Syracuse College of Law adds RIT to list of schools with 3+3 admissions agreement

SYRACUSE — The Syracuse University (SU) College of Law recently announced a 3+3 admissions agreement with the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), allowing RIT students to pursue a law degree at SU. 

The pact enables qualified students to obtain their bachelor’s and law degrees in six years, instead of seven, Syracuse said in a news release.

Under the agreement, RIT students who are admitted and enroll through the 3+3 program must complete all coursework required of their undergraduate major in three years. Their first year in the College of Law then fulfills the final year of their bachelor’s degree, allowing 3+3 students to finish both degrees in six years.

“Among our multi-disciplinary research centers and institutes, the College of Law’s Innovation Law Center (ILC) will be of special interest to RIT students,” Craig Boise, dean of the Syracuse College of Law, contended. “This program attracts top law students interested in intellectual property law, and it is a particularly good fit for students with a science and technology background. ILC is just one of Syracuse’s applied learning opportunities, along with our nationwide externship program and our advocacy program, ranked 15th in the nation.”

Designated the New York State Science and Technology Law Center since 2004, ILC offers a technology commercialization law curricular program for students interested in the technical, legal, and business aspects of bringing new technologies to market. In addition to focused doctrinal study, ILC students work on research projects for real technologies on behalf of universities, federal research laboratories, technology development organizations, and established companies and startups. The program provides a foundation for careers in law firms, corporations, government agencies, tech transfer offices, and consulting and investment banking firms, according to Syracuse University. 

With this agreement, RIT joins other 3+3 schools that partner with Syracuse University College of Law in upstate New York — Alfred University, Le Moyne College, Nazareth College, and St. John Fisher College — as well as Syracuse’s Whitman School of Management and three Atlanta–based historically Black colleges and universities, including Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College.

“The 3+3 agreement with Syracuse provides our students with an accelerated pathway to one of the top law schools in New York State, just 90 miles from Rochester, trimming one year off the total time for an undergraduate and law degree,” LaVerne McQuiller-Williams, interim dean for the RIT College of Liberal Arts, said. “This new partnership enables our students not only to get a jump on their legal careers, in many cases student will save on tuition and living expenses.”