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Ph.D./J.D. Joint Degree Program

The faculties of the College of Law and the College of Medicine have approved a joint degree program culminating in both a Juris Doctor degree, awarded by the College of Law, and a Ph.D. degree, awarded by the College of Medicine. Under the joint degree program, a student can obtain both degrees in approximately one year less than it would take to obtain both degrees if pursued consecutively. Essential criteria relating to the joint degree program are as follows:

1. Candidates for the program must meet the entrance requirements for and be accepted by both colleges. Both colleges must be informed by the student at the time of application to the second program, that he/she intends to pursue the joint degree program.
   
   
2. The joint degree program is not open to students who have already earned one of the degrees.
   
   
3. Admission to the second program is required no later than the end of the penultimate year of one degree of the joint degree program.
   
   
4. A student must satisfy the curriculum requirements for each degree before either degree is awarded. The Graduate Division of the College of Medicine will allow 12 credits of appropriate law courses to be credited toward both Ph.D. and J.D. degrees. The 12 credits selected from the law curriculum must be approved by the Associate Dean for Graduate Education, College of Medicine, upon the recommendation of the student's graduate supervisory committee. Reciprocally, law students may receive toward the satisfaction of the J.D. degree, not more than 12 semester credits for courses taken in the graduate curriculum of the College of Medicine. Two of these courses, not more than a total of 6 semester credits, will be treated as the two graduate courses ordinarily allowed to be taken outside of the College of Law for credit toward Law School graduation.
   
   
5. A student enrolled in the joint degree program may spend the first year in either the College of Law or the College of Medicine. Students admitted to one college but electing to spend the first academic year in the other college under the joint degree program may enter the second college thereafter without once again qualifying for admission so long as they have notified the second college before the end of the first week of the first semester in the joint degree program and are in good academic standing when the studies commence in the second college. Students must carry the minimum number of credits required by either college.
   
   
6. Students in the joint program will be eligible for the stipends given in the College of Medicine but the first year's stipend will begin at the time of enrollment in the first IDP year and will be considered a revocable loan that would be forgiven when the student is awarded the Ph.D. If the student decided not to complete the work for the Ph.D., the loan would need to be repaid. In the event that the student is not allowed to complete the Ph.D., the loan would not need to be repaid.
   
   
7. College of Medicine courses which are to be credited toward the J.D. degree must carry a grade of B or higher and will not be counted in the College of Law grade point average. College of Law courses which are to be credited toward the Ph.D. degree must carry a grade of C or higher and will not be counted in the grade point average at the College of Medicine.
   
   
8. Students enrolled in the joint degree program must complete the College of Law's advanced writing requirement. The dissertation in Medical Science will not satisfy the advanced writing requirement of the College of Law.
   
   
9. A student enrolled in the joint degree program will not receive either degree until he/she has satisfied all of the requirements for both degrees, or until he/she has satisfied the requirements of one of the degrees as if he/she had not been a joint degree candidate.
   
   
10. Students who enroll in the joint degree program, but do not complete the program may receive credit toward the College of Law degree under the graduate level course option for a maximum of two courses, not to exceed 6 semester credits, taken from the graduate curriculum of the College of Medicine. Although the grade is not computed in the student's grade point average, a grade of B or higher must be earned to receive hours for the course(s).
    
    
11. Students may likewise receive credit toward the Ph.D. degree for a maximum of two courses not exceeding 6 semester credits taken from the curriculum of the College of Law. A grade of C or higher must be earned to receive credit hours for the course(s).
    
    
12. Students in the joint program will be eligible for the graduate research assistantships in the College of Medicine on the same basis as other graduate students, subject to the guidelines and restrictions set by the College of Medicine.
    
    
13. The student's program must be approved by both the student's graduate supervisory committee in the College of Medicine and the Student Affairs liaison in the College of Law.
    
    
14. The program began in Fall 1999.