MS/JD Journalism/Law Joint Degree

Curriculum Requirements:
To receive the M.S./J.D., a student must complete a minimum of 108 credit hours. Of these, at least, 81 credit hours must be from courses offered by the School of Law and 28 must be from the master’s program in journalism.

Students in the joint degree program should note that while the School of Law requires a 2.0 grade point average in J.D. coursework to remain in good standing and for graduation, the master’s degree in Journalism follows the Graduate School regulation requiring a 3.0 cumulative grade point average for coursework that is counted toward the M.S. portion of the joint degree.

In planning their enrollments, students should inform themselves of course prerequisites and plan their course schedules accordingly. Please refer to the J-School and Law School web sites for the most current information about admission and graduation requirements: Journalism and Law.  

Graduate Program at a Glance:

* Note: Individual courses may have additional prerequisites.

Graduate Degree Requirements (All Courses of Study):

All Journalism master’s candidates must complete a minimum of 36 graduate credit hours in Marketing Communications (MarComm) and 37 graduate credit hours in Mass Communications with at least a B (3.0) average. In addition, students must complete Core Course requirements, Professional Course requirements and Advanced Course requirements.

Core Course Requirements: The core graduate courses help student develop research and critical thinking skills.

Advanced Course Requirements: A Mass Communications student must complete a project/thesis. Two seminars on topics of current research or professional practice help students explore and learn to present research findings.

Enrollment Requirements after Completing Course Requirements: A student must enroll for at least 1 hour of credit in the semester in which he or she graduates. The student must complete 3 hours of JOUR 898 (Project) or JOUR 899 (Thesis).

Enrollment in Elective Courses Outside the School: Up to 6 credit hours of course work may be completed outside the School, with the approval of the graduate director or graduate committee. Students who wish to take a course or courses outside the School must have permission from both the instructor of the course and from the School. The student should submit a written proposal to the Graduate Director and should indicate how the course contributes to her/his master’s program.