Joint JD / MPA

Juris Doctor / Master of Public Administration Joint Degree Program

The faculties of the College of Law and the School of International and Public Affairs have approved a joint degree pathway culminating in both a Juris Doctor degree (JD), awarded by the College of Law, and a Master of Public Administration degree (MPA), awarded by the School of International and Public Affairs.

Under the joint degree pathway, a student can obtain both degrees in significantly less time than it would take to obtain both degrees if pursued independently.

Essential criteria relating to the joint degree pathway are as follows:

• Candidates for the joint degree pathway must meet the entrance requirements for and be accepted by both programs. Both programs must be informed by the student at the time of application to the second program that the student intends to pursue the joint degree.

• The joint degree pathway is not open to students who have already earned one degree.

• For law students, enrollment in the MPA program is required no later than the completion of 63 credit hours in the JD program. For MPA students, enrollment in the JD program is required no later than the third semester after beginning the MPA program. A summer session is counted as half a semester.

• A student must satisfy the curriculum requirements for each degree before either degree is awarded. The Department of Public Administration will allow 9 credit hours of College of Law courses, as approved by the MPA Coordinator, in consultation with the Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, to be credited toward both the MPA and JD degrees.

• Reciprocally, law students may receive 9 hours of credit toward the satisfaction of the J.D. degree for courses taken in the MPA curriculum upon completion of the MPA degree with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher.

• A student accepted by both degree programs may begin studies in either the College of Law or the Department of Public Policy and Administration, but full-time law students must take the first two semesters of law study consecutively and part-time law students must take the first three semesters of law study consecutively. Students electing to begin study in one school under the joint degree pathway may enter the second school thereafter without once again qualifying for admission so long as they have notified the second school before the end of the first week of the first semester in the second school and are in good academic standing when studies commence in the second school.
• A student enrolled in the joint degree pathway will not receive either degree until the student has satisfied all the requirements for both degrees, or until the student has satisfied the requirements of one of the degrees as if the student had not been a joint degree candidate.