Submatriculation: Law

JD Degree Program in Penn Law

Penn’s Law School offers an opportunity for qualified juniors in Penn Engineering to apply early to the Law School and submatriculate into the JD program beginning their fourth year. The program is designed as a 3-year + 3-year accelerated program for highly qualified Engineering undergraduates either in the Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) or Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) degree programs. The details of this program are as follows:

• If admitted, the student’s entire fourth year will be registered as primary enrolled in Penn Law, spending that year as a full-time student in the Law School with the first year class and taking only Law courses. Prior to applying, BSE degree students must obtain permission from their Undergraduate Chair and the Engineering Academic Programs Office to complete the required senior year courses in their fifth and sixth years.
• The Law School Admissions Committee will select students for admission as submatriculants. The rigorous selection process for the JD submatriculation program is designed to assure that each candidate is evaluated in terms of their academic promise and potential contribution to the intellectual life of the law school community. Applicants to the program should have superior communicative and analytical skills. The Admissions Committee considers factors such as the academic record, which includes course selection and grades, either a LSAT, GRE, or GMAT  score, letters of recommendation, community service, extra-curricular activities and the applicant’s examples of written expression.
• Submatriculants will be allowed to use Law courses to satisfy the unrestricted Free Electives (3 CU) and/or the Social Science and Humanities requirements where appropriate.
• Students must satisfy all of the requirements for the JD degree during their fourth, fifth and sixth years.  Following their matriculation in the law school, however, submatriculants may apply up to four (4) engineering or other 1 CU courses taken at the 5000 level or above during the fifth and sixth years of the program, to double count for both degrees.
• Submatriculants may file for graduation from the undergraduate program at the end of the term in which they will have satisfied all requirements for the BSE or BAS degree from Penn Engineering. (Note that students may participate with their original undergraduate class graduation ceremonies, regardless of when they actually complete all of the degree requirements.) All students in the program must have completed all the requirements for the undergraduate degree before they may receive their law degree.
• Please note that for submatriculants, the primary school at Penn will be the Law School. As such, those who receive undergraduate financial aid will terminate their undergraduate aid package. However, submatriculants will be eligible to apply for graduate financial aid.

Procedures for students interested in this opportunity are as follows:

Engineering-related: Meet with an advisor in the Office of Academic Services (OAS). Please be prepared to discuss your interest in this program, during which time an up-to-date detailed academic plan should be completed and discussed. You must show how you will meet graduation requirements within the double-counting limitations described above. (For BSE degree students, this is also when permission must be sought to defer senior year requirements into the 5th and 6th years.)

Law-related: Review the application procedures for the JD. Submit the completed application with all requested materials by March 1. For additional information, contact the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid, Penn Law School. (Tel: 215-898-7400 | Email: contactadmissions@law.upenn.edu).