When you join the JD/PhD program, you can expect to earn both of your degrees within six or seven years. Typically, you will spend the first year at the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences. The second academic year is spent full-time in the first-year curriculum at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. Years three and four continue with study at the Law School, with some course work in Psychology possible. The remaining three years are spent with psychology coursework, a PhD qualifying examination, and researching and writing a PhD dissertation.

Once admitted to both programs independently, students will be able to seek each school’s relevant financial support. Students can pay for Law School with standard methods like assets, loans, and need-based financial assistance (if qualified). The PhD program may provide tuition, fees, stipends, and health insurance support according to the Department’s requirements.

Students should apply contemporaneously for admission to both the Department of Psychology and the Law School, noting on both that they have applied to the other. There may be a rare case when a student who has been accepted into the PhD program may, in the first year of that course of study, apply for admission to the Law School and to the Dual Degree Program.

For more information, admitted or current JD students should contact Amanda S. Aronoff. Applicants or prospective applicants to the Law School should contact contactadmissions@law.upenn.edu.