The College of Law and the Department of Political Science in the College of Arts and Sciences offer a coordinated dual degree program leading to the conferral of both the Doctor of Jurisprudence and Master of Public Administration degrees. In this program, a student may earn the MPA and JD in about four years rather than the five years that otherwise would be required. Students pursuing the dual degree program should plan to be enrolled in course work or an internship for one summer term in addition to taking normal course loads for four academic years.
Applicants for the JD-MPA program must make separate application to, and be independently accepted by, the College of Law for the JD and the Department of Political Science and the Office of Graduate and International Admissions for the MPA degree. Applicants must also be accepted by the dual degree committee. All applicants must submit a Law School Admission Test (LSAT) score. An applicant’s LSAT score may be substituted for the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) score, which is normally required for admission to the MPA program. Application may be made prior to or after matriculation in either the JD or the MPA program, but application to the dual program must be made prior to entry into the last 29 hours required for the JD and prior to entry into the last 15 hours required for the MPA.
A dual degree candidate must satisfy the requirements for both the JD and the MPA degrees, as well as the requirements for the dual program. The College of Law will award a maximum of 9 hours of credit toward the JD degree for successful completion of approved graduate-level courses (500 or 600 level) offered in the Department of Political Science. The MPA program will award a maximum of 9 hours of credit toward the MPA degree for successful completion of approved courses offered in the College of Law. All courses for which such cross-credit is awarded must be approved by the JD-MPA coordinators in the College of Law and the Department of Political Science. All candidates for the dual degree must successfully complete Administrative Law (LAW 821 ). An internship is strongly recommended for students in the dual degree program, as it is for all MPA candidates, but an internship is not required.
During the first two years in the dual program, students will spend one academic year completing the required first year of the College of Law curriculum and one academic year taking courses solely in the MPA program. During those first two years, students may not take courses in the opposite area without the approval of the JD-MPA coordinators in both academic units. In the third and fourth years, students are strongly encouraged to take both law and political science courses each semester.
Dual degree students who withdraw from the program before completion of the requirements for both degrees will not receive credit toward either the JD or the MPA degree for courses taken in the other program except as such courses qualify for credit without regard to the dual program.
For grade recording purposes in the College of Law and the Department of Political Science, grades awarded in courses in the other unit will be converted to either Satisfactory or No Credit and will not be computed in determining a student’s GPA or class standing. The College of Law will award a grade of Satisfactory for an approved MPA course in which the student earns a grade of B or higher and a grade of No Credit for any lower grade. The Political Science Department will award a grade of Satisfactory for an approved law course in which the student earns a grade of 2.3 or higher and a grade of No Credit for any lower grade. The official academic record of the student maintained by the Office of the University Registrar shall show the actual grade assigned by the instructor without conversion.
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