Graduation Requirements

• Credits, Qualifying Courses, and Completion Timeframe
• Required Courses
• Advanced Writing Requirement
• Cardin Requirement
• Good Standing
• Residency

Residency Requirement

Satisfy the residency requirement.

First-year students, other than part-time day students, must take all courses in the division in which they are registered. The first-year requirements are (all required courses except as noted):

• full-time students entering in Fall 2004, 32 credits;
• full-time students entering in Fall 2005, 16 credits in the fall semester and 13 credits in the spring semester, and may take electives for 2-3 credits in the spring semester;
• full-time students entering in Fall 2006, 16 credits in the fall semester and 13 credits in the spring, and must take one or more electives for a total of no more than 17 credits in the spring;
• full-time students entering in Fall 2007 or later, 16 credits in the fall semester and 13 credits in the spring, and must take one (and no more than one) elective course in the spring.
• first year evening students take 20 credits their first year, 10 credits in each semester, and in the spring semester, also may take one elective course for no more than 12 credits, unless special permission is requested and approved.
• part-time day program students must discuss their individual scheduling requirements with the Acting Director of Registration & Enrollment.

To fulfill the residency requirement, day division students are required to carry not less than 11 hours nor more than 17 hours of course work during the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth semesters; evening division students are required to carry not less than eight hours nor more than 12 hours during the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth semesters of residence. ABA standards permit full-time students to take no more than 17 credits in any semester, and permit students working more than 20 hours per week (presumably all evening division students) to take no more than 12 credits per semester and, in the summer session, permit students to take no more than nine credits. Academic credits accepted on a transfer basis earn residency credit as if those credits had been earned at Maryland law school.

For purposes of the residency rule, students registered in the evening division are considered evening division students regardless of the number of credit hours actually taken in any one semester; part-time day division students are treated as evening division students.

Students may not transfer from one division to another without permission of the Acting Director of Registration & Enrollment. (Evening students permitted to transfer to the day after the first year must continue to take required courses, except Advanced Legal Research and Legal Profession, in the evening.) Students must take a majority of credits in the division, day or evening, for which they are registered. Courses with a starting time of 4:20 p.m. or later and prior to 6:30 p.m., or on Saturdays, Independent Written Work and credits earned in co-curricular activities are considered either day or evening courses for purposes of this rule.

Most students spend at the law school either six semesters as full time students or eight semesters as evening students. For them, the residence rule poses no problem. However, some students switch between full-time and part-time status (if permitted), or try to shorten their period of study at the school by attending one or more summer sessions. It is very important that students assess what combination of full-time and part-time semesters, and summer sessions, will satisfy the residency requirement.

The Residency Credits Chart lists the proportion of full-time equivalent semesters residency credit received for different credit loads. To graduate, a student’s residency credit must add up to six or more full-time semesters. A student with 5.99 residency credits has not fulfilled the requirement; however, in exceptional circumstances, students who have satisfied all other graduation requirements but the residency credit requirement may petition the Dean of the law school for a waiver of this requirement. Students interested in obtaining a waiver must first speak to the Registrar or the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs before submitting a petition to the Dean.

More on the Curriculum

• Course Catalog
• Class and Orientation Schedules
• Structure of the Required Curriculum
• Graduation Requirements

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