Joint Degrees

New York Law School recognizes that the diverse academic, professional, and community service experiences of our students sometimes leads to a desire to combine law study with advanced study in another academic discipline.  Therefore, we offer joint degree programs that enable students to pursue both subjects more rigorously than either the J.D. or the master's degree alone would allow.

We offer two formalized joint-degree programs: J.D./M.B.A. with the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College of the City University of New York and J.D./M.A. in Forensic Psychology with John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York.  New York Law School will work on an individual basis with students who wish to combine their J.D. with an advanced degree in other subjects at other institutions provided that the other institution is also willing to work with us.

J.D./M.B.A 

Program Structure and Benefits
The J.D./M.B.A. may be pursued on a full-time or part-time basis.  Up to nine credits of appropriate J.D. coursework may transfer towards the 57-credit M.B.A.degree.  In addition, nine credits of appropriate coursework from the M.B.A. may transfer to the 86-credit J.D. degree.  Standards of the American Bar Association do not allow coursework taken prior to matriculation in the J.D. degree to be transferred or credited towards the J.D., thus courses completed prior to J.D. matriculation cannot be used in credit-sharing.

Full-time students may complete the joint-degree program in four years, including summers, and part-time students can complete the J.D./M.B.A. in approximately five-and-one-half years, including summers.

There is no prescribed program of courses for the joint-degree, thereby allowing flexibility for individual goals and schedules.  Course sequences are determined by consultation with academic advisors from both the J.D. and M.B.A. programs.  The J.D. and M.B.A. degrees are conferred after degree requirements at both institutions are completed.

Admission to the J.D. program is for fall entry only.

Applying to the Joint Degree Program
Candidates must submit separate applications to Baruch College and New York Law School and satisfy each school's admission requirements, including scores from both the LSAT and GMAT.  Application may be made concurrently or to one school during the first year of enrollment in the other school.  Admission to one program does not guarantee admission to the other.

Students admitted to both schools must declare their intention to pursue the joint degree with proram coordinators at each.  Those admitted concurrently will begin study at one school and defer their enrollment at the other.  Because there are restrictions on transfer of credit, students should discuss their options with an advisor at both schools before determining their path.

Costs and Financial Assistance
Costs are paid to each institution based on enrollment in a diven term.  Financial aid is available at both schools, but students may not apply for aid from more than one school for the same period of enrollment.  J.D./M.B.A. candidates are eligible for all forms of Law School aid, including New York Law School's generous merit scholarship programs.

Zicklin School Tuition and Fee Schedule, 2012-2013:
 

For information on costs for New York Law School, click here.

Career Possibilities
Possible positions and fields include: legal counsel, corporate secretary; liaison to outside counsel; accounting firms and insurance companies; securities and liaison to financial institutions; general administrative assistant to CEO/CFO; shareholder relations; labor relations; real estate; business policy and general strategy, including risk analysis, legislative relations, lobbying, international relations and trade, community relations, adverstising, and intellectual property aspects of e-commerce and the Internet.

About Baruch College and Zicklin School of Business
Baruch College is part of a tradition that dates back more than 160 years to the founding of the Free Academy, the very first free public institution of higher education in the nation.  Today, a thriving, urban, multicultural institution and a senior college of The City University of New York (CUNY), Baruch attracts motivated students from more than 170 countries.

The Zicklin School of Business was estab lished in 1919 as City College's School of Business and Civic Administration, which offered its first M.B.A. program in 1920.  The Zicklin School routinely wins national and international recognition for innovation, excellence, diversity, and value.  Recent recognition from U.S. News & World Report ranks Zicklin's M.B.A. program number one in financial value at graduation.

  For additional information and application materials contact:

Zicklin School of Business
Baruch College CUNY
Office of Graduate Admissions
T: (646)312-1300  F: (646)312-1301
ZicklinGradAdmissions@baruch.cuny.edu

 
J.D./M.A. in Forensic Psychology

The J.D./M.A. joint-degree program offers qualified students the opportunity to earn both a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from New York Law School and a Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in Forensic Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, both of which may be completed in as little as four years.

The joint-degree program capitalizes on New York Law School's nationally renowned expertise in mental disability law with John Jay College's highly recognized specialization in forensic psychology, to develop lawyers who will be uniquely trained to advocate for persons with mental disabilities as practitioners, policy makers, and legal scholars.  Graduates will also be able to work as M.A. Psychologists exempt from doctoral-level licensure in limited New York State civil service job settings, and as M.A. psychologists in various other states, depending upon their licensing laws.

