J.D./M.P.P. Degree Program

Juris Doctor/Master of Public Policy

Application

Apply and be admitted to each program. (Admission to one program will not affect admission to the other.)

Apply to the Law School by March 1.
Apply to the Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy by February 15.

If you are initially accepted to both schools, you can start your program at either, but you need to make the choice and tell both schools about it by May 15. Do that by contacting each school’s Associate Dean or Director of Admissions.

You can also decide to apply for a combined degree after you’ve become a law student. If you are accepted into the other program, then contact the Law School’s Associate Dean of Administration and the other program’s Director of Admission by May 15.

Contact us

Plan of Study

Start at either program - if you start at the Law School, you will take only law courses your first year. If you start in the Policy Program, you will only take policy courses.
You will take a combination of law and policy courses in your final two years.
You must declare your intentions regarding Law classes that you plan to count toward your policy degree and this must be done at the time of registration.
You must register in the Policy cross-listed number (if the course is listed as either Law or Policy) when you intend to apply the credits and grade to the Policy degree.
If the course is not cross-listed, for instance the PUBP 600 option, then we need to manually code your registration as Grad A&S in the Law course.
Regardless of where you are taking classes, you’ll always retain the rights of a student at each school.

Degree Requirements

Earn 75 law credits.
- You may not apply non-law credit hours to your law degree.
- 65 of your credits for graduation must be in William & Mary Law School courses graded by a letter grade (i.e., A, B, C).
Complete the first- and second-year Law School course requirements.
Earn a minimum cumulative law GPA of 2.5 at the end of the first term of legal study. A student who has not achieved a 2.5 cumulative GPA at the end of the first year of legal study will be dismissed for academic deficiency.
- To be able to continue in residence at the Law School as a 2L or 3L, a student must maintain a term and cumulative grade point average of 2.3.
Comply with all M.P.P. requirements:
- 36 Policy hours
- All other degree requirements
- Earn a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0
- The total credit requirement for the J.D./M.P.P. degree is 111 credits

Tuition and Fees

Pay tuition and fees at the Law School rate for three years.
Pay tuition and fees at the Graduate Arts & Sciences rate for one year - typically the year when predominantly taking M.P.P. courses.

Financial Assistance

If you are eligible, you can be considered for available scholarship funds at either school.
J.D./M.P.P. students may be eligible for a Bolin Fellowship.
If you’re eligible, you can receive up to three years of Law School-administered aid.
If you receive Law School scholarship funds or aid, they are not available during the year you’re paying tuition to the other program.
Educational loan applications are processed by the Office of Student Financial Aid for William & Mary.