Joint Juris Doctor/Master of International Affairs Program

You must apply to Penn State Law and the School of International Affairs (SIA) separately and must meet both school's admissions requirements. You will be eligible to start taking courses in the SIA program after successfully completing the law school's first-year curriculum.

• Visit each school's website for degree requirements and college-prescribed curriculums.
• You must submit an application to each school, along with any other requirements specific to each school.
• You may complete these applications simultaneously during the time you are applying to the law school OR you may hold off on applying to the graduate school until your first year of law school.

• Once accepted, you will be appointed a department/faculty liaison and an academic adviser for each school.
• You will work with your academic advisers from each school to plan your sequence of courses since many courses are offered on an intermittent basis. Your adviser will help you develop an individualized program schedule that works for you.
• You must successfully complete the first-year Penn State Law curriculum before beginning the Master of International Affairs program.
• You will complete your SIA core courses by the end of the second year of the joint degree program.

If you are an international applicant, you are required to submit English proficiency test scores, unless you are from one of the countries listed as "exempt" on the Graduate School's English proficiency page.

If you are required to submit TOEFL or IELTS scores, you must have the minimum scores listed below, in order to be considered for admission:

1. A minimum score of 6.5 on the IELTS
   
   - OR -
   
   
2. A minimum TOEFL score of 550 from the paper-based test, or 80 from the internet-based test. Applicants with a score of 19 or higher on the speaking sub-section will be considered for admission, though a score of 23 or higher is desirable.

If you've been accepted into the joint degree program, your tuition will include Penn State Law tuition for the J.D. program and SIA tuition for the M.I.A. degree program. You will pay your law school tuition while you are taking courses at Penn State Law in University Park, and pay the SIA tuition during your M.I.A. semesters.

You may take up to one course (three credit hours) per semester in the school where you are not in residence, without any change in tuition, but must pay additional tuition to the non-residential program (the program you are not assigned to) if you wish to take additional coursework at that school during that semester.