Louisiana State University, through the Paul M. Hebert Law Center and the E. J. Ourso College of Business Administration, has approved a J.D.-M.B.A. Program that allows students to earn both a Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration degree concurrently.
The process adopted allows students to earn overlapping credit toward both degrees. The transfer of concurrent credits allows a student to complete the requirements for both degrees in four years. Otherwise, completion of the two degrees would take at least five years.
The two faculties feel that granting concurrent credit will enhance the attractiveness of our respective academic programs and provide greater employment opportunities to a number of top quality students.
The respective faculties of the law school and the business school have approved an award of 12 hours of credit toward the J.D. for courses taken in the M.B.A. program and of 18 hours of credit toward the M.B.A. for courses taken in the law school. The course credit will also be counted toward the degree (J.D. or M.B.A.) from the institution in which the courses were taken.
Although the awarding of transfer credit (granting of concurrent credit) may colloquially be referred to as a “joint degree program,” that description is a misnomer from an administrative perspective.
Each institution separately awards its degree. A student successfully completing the required course of study shall receive two degrees, a Juris Doctor awarded by the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center and a Master of Business Administration awarded by the E. J. Ourso College of Business Administration.
The only change in either degree program is the awarding of concurrent credit. A student will have the option of pursuing parallel degree programs with common areas of study. A student will be required initially to complete either the first year at the law school or the first year at the business school.
A student who wishes to first pursue law may choose to complete either the first or the first and second years of law school before completing the first year of the business school’s M.B.A. program. Following completion of the first year of the M.B.A. program, the student would follow a combined curriculum of law and business school courses.
A student who wishes to first pursue the M.B.A. curriculum at the business school must complete the first year at the business school followed by the first year of law school. The student would then pursue both law and business courses toward completion of the final requirements of each program.
In order to be approved for the combined credit, a student is required to be admitted to both the E. J. Ourso College of Business Administration and the LSU Law Center.
Admission to each will be determined independently and respectively by the faculty of each school.
This cooperative agreement between the two faculties leaves each degree program with separate admission requirements, with separate first year requirements, and with separate degree requirements as determined exclusively by the faculty recommending awarding of the degree.
Tuition and fees will be paid to both the Law Center and LSU according to the number or credit hours for which the student is registered in each program.
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