Dual JD Degree Program

The MPP / MPA Programs will award a maximum of nine semester hours of credit toward the J.D. 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 J.D. / MPP / MPA coordinators in the College of Law and the Baker School. 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 MPP / MPA candidates, but an internship is not required.

During the first two years in the dual-degree 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 MPP / MPA Program. During those first two years, a student may not take MPP / MPA courses in the year in which he or she is concentrating in law, nor law courses in the year in which he or she is concentrating in the MPP / MPA program, without the approval of J.D. / MPP / MPA coordinators in both the College of Law and Baker School. In the third and fourth years, students are strongly encouraged to take both law and Baker School courses each semester. During the first year in the J.D. program, students register through the College of Law. During the first year in the MPP/MPA program, students register as graduate students. After the first two years, any term in which students take law courses or a mixture of law and graduate courses, they are classified and registered as law students. If taking only graduate courses, they are classified and registered as graduate students.

Dual-degree students who withdraw from the dual-degree program before completion of the requirements for both degrees will not receive credit toward either the J.D. or the MPP / MPA degree for courses taken in the other program, except as such courses qualify for credit toward those degrees independently of the dual-degree program.

For more information on the JD-MPP/MPA Program, see the UT Graduate Catalog

Admissions Requirements

Applicants for the J.D. and MPP / MPA dual-degree program must make separate application to and be independently accepted by the College of Law for the J.D. degree and Baker School and the Graduate School for the MPP / MPA degree.

Applicants for the dual-degree program 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 MPP / MPA program. Application may be made prior to or after matriculation in either the J.D. or the MPP / MPA program, but application to the dual-degree program must be made prior to entry into the last 29 semester hours required for the J.D. degree and prior to entry into the last 15 hours required for the MPP / MPA degree.

Awarding of Grades

For grade recording purposes in the College of Law and the Baker School, 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 grade point average or class standing. The College of Law will award a grade of Satisfactory for an approved MPP / MPA course in which the student earns a grade of B or higher and a grade of No Credit for any lower grade. The Baker School 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.