Apply to the J.S.D. Program
THE GRADUATE STUDIES COMMITTEE WILL BEGIN ACCEPTING APPLICATION MATERIAL FOR THE 2012-2013 ACADEMIC YEAR ON MARCH 1, 2012. PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT ANY MATERIAL PRIOR TO THAT DATE. THE APPLICATION DEADLINE WILL BE APRIL, 1, 2012.
In order to qualify for admission to the J.S.D. Program, candidates must ordinarily have maintained at least a 178 average (approximately top 25% of the class) in their LL.M. coursework at Chicago or have a comparable record in another United States LL.M. program, must identify two or more faculty members who are willing to supervise a dissertation, and must submit a dissertation proposal that in the opinion of the Graduate Studies Committee promises to result in a creditable contribution to legal scholarship.
The JSD application process has two phases. In the first phase - called the preliminary application - the Graduate Studies Committee will determine if a candidate is a good match for our J.S.D. Program by reviewing the candidate's background (including the academic record), the candidate's career plans and a description of the topic the candidate plans to develop in his or her dissertation. Candidates should not contact Chicago faculty until the preliminary J.S.D. application has been approved by the Committee. If the Graduate Studies Committee determines that the candidate is appropriate for our J.S.D. Program, the candidate will then begin the formal J.S.D. application phase by contacting several professors at Chicago and asking them to guide the production of a detailed J.S.D. dissertation proposal. Once that proposal is complete and is approved by the faculty supervisors it will then be presented to the Graduate Studies Committee for a final admission decision.
Phase One - the preliminary J.S.D. application – Chicago LL.M. graduates and current Chicago students. Candidates interested in earning a J.S.D. degree will work with the Assistant Dean for Graduate Programs in preparing their preliminary applications. Once they are ready to submit their preliminary applications to the Graduate Studies Committee they will submit to the Assistant Dean the following items: 1) a description of the topic the candidate would like to develop in the dissertation, 2) the names of the faculty members the candidate would like to supervise the dissertation, 3) a current resume describing the candidate's academic and professional background, 4) a statement describing why the candidate wishes to pursue the J.S.D. degree and how that degree will be useful in the candidate's future career. All of this material may be submitted to the Assistant Dean in hard copy or via email. The deadline for applying to the J.S.D. Program is April 1. The Graduate Studies Committee may defer a decision on the preliminary application for current LL.M. students until the grades for the full LL.M. year become available.
Phase One - the preliminary J.S.D. application – LL.M. graduates and current students of LL.M. programs in other U.S. law schools. Unlike Chicago LL.M. graduates or current Chicago LL.M. students who already have many documents on file at the Law School, candidates who have attended other United States law schools must submit these documents as part of their preliminary J.S.D. applications. Please see a full description of the application process for non Chicago candidates.
Phase Two - the formal JSD application. Once the Graduate Studies Committee has approved a candidate's preliminary application, the candidate will be free to contact the faculty supervisors to start substantive discussions about refining the dissertation proposal. When the dissertation proposal is complete, the candidate should submit the proposal to the Assistant Dean for Graduate Programs. At the same time, the faculty supervisors will send an email recommendation about the proposal to the Assistant. Once these two items have been received, the Graduate Studies Committee will select one or more faculty members to read the proposal and provide the Committee with an evaluation. After this evaluation has been done, the Graduate Studies Committee will make a final decision on admission to the J.S.D. Program.