[Romona Keith] The dual degree program allows the student to pursue a Juris Doctor degree and a master’s degree concurrently. It allows the student to receive both degrees and it reduced the amount of time, ultimately allowing the student to save money when pursuing both degrees.

The best type of student to pursue a dual degree is someone who doesn’t want to follow the typical career path of a J.D. student, a student who wants to allow the graduate degree to complement the J.D. degree knowing that it will open the doors or offer different opportunities for them.

We offered twelve dual degree programs here at Carolina. Our most popular dual degrees are International Business Administration, Business Administration, Social Work and our Environmental Law and Policy with Vermont Law School.

[Jeff Gerstenberger] So when I was looking for a law school specifically, I actually was looking for a specific dual degree program and University of South Carolina offered that.

So the dual degree on completing it so that J.D. and M.H.A., which is a masters in health care administration. And so that’s through the School of Public Health. And it’s basically like an MBA but with health care focus. I’m wanting to go into hospital administration. I thought it was the perfect degree combo for me to pursue that career.

Another perk of working in between two programs is the connections that you have for job opportunities, internships, externships, graduate assistant ships. And there’s a lot of opportunities that come from being in two different programs and making use of both those programs will also be a huge competitive edge going forward as a resume builder, but also as a professional development.