波士顿大学

Boston University offers qualified students the opportunity to combine the study of law with coursework in history. The dual degree program facilitates inquiry at the two fields’ intersection in legal history. Successful candidates receive both the Juris Doctor (JD) degree and a Master of Arts (MA) degree.

The dual degree program ordinarily can be completed in six semesters, rather than the eight semesters required to obtain each degree independently because some courses can be credited toward both degrees.

Academic Requirements

To earn the MA, students must complete eight graduate courses (normally 32 credits) in history. To earn the JD, students must earn at least 85 School of Law (LAW) credits, and must comply with additional school requirements. The dual degree program allows students to receive joint credit for some courses taken at BU Law and in the Department of History, subject to the limitations described below.

The Department of History requires that dual degree students complete at least four graduate-level courses in history, the same four courses that are required for every MA candidate: 1) GRS HI 800 European Historiography; 2) GRS HI 850 American Historiography; 3) GRS HI 870 African Historiography; and 4) GRS HI 801 The Historian’s Craft.

The above four history courses also may be applied to the JD, up to a maximum of 12 credits total. Students apply these history courses to the JD during their second and third years of law school (typically one course per semester).

Students also must take at least two School of Law courses in legal history during their second and/or third years of law school from a list approved annually by legal history faculty at the School of Law.

To complete the eight courses required for the MA in History, students must take two additional courses chosen with the advisor’s approval from graduate courses in history, LAW courses in legal history (drawn from the approved course list), or other graduate courses approved by the student’s advisor. If the two additional courses are approved LAW courses, the student receives credit for those courses both at GRS and at the School of Law.