressive range of accomplishments, interests and backgrounds.

Washington and Lee University proudly welcomed 489 new first-year and seven transfer undergraduate students to campus in August. The first-year students moved into residence halls, said goodbye to parents and families and headed off to begin their Leading Edge orientation activities, where they were introduced to the campus community through shared meaningful experiences designed to help them forge new friendships, acclimate to college life and begin developing the necessary skills to flourish at W&L.

“The Class of 2030 includes students from 403 different secondary schools — including charter, public, parochial, independent, United World Colleges and home school — who demonstrate a commitment to leadership and community engagement, and whose curiosity and ambition stood out among the 8,904 applications we received this year,” said Vice President for Admissions and Financial Aid Sally Stone Richmond. Twenty-two percent of the class are domestic students of color, 16% are the first generation in their family to attend college, and 10% are children of W&L alumni.

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The class represents a pool of well-rounded and academically gifted leaders, with Johnson Scholars comprising 10% of the class and QuestBridge finalists making up another 10% of the class. W&L continues to recruit a geographically diverse class with 44 countries of origin and 38 U.S. states and territories represented. Thirty-seven different languages are spoken at home among members of this class, and students hailing from rural areas within the U.S. comprise 17% of the class.

“Clearly, the composition in this class reflects the university’s commitment to affordability and access,” Richmond said. “Among those students receiving need-based aid, 36% of the class are W&L Promise recipients. And that commitment persists: The promise will increase in 2027-28 to families earning up to $200,000 annually.”

Sixty-five percent of the class is receiving W&L grant assistance, and the average need- based grant is $72,696. In addition, 16% of this year’s class are federal Pell Grant recipients, reflecting the university’s commitment, as a member of the American Talent Initiative, to expanding access and opportunity for talented low- and moderate-income students.

The university’s admissions team, through careful, whole-person consideration, recruits, admits and enrolls individuals who will contribute to W&L’s vibrant community and benefit from the distinct and personalized education the university offers.

“We are so grateful to the entire W&L community for supporting these students’ experiences as applicants, admits and now fully enrolled members of the undergraduate student body,” Richmond said. “It truly does take the entire campus community to enroll each class!”

Learn more about the incoming class here, and take a few moments to meet some of the members of the Class of 2030 in the video below.