Joint Degree Accounting

Application Procedure

New Students

A new student must independently apply for admission both to the College of Law and the College of Business (through the Graduate College) and meet the application requirements of each College. If the student is accepted by both Colleges, he or she is automatically admitted to the joint degree program.

College of Law Students

Students who are already enrolled in the College of Law, who have a cumulative grade point average of at least 5.500 at the College of Law, and who have completed not more than 48 hours at the College of Law (33 hours of first year courses and 15 hours of upper-level courses), may apply for admission to the College of Business, and, if admitted, are automatically admitted to the joint degree program.

College of Business Students

Students who are already enrolled in the College of Business, who have a cumulative grade point average of at least a "B", and who have completed not more than 12 hours of courses toward the MPA degree, may apply for admission to the College of Law and, if admitted, are automatically admitted to the joint degree program. College of Law classes taken before admission to the College will not count toward the J.D. degree.

Course Requirements

College of Law

A student must complete a total of 87 hours at the College of Law: the standard first year curriculum (33 hours) and 54 hours of upper-level courses.

The 54 hours of upper-level courses must include the following required courses:

  1. Constitutional Law I (4 hours) (this course must be taken during the first semester of the academic year immediately following the student's first year at the College;
  2. Legal Profession (3 hours) (this course may be taken any time after the student's first year at the College of Law);
  3. A seminar offered at the College of Law that satisfies the College of Law's substantial writing requirement (the seminar can be taken at any time after the student's first year at the College of Law).
  4. an upper level professional skills course (Class of 2016, 2017, 2018: 3 credit hours/Class of 2019 and later: 6 credit hours) (this course may be taken any time after the student's first year at the College of Law. The following courses meet this requirement: Advanced Legal Research, Advanced Trial Advocacy, Advocacy in Mediation, Appellate Advocacy, Business Planning, Client Interviewing and Counseling, Civil Clinic, Criminal Clinic, Construction Practice, Entrepreneurship Clinic, Family Law Practice, Immigration Clinic, Mediation, Negotiations, Pretrial Litigation, Trial Advocacy, and Externship (if approved by the Dean).

Up to 9 hours of the 87 hours of courses required at the College of Law can be used to satisfy the 30 hours required for the MPA degree, if the courses are upper-level courses which are cross-listed with other departments. A student in the joint JD/MPA program must register for these cross-listed courses using the "G" call and course numbers.

A typical MPA degree consists of the following 30 hours:

9 hours of LAWG courses

18 hours of accounting graduate courses, and

3 hours of graduate accounting or business electives.

None of the 21 hours taken at the College of Business can be applied to reduce the 87 hours required for the JD.

College of Business

A student must complete 21 hours at the College of Business (assuming no undergraduate deficiencies). The 21 hours must include the following courses:

  1. 18 hours of graduate only classes, including:
    • ACCT 803, ACCT 804, ACCT 808, ACCT 831, ACCT 850 & one of the following tax courses, ACCT 813, 815 or 819.
  2. 3 hours of graduate accounting or business electives

None of the 21 hours can be applied to reduce the 87 hours required for the JD.

Course Sequence

Students must complete the first year curriculum at the College of Law beginning in the fall semester of the academic year for which they were admitted. After they do so, they are free to take both law and accounting courses in whatever sequence they choose, subject to the requirements listed above.

Academic Eligibility

A student in the joint degree program must maintain a cumulative grade point average of 5.500 in courses taken at the College of Law and must maintain a cumulative grade point average of B in courses taken at the College of Business. A student who fails to satisfy either requirement will be dropped from the joint degree program and cannot apply for readmission to the program. A student must receive a grade of B in any College of Business course for which the student seeks Law College credit.

For students enrolled in the joint program, the cumulative grade point average in courses taken at the College of Law will be calculated at three points in time: first, at the end of the student's second semester at the College; second, at the end of the semester or summer session in which the student has taken and received grades in at least 27 hours of upper-level courses at the College of Law; and third, at the end of the semester or summer session in which the student has taken and received grades in at least 54 hours of upper-level courses at the College of Law. If the student's cumulative grade point average is less than 5.500 at any one of these three points in time -- even if it is the last computation -- the student will be dropped from the joint degree program.

A student who is dropped from the joint degree program can still pursue an MPA degree and a JD degree but must meet the normal requirements for each degree. Those requirements are 36 hours for the MPA degree and 93 hours for the JD degree with no dual credit for any courses.

Progress Evaluations

Before the end of a student's first year at the College of Law, the student must submit a course proposal to the Associate Dean of the College of Law. After the first year at the College of Law, the student must meet with the Associate Dean of the College of Law each semester to discuss the student's progress toward completing the requirements of the joint degree program and also to discuss the student's course selections for the following semester. This meeting must take place prior to the time the student registers for the next semester.

On or before the student reaches the halfway point in his or her MPA studies, the student must file a Memorandum of Courses (MOC) with the MPA Advisor at the School of Accountancy. For purposes of the MOC, the halfway point is the semester after the semester in which the student has taken no more than 18 hours toward the MPA degree. It is extremely important that the MOC be filed in a timely fashion; the failure to do so may result in the student being required to take additional graduate level courses.

An MOC filed by a student in the joint degree program will include 18 hours of accounting courses and 18 hours of other graduate courses which may include up to 18 hours of upper-class College of Law classes which are cross-listed with other departments. For purposes of determining when the student has reached the halfway point, a student should include any accounting courses and any upper-level cross-listed law courses in which the student has received a grade, a No Report ("NR") or an Incomplete ("I").

Conferral of Degrees

A student enrolled in the joint degree program will normally receive a JD degree only after the student satisfies the joint degree program requirements for both the JD and MPA degrees. A student must file a separate application for each degree.