3+3 Bachelor/JD Program
Objective
This agreement centers around the principles that students in UD's College of Arts and Sciences can acquire a baccalaureate degree by applying the first year of law courses at UD's School of Law to satisfy the graduation and baccalaureate degree requirements and also concurrently apply the first year of coursework towards the Juris Doctor (JD) granted by the School of Law. This collaborative 3+3 Program is intended to: a) supply broader educational opportunities for eligible students; b) offer credit for designated courses from School of Law that will articulate into a baccalaureate degree at the College of Arts and Sciences; c) provide eligible students the opportunity to complete a Bachelor's degree and JD in a shorter time period than might otherwise be possible; and d) help diversify the School of Law's student population.
The Program
Students who want to participate in the 3+3 Program complete their first three years of undergraduate study as required by the College of Arts and Sciences's program curriculum, to include any authorized undergraduate transfer credits, and satisfy their program electives with the credits from the first year law school, which will count as their fourth year of undergraduate studies. It is within the College of Arts and Sciences's discretion to determine which courses toward a bachelor's degree, and for which majors, can be satisfied by the School of law courses. A student's law school classes will commence in the fall term and the student will complete the JD courses in approximately 33 months, for a total of 6 years of study.
Eligibility
Any student in the College of Arts and Sciences and participating in the 3+3 Program (participants) will be conditionally admitted to the School of Law on the later of the date of undergraduate enrollment or the date of acceptance into the 3+3 Program. The decision to accept a student into the 3+3 Program admission standards agreed to by the School of Law and the College of Arts and Sciences. Students will be required to submit a JD application when applying for the 3+3 Program by January 1st of the student's junior year. No more than 15 students in the 3+3 Program will be eligible to enroll at the School of Law each year.
Subject to the terms of this agreement, to satisfy the requirements for full admission to the School of Law, participants who have completed the equivalent of 3/4 or more of their bachelor's degree must also:
- Be in good standing academically, financially, and from a disciplinary perspective at the College of Arts and Sciences;
- Have no criminal arrests or convictions since the time of their conditional admission, with the exception of minor traffic offenses and any arrests dropped or shown to have been unfounded;
- Establish and maintain an undergraduate grade point average of at least 3.6 by the midpoint of their junior year;
- Demonstrate successful completion of 3/4 of the work acceptable for a bachelor's degree as established collaboratively between the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Law;
- Achieve an LSAT score one point above the median for the School of Law class for the year of their law application.
Students not enrolled in the 3+3 Program, or who do not meet the admission criteria set forth above, can still be considered for admission into the School of Law as part of the regular application and admission process.
Process for Finalizing Fall Admission to the School of Law
For purposes of finalizing their admission, participants agree to submit their transcripts and document the satisfaction of each of the requirements listed above within the established time parameters for admission. Participants will not need to pay an application fee. The School of Law reserves the right to require additional documentation from any participant in the even of admission concerns, as determined in its sole discretion. In accordance with this agreement, the School of Law reserves the right to limit enrollment to 15 students a year.
Degree Requirements and Courses
- Students participating in the 3+3 are subject to all applicable requirements of the institution offering the respective course of study, e.g., students must meet all bachelor's degree requirements as established by the College of Arts and Sciences and all JD requirements as established by the School of Law.
- The College of Arts and Sciences will have the sole authority and responsibility to determine the requirements for its baccalaureate degrees and to determine whether students satisfy the requirements for its degrees.
- The College of Arts and Sciences will make all grade-point computations involving its courses using established policies and procedures. For the baccalaureate degree, year one School of Law credits will be transferred to the undergraduate transcript as K grades and the student's GPA for Latin honors will be set by the undergraduate credits earned only. These credits will appear as a letter grade on the School of Law transcript. The School of Law will have the sole authority and responsibility to determine the requirements of its JD in accordance with their policies, specialized accreditation requirements, and other relevant accreditation standards, and to determine whether students satisfy the requirements of the JD. All grade-point computations related to the School of Law courses will be made using their policies and procedures.
- The School of Law and the College of Arts and Sciences each reserve the right to make changes in their course offerings and degree requirements.
Completion of Baccalaureate Degree
The College of Arts and Sciences will permit participants in the 3+3 to apply the agree-upon credit hours from the School of Law courses toward completion of the bachelor's degree. It is anticipated that a participant will receive his/her bachelor's degree upon successful completion of the first year of courses at the School of Law, regardless of whether the student continues with their legal studies beyond the first year or ultimately earn a JD.
Students have the opportunity to complete major and general education requirements in their first three years, and the fourth year is the 1st year law curriculum. Those fourth year classes come back to complete the BA as transfer credits and also count toward their law school credits.
A 98-credit program based on a 30-credit BA Major (capstone included), though this could provide a working foundation for a general template for BA majors with reasonable credit-counts.
CAP and major requirements can overlap, which can help lower the actual numbers of credits different BA students will need to advance into law school. Given lower credit-count requirements benefit students and make UD more competitive, actual sample plans should be tailored for a particular major programs to see what might be possible.
Liberal Studies generally do not allow credits actively applied to major or CAP requirements to double-count for Liberal Studies. However, one possible exception might be language courses that double as major requirements - for example, for Language majors and perhaps also International Studies.
Language-contextual courses may double-count as Liberal Studies Breadth or Depth requirements. The below template and sample plan of study assume no such double-counting, but this possibility would allow an overall reduction in the total number of credit hours required for a BA/JD program.
| First Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours |
| ASI 150 | 1 | HUM 102 | 3 |
| HUM 101 | 3 | CAP Arts, DSJ | 3 |
| CMM 100 | 3 | Natural Science with Lab | 3 |
| CAP Social Science | 3 | L2 Language 141 | 3 |
| L2 Language 101 | 3 | Major Course | 3 |
| Major Course | 3 | ||
| 16 | 15 | ||
| Second Year | |||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours |
| CAP 2nd Year English | 3 | CAP ADV REL, INT INV | 3 |
| CAP Mathematics | 3 | LibStu Arts | 3 |
| L2 Language 201 or Contextual Course | 3 | LibStu Social Sciences | 3 |
| PLW 301 | 1 | Lib Stu PLW 301 | 1 |
| Major Courses | 6 | Major | 6 |
| 16 | 16 | ||
| Third Year | |||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours |
| CAP ADV HST, FT | 3 | CAP Major Capstone | 3 |
| LibStu Natural Sciences/Math | 3 | CAP ADV PHL, PEA | 3 |
| LibStu Humanities | 3 | LibStu Depth | 3 |
| LibStu PLW 301 Mock Trail | 1 | LibStu Depth | 3 |
| Major | 6 | LibStu Depth | 3 |
| Major | 3 | ||
| 16 | 18 | ||
| Total credit hours: 97 | |||
The following are assumptions:
30-credit BA major (including capstone). Majors with more credits may require more total credit hours, all else being equal.
No overlap between major requirements and CAP requirements. With overlap, total credit hours required decrease.
Need for 9 credits to fulfil L2 Proficiency (Liberal Studies). With prior language skills, total credit hours required decreases.
Presumes no major requirements may double-count as Liberal Studies. Depending on how the "no double counting" rule is implemented, total credit hours required may decrease.