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JD/MBA
The Wharton School

Penn Law announces new three-year JD/MBA.

Penn’s three-year JD/MBA is the country’s first fully integrated three-year program offered on one campus by elite law and business schools.

The first three-year JD/MBA class will be enrolled in September 2009.

Students can still earn both degrees in four years.

Why Penn for the JD/MBA?

  • Penn Law’s interdisciplinary scholarship is particularly strong in business.
  • Wharton is the world’s leader in business, especially in finance, accounting, real estate and healthcare.
  • Nine Law School faculty hold economics PhDs and two have MBAs.
  • Wharton is the world’s largest business school with more than 200 standing faculty in 11 departments, including marketing, management, statistics and operations.

Applicants must:

  • Have some work experience, typically two years or more
  • Be admitted by both schools in order to enroll in the three-year program.

How the new three-year JD/MBA works:

  • Students spend the first year in Law School and the following summer in Law and Wharton courses designed specifically for the three-year JD/MBA.
  • The second and third years include a combination of Law and Wharton courses, including a capstone course in the third year and work experience in a law firm or corporation in the summer between the second and third years.
First Year First Year Summer Second Year Second Year Summer Third Year
Law School 4 Wharton/Law courses (exclusive to the three-year program) Wharton: Core Courses
Law: Corporations; Mergers & Acquisitions 		Internship in either Law or Business Capstone;
Wharton: 4-5 courses
Law: 4-5 courses

Students interested in the three-year program must be accepted by Wharton either before starting at the Law School or during their 1L year.

Q&A about the three-year JD/MBA.

How the four-year JD/MBA works:

Students apply separately to each school. Applications to the MBA program are welcomed contemporaneously with the Law School application or during the 1L or 2L year. Both schools require the appropriate standardized testing with application.

Here are possible tracks for completing the program in four years.

First year Second year Third year Fourth year
Option 1 – contemporaneous applications 1L MBA 2L & MBA courses 3L & MBA courses
Option 2 – contemporaneous applications MBA 1L 2L & MBA courses 3L & MBA courses
Option 3 – apply to MBA while in Law program* 1L 2L MBA 3L & MBA courses
Option 4 – apply to MBA while in Law program* 1L MBA 2L & MBA courses 3L & MBA courses
Option 5 – apply to Law while in MBA program* MBA 1L 2L & MBA courses 3L & MBA courses

*Please note that courses taken in one department prior to matriculation in the other cannot be counted toward the second degree.

Additional information: