Rutgers School of Law-Newark and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School (UMDNJ-NJMS) offer a joint degree, which culminates in the granting of a juris doctor (J.D.) degree from Rutgers and a doctor of medicine (M.D.) degree from UMDNJ-NJMS. The program permits highly qualified students to complete the required courses for professional degrees in law and medicine in a six-year combined sequence.
A special joint-degree committee is responsible for admissions decisions and overall administration of the program. The committee is composed of the senior associate dean for education of UMDNJ-NJMS and the associate dean for student affairs of the law school or their designees.
Each applicant for admission to the joint program must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States and also must have received a baccalaureate degree from an undergraduate college accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Applications from persons who received a baccalaureate degree or the equivalent from a foreign institution may be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Applicants must take both the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) and register for the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) Credential Assembly Service (CAS) to be considered for admission to the program. After preliminary evaluation of applications by the admissions offices of both Rutgers and UMDNJ-NJMS, the joint committee will interview selected candidates and make the final selection of students to be admitted to the joint-degree program. Applicants not invited for an interview or not selected for admission to the joint-degree program after the interview may pursue matriculation either at Rutgers or UMDNJ-NJMS.
A student admitted to the joint program will begin his or her first two years of study at UMDNJ-NJMS, completing the core requirements for the M.D. degree according to the curriculum requirements of UMDNJ-NJMS. The student will spend the next year at Rutgers completing the law school's core requirements for the J.D. degree. The next three years will be spent in a combined curriculum selected from courses at Rutgers and at UMDNJ-NJMS. Candidates must complete all required courses for both programs.
Persons interested in the J.D./M.D. program must apply separately to both Rutgers School of Law-Newark and UMDNJ-NJMS with a note attached to each application stating that admission is being sought to both schools for participation in the six-year joint program in law and medicine.