Program Structure and Benefits
The focus of the program is on forensic psychology and mental disability law.  The curriculum is composed of the existing required and elective courses for the M.A. and for the J.D., requiring a combined total of 128 credits, including 42 credits for the completion of the M.A. in Forensic Psychology and 86 credits for the completion of the J.D. program.  However 12 credits of New York Law School courses in mental disability law, completed as online courses, will be credited toward both the J.D. and the M.A. programs.  Likewise, 12 M.A. credits from the John Jay College Forensic Psychology program will be credited towards both the M.A. and the J.D.  Thus, with 24 credits applied through the joint-degree program, the actual number of credits taken will be 104.  For a full-time student, the result is graduation with both degrees in four years rather than five.

Students may begin their training in either the J.D. or the M.A. program, but the first year must be exclusively in one program, followed by the second year exclusively in the other program.  Students may then mix courses between courses in the third and fourth years.

Standards of the American Bar Association do not allow coursework taken prior to matriculation in the J.D. degree to be transferred or credited towards the J.D., thus forensic psychology courses completed prior to J.D. matrictulation cannot be used in credit-sharing. 

The M.A. in Forensic Psychology will consist of 24 required credits; 15 foresnic elective credits, including 12 credits from the New York Law School Mental Disability Law track; and 3 credits of externship.  The J.D. will consist of 41 required credits, twelve credits from Mental Disability Law Studies, 12 credits transferred fro the John Jay College M.A. in Forensic Psychology program, and 21 additional Law School elective credits.

A typical course sequence for a student choosing to start in the M.A. program would like like this; students choosing to start int he J.D. program would switch the first and second year:

Applying to the Joint-Degree Program
Candidates must submit separate applications to both programs fulfilling the admission requirements for each.  The M.A. program requires a bachelor's degree with an undergraduate minimum G.P.A. of 3.0; G.R.E. with a minimum score of 1000 combined in Verbal and Quantitative (of the equivalent percentile on the L.S.A.T.); a minimum of 12 combined psychology credits in undergraduate and graduate coursework; Statistics and Research Methods, both of which can be taken upon admission to the program; personal statement; and recommendations.  For additional information on Graduate Admission at John Jay College, click here.

Admission to the J.D. program is only for fall entry.  The New York Law School J.D. admission process is competitive; additional information is found at www.nyls.edu/prospective_students.

Career Possibilities
Attorneys with a specialization in forensic psychology and mental disability law may consider work with nonprofit organizations or public interest law firms, representing individual clients denied services or rights, or advocating for systematic change, or in offices specializing in the defense or prosecution of criminal defendants.   They may represent persons with mental disabilities regarding commitment to psychiatric hospital, institutional rights issues, deinstitutionalization questions, informed consent, guardianship, access to community services and all issues in the criminal justice system that relate to defendants with mental disabilities. They may also work for nonprofit corporations such as hospitals, or government agencies at the state or federal level.  Some possibilities include departments of mental health and disability, human services, state juvenile and adult correctional services, health services and various mental health profession regulatory agencies.

About John Jay College of Criminal Justice
In the mid-1950's, civic leaders the the New York City Police Department became increasingly aware of the growing complexity of police work, not only in the internal administration and operation of the department, but also in the ongoing relations between police and the community.  In response to these concerns, a Police Science Program was established in 1954 at the then Baruch School of Business and Public Administration of City College.  This program emphasized a strong liberal arts curriculum as the basis of a sound police education.

Over the next decade, the program grew substantially, attracting larger and larger numbers of students.  By 1964 a special committee convened the Board of Higher Education recommended the estabilshment of an independent degree-granting school of police science.  The College of Police Science of the City University of New York (CUNY) ws thus established and in September 1965 it admitted its first class of students.

Within a year it became clear that the name assigned to the College did not adequately represent the mission of the College.  In recognition of its broad educational objective in the process of criminal justice, development of leadership and emphasis on professional achievement in public service, the College was renamed John Jay College of Criminal Justice, in honor of the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Today, a thriving, urban, multicultural institution and a senior college of CUNY, John Jay attracts motivated students of proven achievement who have the intellectual acuity, moral commitment, and professional competence to confront the challenges of crime, justice, and public safety in a free society.  Their ability and drive, along with the superb, professional education for which John Jay is know have established the College's national and international reputation for excellence in criminal justice and public service education.

 For additional information and application materials contact:

Office of Graduate Admissions
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
The City University of New York
445 West 59th Street, Room 1101N
New York, NY  10019
T: (212)237-8863

Joint-Degree Coordinator for M.A.
James Wulach, Ph.D., J.D.
jwulach@jjay.cuny.edu
T: (212)237-8782

Bachelor's/J.D. with Stevens Institute of Technology

The Joint Undergraduate and J.D. Program with the Stevens Institute of Technology prepares students for careers that combine technology and law, enabling selected students to complete both their undergraduate and law school degrees in a six- or seven-year period, depending on whether the law study is on a full-or part-time basis.