Donya Ashnaei is the only person to graduate from the University of Toronto with a combined JD and MA in Economics in 2024. Her convocation ceremony falls in the middle of the two bar exams she must write to practice law here in Ontario.
Luckily, Donya is accustomed to doing two things at once. The JD/MA in Economics program enables students to complete both the JD and the 8-month MA program in three years of academic study rather than the four years that would normally be required to earn each degree separately.
“The story of my combined degree is that you can make anything out of it that you want, you don’t have to limit yourself!” Donya explained. “It can be hard to be young and be forced to choose between silos. I wasn’t ready to give up economics yet, but I also knew I wanted to pursue law, so I decided to do both! UofT has one of the only programs in the country that would allow me to pursue both degrees. Unfortunately, that meant I had an extremely heavy workload over the past three years, but I think it was definitely worth it.” [Read more…]
