MC School of Law-Mississippi State Agreement Allows Qualified MSU Students to Accelerate Their Legal Education

Mississippi College President Blake Thompson, right, and Mississippi State University President Mark E. Keenum sign the agreement enabling a new accelerated pathway for MSU students to enter the MC School of Law. (Photo by Beth Wynn)

The Mississippi College School of Law and Mississippi State University formally signed an agreement on Aug. 21 that allows qualified MSU students to enter MC’s Juris Doctor Program before fully completing a bachelor’s degree, accelerating the total length of undergraduate studies plus law school by one full year. 

The agreement means that MSU students who aspire to become attorneys now have a new accelerated pathway into the legal profession, thanks to the new partnership with Mississippi College.

MC President Blake Thompson and MSU President Mark E. Keenum signed the Memorandum of Understanding alongside MC Provost and Executive Vice President Mike Highfield, MC School of Law Dean John Anderson, MSU Provost and Executive Vice President David Shaw, and MSU Executive Vice Provost Peter Ryan on the Starkville campus.

“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 to keep our brightest future lawyers in the state.”

MSU students who have completed 75 percent of the coursework required for a bachelor’s degree will be eligible for admission to Mississippi College.

After the student successfully completes the first year of the J.D. program (30 hours), MSU will award the appropriate bachelor’s degree. Then, after completing requirements for the J.D. degree, Mississippi College will award this professional diploma.

MC will accept applications Sept. 1-March 31 for admission to the entering class for the following fall semester, which begins each August.

“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 Thompson and his leadership team to develop this accelerated academic pathway,” Keenum said. “It’s an exceptional opportunity for students, our institutions, and the state of Mississippi.”

Students participating in the accelerated degree program must be admitted separately to Mississippi College, and those seeking this accelerated admission should apply to MC using the normal law school application process provided by the Law School Admission Test, or LSAT, which is required. Letters of recommendation will not be required by MC but are effective in enhancing the law school admissions application.

The accelerated MSU-MC program meets requirements of the American Bar Association.

MC’s School of Law has been preparing leaders for the legal profession since 1930 in Jackson, where the State Capitol, Mississippi Supreme Court, federal courts and many of Mississippi’s most respected law firms are in close proximity, giving students practical experience in the field before graduation.

Learn more about Mississippi College and its School of Law at https://law.mc.edu/.