Yale SOM offers joint-degree study with certain master’s programs in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and with a number of the other professional schools at Yale. At present, these are Architecture, Divinity, Drama, Environment, Law, Medicine, and Public Health. These agreements make it possible for a student to complete two degrees in at least a year less than would be required if the two programs were taken sequentially. SOM also offers opportunities for joint-degree study with doctoral programs in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Information about these programs, including enrollment and degree requirements, is available on the SOM internal website.

Admission decisions for joint-degree programs are made independently by the two schools. Students may apply for concurrent admission to both schools. Alternatively, students may apply for admission to the other school during the first year at SOM. Students already enrolled in one of the other schools with which SOM has joint-degree program agreements may apply to SOM in their first or second year of study, as specified in the appropriate agreement.

The normal pattern for joint-degree candidates in programs totaling three years of study is to spend the entire first year almost exclusively in one school and the entire second year almost exclusively in the other, combining courses from both schools and completing requirements for both degrees during the third year. Candidates in joint-degree programs totaling four years of study (Architecture, Drama, and the four-year Law degree) normally spend two full years almost exclusively in those schools, one full year in SOM, and one year in combined study. Candidates for joint degrees in Medicine normally spend three years exclusively in the School of Medicine, one year almost exclusively in SOM, and one year in combined study.

Students in joint-degree programs are not permitted to enroll in SOM core courses before matriculating at SOM. They must maintain full-time enrollment in both schools at all times. They must satisfy degree requirements in both schools and must receive both degrees simultaneously. In all joint-degree programs, students must enroll in at least two terms of course work at Yale after completing the M.B.A. core. Joint-degree students are required to spend three terms of residency at SOM and pay three terms of tuition to SOM.

Students in all joint-degree programs are required to complete 52 units at SOM to satisfy the M.B.A. degree requirements. At least 35.5 units of grades of Proficient or higher grades must be listed on the SOM transcript; 17 or more units of Pass or Fail grades will be grounds for academic dismissal. Joint-degree students completing their core year of study in the M.B.A. program are subject to the same quality standards as all other students (see the Academic Standards section of this bulletin). 

The School of Management and the schools in which M.B.A. students are enrolled for joint degrees regularly share information about the status of the enrolled students. Shared information may include course registrations and grades, disciplinary actions, or any other information that is normally part of a student’s record. In addition, the academic officers of the two programs may share other information that they believe relevant to understanding a student’s overall performance.

The School of Management and the schools in which M.B.A. students are enrolled for joint degrees separately apply their rules governing a student’s academic performance. In applying these standards, either school may consider the student’s performance in all of the student’s course work. A student whose performance does not meet the requirements and standards of a program may be advised or required to withdraw, or may be dismissed from that program. Such a withdrawal or dismissal does not automatically require dismissal or withdrawal from the other program.

The School of Management and the schools in which M.B.A. students are enrolled for joint degrees jointly apply their rules governing a student’s conduct. A charge of academic dishonesty in a course shall normally be handled by the school offering that course. If the course is jointly offered by the two schools, the charge will normally be handled by the school granting credit for that course.

A charge of general misconduct not related to a particular course or to an event in one of the schools will normally be handled by the school in which the student is currently registered. Jurisdiction over any case may be transferred if the disciplinary officials or committees of both schools agree. The final determination of fact, and any penalty, shall be communicated to the appropriate officials of both schools. A penalty of suspension, expulsion, or loss of course credit will apply to both degree programs.