Doctor of Philosophy in Education (JD/Ph.D.)

The William S. Boyd School of Law and the UNLV College of Education offer a dual Juris Doctor/PhD in Education (JD/PhD) degree program that allows students admitted to both programs to pursue the two degrees concurrently.

Credit Requirements

Pursued individually, the JD degree requires the completion of 89 credit hours and the PhD degree requires the completion of a minimum of 67-72 (dependent upon program) credit hours. The JD/PhD degree would require the completion of 83 law credit hours and a minimum of 54-63 (dependent upon program) education credit hours, as 9 hours of education courses are accepted toward the JD degree and 9-18 (dependent upon program) hours of law courses are accepted toward the PhD degree.

Application & Matriculation

Dual degree students receive the JD degree and the transfer of PhD credits only when both degree programs are completed. A dual degree student who does not finish the PhD degree will be able to count just six credits of PhD or other graduate course work toward the JD degree.

Applicants to the JD/PhD degree program must apply for, and gain admission to, both the Boyd School of Law JD program and to the College of Education PhD program, respectively.

Applicants must include a statement in each application indicating the desire to pursue the dual JD/PhD degree.

While applications from current students in either program will be considered, students normally should secure admission to each program upon entering the university. However, petitions requesting admission to the dual JD/PhD program from students at more advanced stages in either program will be considered.

Under American Bar Association standards, the Boyd School of Law cannot award credit for any coursework taken prior to matriculation into the JD program. JD/PhD candidates therefore normally must enroll at the Boyd School of Law and complete on year of study before taking any PhD courses.

At the William S. Boyd School of Law we are educating ethical and effective lawyers and leaders. We are a young law school and we had the privilege of building this school from the ground up: imagining the ideal, modeling best practices, creating an outstanding curriculum, and assembling our fine faculty. We've worked hard to ensure that the ideal we first envisioned has become a reality. Our students are exposed to real-world challenges, professional interactions, and public clinics from the very beginning, and community service is an integral part of their education and experience.

Our center for alternative dispute resolution now ranks among the nation's top. This is also true for our clinical and legal writing programs. But our proudest achievements are those of our students, who win top awards in competitions, secure judicial clerkships, land jobs at prestigious law firms, and enter the workforce prepared to serve their clients and communities.