A new program will allow Mississippi State University students who want to pursue a law degree at Mississippi College to accelerate the process.
Representatives from both schools recently met in Starkville to sign a memorandum of understanding to create the new 3+3 program that will allow Mississippi State students to enter Mississippi College’s law school in Jackson before fully completing their bachelor’s degree. The program will trim two semesters off the required time to obtain a law degree from Mississippi College.
“Mississippi State and Mississippi College share similar values and a commitment to serve, and I’m so pleased we have been able to work with President (Blake) Thompson and his leadership team to develop this accelerated academic pathway,” Mississippi State President Mark E. Keenum said. “It’s an exceptional opportunity for students, our institutions, and the state of Mississippi.”
After three years of undergraduate studies at Mississippi State, students will be allowed to begin juris doctorate classes at Mississippi College. Upon completion of set requirements, the Mississippi College School of Law will award the student a professional diploma before they embark on taking the bar exam.
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Thompson, who has served as president at Mississippi College since 2018, added that the program is intended to not only give students a head start but to keep attorneys in Mississippi.
“This new partnership between MSU and MC Law allows us to better serve Mississippi by pairing our state’s largest land-grant university and its only capital city law school,” Thompson said. “The arrangement offers a tremendous benefit to the students of both institutions, and it will help keep our brightest future attorneys in the state.”
Mississippi State students will be able to apply for the new program annually between Sept. 1 and March 31. Following admission, classes at Mississippi College School of Law will begin during the fall semester of a student’s fourth year.
