Joint Degree with the Stanford Law School (MA/JD)

Program Requirements

The following section pertains to the Graduate School of Education's requirements for the MA portion of the MA/JD joint degree. In addition to the following guidelines, students should consult the academic requirements specified by the Stanford Law School (SLS) for the JD portion of the joint degree and the Stanford Bulletin.

Students are strongly encouraged to begin courses for the joint degree program at SLS and must be enrolled full time in SLS for the first year of law school. After that time, enrollment may be in either school or both simultaneously as long as students maintain full-time status.

The faculty adviser, currently Professor Bill Koski, will participate in the planning and supervising of the student's joint program of study. The proposed program of study, also known as the Program Proposal, must be established as part of the student's application to the GSE and must be reviewed by the end of the first quarter in which the student begins to take GSE courses.

Students must complete at least 45 units of instruction at Stanford for the MA portion of their MA/JD joint degree. The following constraints are placed on those 45 units:

• All courses must be at or above the 100 level – courses numbered below 100 do not count toward the MA degree.
• At least 23 units must be at or above the 200 level (EDUC 180 or 190 count toward this requirement).
• No more than 40 quarter units may be counted toward both degrees as follows:
  • Up to 9 quarter units of SLS courses may count as part of the MA.
  • Up to 31 quarter units of Graduate School of Education courses may count as part of the JD. (See the list of pre-approved cross-creditable courses below. In addition, all required/core courses and the inquiry courses are cross-creditable.) Please note that any SLS units of directed research, directed writing, externship, moot court, practicum, senior thesis, or research track reduce the number of non-law units on a one-for-one basis.
• A 3.0 GPA must be maintained for all letter-graded courses applied to the master's degree.*
  * MA/JD students are permitted to take all MA courses for Credit/No Credit. In this case, the minimum GPA does not apply.
• English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOLLANG) and Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation (ATHLETIC) courses cannot be applied towards the master's degree.
• In rare cases, students may be permitted to petition course requirements (NOT unit requirements). To petition course requirements, students must contact the Faculty Director of the program, Professor Bill Koski, and provide approval of the petition to the MA Programs Officer at the Graduate School of Education.
• Rules concerning pass-fail courses, independent study, grade point average, and so forth, will match those set for students in the Law program, and in the Graduate School of Education's MA Student Handbook in the year of matriculation in the joint degree program.

Courses

Please consult ExploreCourses and Axess for the most updated course offering and scheduling information.

Core

2 courses required. Students must take one course from two of the three categories: Organizations, Policy, and History.