Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University and McAnulty Graduate School of Liberal Arts
Duquesne is one of the few universities in the country to offer a Juris Doctor and Master of Arts in Philosophy joint degree. Students in the program gain the benefits of a rigorous study of philosophy and law and create new opportunities to further academic or legal careers.
- Candidates may begin in either the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University or McAnulty Graduate School of Liberal Arts.
- Candidates apply to each school, and the schools retain independence regarding admissions.
- Upon completion of the requisite conditions for graduation, students receive a degree from each school.
Credit Requirements
Students are required to complete credit hours for the J.D./M.A. in Philosophy joint program according to requirements for each degree. Students remain responsible for satisfying additional graduation requirements, as dictated by program guidelines.
A 15-credit limitation, per semester, is placed on all students enrolled in the program, except for students engaging in their first year of legal study. Students are not permitted to take any graduate philosophy courses during the first year (day or evening) of law course work.
For completion of the J.D. degree, students must obtain 88 credit hours, 12 of which can derive from graduate philosophy courses. Based on the uniform allocation of credits for graduate philosophy courses, all classes being worth 3 credit hours, a student may only apply 4 courses towards the J.D. credit requirement. These credits shall be considered non-classroom credits and count toward the Law School's 18-credit cap for such credits. A student who chooses to count the maximum of 12 credits of philosophy graduate work toward the J.D. degree will be able to count only 6 credits of non-classroom J.D. credits toward the J.D. degree.
For completion of the M.A. in Philosophy credit requirements, students must complete 30 credit hours, 24 of which must be derived from courses offered by the Graduate Philosophy Department. Based on courses being worth 3 credits, students are required to take 8 graduate philosophy courses. Concerning the 6 additional credits needed to reach the 30 credit hours requirement for the degree, students may use up to 6 credits obtained by the completion of qualifying courses offered via the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University. Due to the fact that courses offered by the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University vary in regards to credit hours, usually 2 and 3, participating students have flexibility concerning the manner in which the 6 credits are obtained.
Applications
Application instructions for the J.D. degree are available on the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University's application process page.
Application instructions for the M.A. in Philosophy are available on the McAnulty Graduate School of Liberal Arts' M.A. application page.