Overview

Doctor of Juridical Science students at The University of Iowa must spend at least one academic year (two semesters) in residence in the SJD program at the College of Law.

Features

Students must complete 18 s.h. of credit during their first year of residency; students who have not earned an LLM degree complete 24 s.h. They must enroll in the SJD tutorial (5 s.h. each semester; 10 s.h. total) to conduct research and writing under the supervision of their SJD dissertation committee.

Programme Structure

Curriculum:

The work in the SJD tutorial focuses on formulating a detailed dissertation proposal, beginning research for and writing of portions of the dissertation, and completing one or more chapters.

Students are expected to write a dissertation of publishable quality making a significant and original contribution to legal scholarship. The dissertation should be a book-length manuscript or a series of related articles of equivalent intellectual ambition and scope.

The balance of the required 18 s.h. will be earned through research and writing related to a student’s dissertation, supervised by the student’s SJD chair. However, at the discretion of a student’s SJD committee, some of the semester hours may be allocated to courses or seminars that the committee feels a student needs to strengthen their ability to write a successful dissertation.

Key information

Duration

Full-time
- 60 months

Start dates & application deadlines

Starting 2027-01-20 00:00:00
- Apply before 2026-05-01 00:00:00

Language

English

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Credits

72 SCH

Delivered

On Campus

Campus Location

Iowa City, United States

Disciplines

Civil & Private Law Public Law View 61 other PhDs in Public Law in United States

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Academic requirements

We are not aware of any specific GRE, GMAT or GPA grading score requirements for this programme.

English requirements

Duolingo English Test

120

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IELTS

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Other requirements

General requirements

To be admitted to the SJD program, students typically first complete the LLM degree at the University of Iowa or a similar master's-level degree at another law school, either in the United States or at an English-language law school with academic standards equivalent to those of highly ranked United States LLM programs.

In appropriate circumstances, the admissions committee will consider applications from excellent students without an English-language master’s-level degree who wish to proceed directly to work on their SJD degree.

All applicants must show strong evidence of scholarly research and writing abilities.

Tuition Fees

Tuition fees are shown in and the most likely applicable fee is shown based on your nationality.

International Applies to you

Applies to you

Non-residents

32776 USD / year

≈ 32776 USD / year
Out-of-State

32776 USD / year

≈ 32776 USD / year
Domestic

Applies to you

In-State

13829 USD / year

≈ 13829 USD / year

Living costs

Iowa City

United States

1187 - 1841 USD / month

The living costs include the total expenses per month, covering accommodation, public transportation, utilities (electricity, internet), books and groceries.

Funding

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Scholarships Information

Below you will find PhD's scholarship opportunities for Juridical Science.

Available Scholarships

You are eligible to apply for these scholarships but a selection process will still be applied by the provider.

About

Overview

Features

Programme Structure

Key information

Duration

Start dates & application deadlines

Language

Prepare for Your English Test

Credits

Delivered

Campus Location

Disciplines

What students do after studying

Academic requirements

English requirements

Prepare for Your English Test

Other requirements

General requirements

Tuition Fees

International Applies to you

Domestic

Living costs

Iowa City

Funding

Scholarships Information

Available Scholarships

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