Saint Louis University's accelerated Bioethics and Health Studies B.A. to Law, J.D. program allows students to apply a maximum of 30 first-year law school credits to their undergraduate degree programs and receive their bachelor’s degree after the successful completion of the first year at the SLU School of Law.
For additional information, see the catalog entries for the following SLU programs:
Bioethics and Health Studies, B.A.
Accreditation
Saint Louis University School of Law has been continuously accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) since December 1924. The accrediting body is the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the American Bar Association, 321 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60654, 312-988-6738.
Students are eligible to apply to Saint Louis University's Bioethics and Health Studies/J.D. program any time in their undergraduate career. Students must maintain a 3.50 cumulative GPA to continue in the accelerated program.
Students may apply to the Bioethics and Health Studies BA/JD program after they have completed 15-48 credits at SLU, 3 credits of which should be a 3000-level course in Health Care Ethics. Students must maintain a 3.5 cumulative GPA in order to continue in the accelerated program. After having completed 75 credits, students will submit an application to SLU Law. If admitted to SLU Law, these students will begin their JD program during their fourth year of study. The first year of law school coursework will count as elective credit toward the undergraduate BA degree, therefore the College of Arts and Sciences will award students their BA degree after the successful completion of their first year of law school.
Students are required to complete at least 75% of the credits necessary to earn their undergraduate degree, a minimum of 90 credits, before they matriculate at SLU Law. These credits must include both core curriculum requirements (for those completing the CAS Core totals between 54-63 credits; for those completing the new University Core totals 32 credits) and Bioethics and Health Studies major requirements (36 credits). All core curriculum and major requirements will be met before students matriculate as first- year law students.
Continuation Standards
Each accelerated program student will be assigned a faculty mentor in the Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics, who will meet with the student every semester. These meetings will ensure that the student makes timely progress toward a degree.
The health care ethics faculty mentor will also review each accelerated student's academic record at the end of each semester. Any student whose cumulative GPA falls below 3.50 will go on probation. If the student's GPA does not improve to the minimum level of 3.50 throughout 30 subsequent credits, the student will be suspended from the accelerated program. A student who is suspended from the accelerated program will be allowed to continue with the B.A. in Bioethics and Health Studies in accordance with the department's undergraduate continuation standard.