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Hey guys,

I'm strongly considering doing the JD/MA route but wondering how it would work. I'm assuming the First Year(1L) I would have to take the obligatory Law courses that everyone takes Contracts, Constitutional law, Torts.

However, after L1, it seems that my L2 and L3 involves optional courses, hence I could take all the courses from my MA?

The MA I plan on doing offers funding. I wonder if the MA offers funding and I take most of my at the MA department during in 2L and 3L I can just get credits at the Law School for the courses I take?

Since the program is meant to last 3 years I doubt that I can take a lot of courses at my Law school. It could also use the summer to continue studying.

Any way, these are some ideas I have. I wonder how has your experience been?

Most law schools cap the number of credits you can take in other departments and apply toward your JD (in my program I think it was 12? but I could be misremembering), so I don't think you could just take MA classes during year 2 & 3 - it will depend on how many credits the MA requires and how many you can double-count (will the MA program count any of your law school classes? For ex, I've had education grad students in law school classes taking them for credit for their MA).

I know for people doing the JD/MBA, it took them 4 years total - they did 1L classes their first year, first year MBA classes their 2nd year, and then filled out the electives for both during the 3rd year (which counted as their 2L year) and 4th year (which counted as their 3L year). But a 1-year MA program would probably be easier to squeeze in on top of your law school stuff in 3 years.

The concern with taking classes during the summer is that if you want to work as a lawyer after graduation, getting job experience during your 1L and 2L summers is really important. So you don't want to take classes if they're going to interfere with your ability to work.

Is this a formal dual degree program promoted by the school? If so, they likely have a sample schedule available, with specialized courses geared towards the students on the specialized track. I did a dual ba/ma program, and when you have particular ground to cover, there is likely a road map set out.