For some students, a joint degree (alternately referred to as a “dual” degree) can prove beneficial to their career objectives. To enable interested students to realize this goal, the Law School may approve them to pursue a joint degree program with any of the following of Columbia’s graduate or professional schools, as well as with Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs:
Applications for admission to the
Law
School and the other chosen school must be filed separately. At the application stage, there is no communication whatsoever between the two schools; that is, each school’s decision to admit or not to admit is based solely on that school’s selection criteria. If one school admits, it does not automatically follow that the other school will admit the applicant. Applicants may apply simultaneously to both schools; if admitted to both, a deferment must be requested at one of the two schools. Keep in mind that some of the schools listed above do not accept deferments; you should only apply to them if you are serious about attending in the semester for which you sought admission. You also may decide to apply initially only to the
Law
School, and then apply to the other school at a later date; this process may be reversed as well.
To ascertain each school’s entrance requirements, tuition, financial aid policies and deadlines, interested individuals are urged to visit each school’s Web site for the most up-to-date information. Tuition will be charged according to the rates effective in the school in which the student is enrolled each term.
Columbia ’s graduate and professional schools can be visited on-line by accessing the main University Web site, www.columbia.edu, and then clicking on Academic Programs.
Students approved to pursue joint program studies can save time and expenses by spending less time in residence at the Law School than normally required if each program were pursued separately. Time is saved because the Law School will typically accept one term of full-time residency and up to ten (10) academic credits for course work completed in the other school, thereby reducing the student’s residency at the Law School to five semesters from six. The other participating school likewise would reduce its residence and/or academic credit requirements for work completed at the Law School. Before proceeding on such an assumption, however, it is important to receive that commitment from both schools. Also, it is important to note some exceptions:
- For the joint J.D./M.I.A. with Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) students are required to spend six (6) terms of full-time residence at the Law School and two (2) terms at SIPA. In accordance with the J.D. Rules, they can receive J.D. degree credit for up to 10 academic points taken at SIPA or other graduate divisions of Columbia University.
- For information on the various joint degree programs with Columbia’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS), visit the GSAS Web site. GSAS and the Law School cooperate in offering combined programs of study leading to the J.D. degree and the sequential M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees. Generally, a student completes the first year at the Law School, spends the next year in residence at GSAS completing the M.A. requirements in accordance with departmental guidelines, then returns to the Law School to complete the J.D. degree requirements. The J.D. degree is conferred upon completion of all requirements for both the M.A. and the J.D., and both degrees are conferred concurrently. The student receives one year of advanced standing toward the M.Phil. degree once the J.D. is conferred. The student then returns to GSAS to complete remaining M.Phil. and Ph.D. departmental requirements, including the preparation and successful defense of a dissertation.
In addition to the professional schools and graduate departments mentioned above, the Law School typically will accept one term of full-time residency and up to ten (10) academic credits for course work completed, toward a graduate degree program at any other graduate or professional school and any department therein at Columbia University (except for the M.I.A. degree with SIPA — see paragraph above), including Teachers College and the School of Engineering and Applied Science (see below for limitations). Students are urged to speak to the Registrar at their respective school or department to find out if a reciprocal arrangement will also be accepted. To pursue these or any other proposed joint degree program that is not officially approved by the University Trustees, permission from the Law School’s Rules Committee is required. Letters of petition should be addressed to the Rules Committee and sent to the Dean of Registration Services.
Additionally, in recent years, students have successfully petitioned the Law School’s Rules Committee for permission to create a joint degree program with schools that have agreed to grant advanced standing toward their Master’s degree for work completed in the Columbia J.D. program: Harvard’s Kennedy School, Tufts’ Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies. Future requests for permission to pursue these and similar programs will be considered on an ad hoc, individualized basis upon petition to the Rules Committee. Letters of petition for ad hoc joint degree programs should be addressed to the Rules Committee and sent to the Dean of Registration Services.
Note also that a student approved for a joint degree program must complete degree requirements at both schools before receiving residency and academic credit toward the J.D. degree, and both degrees must be awarded at the same conferral. Finally, the
Law
School cannot certify a student’s eligibility to take the Bar exam until both degrees are completed and a final transcript, showing the conferral of the degree from the other school, is received by Registration Services.
Students who, prior to matriculating at the Law School, complete a degree program at another school or division of Columbia University, or at another institution, will not be considered to be in a joint degree program and will not receive residence or academic credit toward the Columbia J.D. degree for the earlier work.
