
Accelerated Dual-Degree BA or BS/JD (3+3)
Visit the School of LawIn this program, you’ll have the flexibility to pursue a variety of majors and then get a head start on your law degree and accelerate your career.
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In this program, you’ll have the flexibility to pursue a variety of majors and then get a head start on your law degree and accelerate your career.
Kayla Stephen ’20 talks with New Haven Public Defender Beth Merkin at New Haven Superior Court where she was working as the Thomas Ullmann Fellow at the Office of Public Defenders.
With our innovative BA or BS/Juris Doctor (3+3) program, you can earn a bachelor’s degree and complete law school in 6 years.
Whatever your major, we’ll help you shape your experience in a way that reflects your interests and professional ambitions. From corporate law to criminal defense litigation and environmental law, you’ll have a multitude of career paths within the legal field, government or the nonprofit world. You’ll receive consistent guidance from both the pre-law adviser and your undergraduate major adviser to keep you on track with the appropriate courses and ensure that you’re ready to begin law school during your senior year.
Based on your major and the number of credits you enter the program with, you may be able to complete all of your undergraduate credit requirements by the end of your junior year and then start your JD degree full time in your fourth year. Otherwise you will take both law courses and your remaining undergraduate courses during a bridge semester in the fall of your senior year, with an additional summer session of law classes.
Program benefits:
There are 2 options for completion of the 3+3 program:
Option 1: Students complete a minimum of 90 undergraduate credits, meeting all major and University Curriculum requirements by the end of their third year. In year four, students become full-time law students and will count up to 30 law school credits toward completion of their undergraduate degree. Students earn a bachelor’s degree by the end of their first year of law school/fourth year of college.
Option 2: Students complete a minimum of 105 undergraduate credits by the end of the third year. The fall semester of the fourth year will be a “bridge” semester in which the student will take 6 credits of undergraduate courses along with 10 credits of law school courses. Students will then take law courses exclusively beginning in the second semester of their fourth year. Option 2 has the additional requirement of 6 credits of law school courses in the summer between the fourth and the fifth years. Students will receive their bachelor’s degree at the end of the bridge semester.
Nicole Dwyer, JD ’19
When it comes to focus, dedication and time management, Nicole Dwyer, JD ’19, is literally ahead of her class. To date, she is the only graduate to finish the Accelerated Dual-Degree Bachelor's/JD (3+3) program in five years instead of six. In addition to finishing a year earlier than the program’s accelerated pace, she graduated summa cum laude.
“My undergraduate and law school advisers were very supportive working with me to make sure I could finish everything the way I wanted,” she said.
Dwyer managed to balance her workload with a clerkship at Brenner, Saltzman & Wallman LLP, where she trained on the defense side of litigation. She also worked as a summer associate at Wiggin and Dana LLP, and made such a positive impression that the firm offered her a full-time position upon graduation. She credits her Quinnipiac law professors, especially Alexander “Sandy” Meiklejohn and Brad Saxton, for their mentorship and career counseling.
“They’ve both gone way beyond what I ever expected from a professor, in terms of helping me figure out what I wanted to do and how to apply for positions,” said Dwyer, whose goal it is to become a defense attorney.
Dwyer also found time for other experiential pursuits, serving as editor-in-chief of the Quinnipiac Law Review and sharpening her courtroom skills as a member of the law school’s mock trial team.
Accelerated dual-degree students, like all students, are required to live on campus for their first three years of enrollment.
Our undergraduate admissions counselors are here to answer any questions you may have and help you navigate the application process.