Please note: The 3+3 track described in this article is no longer available.
Elmhurst College and The John Marshall Law School have established joint academic programs in law and business that will enable students to earn advanced degrees in a significantly shorter period of time.
The collaboration between Elmhurst College and The John Marshall Law School creates a 3+3 law program that enables students to earn both a bachelor’s degree and a law degree in just six years; and a JD/MBA dual-degree program in which students enrolled at these institutions may simultaneously pursue a Juris Doctor degree at The John Marshall Law School and a Master of Business Administration at Elmhurst College.
“At John Marshall, we are eager to engage undergraduates in the study of law through our 3+3 partnership,” John Marshall Dean John E. Corkery said. “We are excited to join our colleagues at Elmhurst in helping law students begin their careers early, with less law school debt burden. Our new dual-degree program gives law students the opportunity to acquire business skills that will help advance their careers and give them an even greater edge in the job market.”
Alzada Tipton, Elmhurst College’s senior vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty, said, “Elmhurst College students will have greater opportunities to pursue their professional goals, thanks to our partnership with John Marshall. Our undergraduates will appreciate knowing early that they have been admitted to law school and are on an accelerated track to pursue their dream of becoming a lawyer; and our MBA students will benefit from the distinctiveness and legal expertise the JD/MBA combination will give them.”
Under the 3+3 law program, Elmhurst undergraduate students take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) by January of their junior year in anticipation of enrolling at John Marshall. Students accepted into the program will be eligible to begin taking classes at John Marshall upon the completion of their junior year. They will receive their Elmhurst undergraduate degree after successfully completing the first year at John Marshall, and the Juris Doctor upon completion of the three-year law school curriculum.
Under the JD/MBA dual-degree program, accepted students may apply up to nine semester hours of coursework in one program toward the other degree, allowing them to earn two degrees in substantially less time than it normally would take. To apply for the dual-degree program, students must apply and be accepted to both Elmhurst College and The John Marshall Law School. Students who are new to both Elmhurst and John Marshall may begin the JD degree on a full-time or part-time basis at John Marshall. Students currently enrolled in the MBA program at Elmhurst apply to John Marshall as a part-time JD student.
The John Marshall Law School, founded in 1899, is an independent law school located in the heart of Chicago’s legal, financial and commercial districts. The 2015 U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Graduate Schools ranks John Marshall’s Lawyering Skills Program second and its Intellectual Property Law program 12th in the nation. Since its inception, John Marshall has been a pioneer in legal education and has been guided by a tradition of diversity, innovation, access and opportunity.