Admission

In addition to the general requirements for Admission to Graduate Studies (see General Regulations and Procedures), admission to the MSCJ degree program requires the following:

Unconditional Admission

1. Hold a master’s or higher degree from a regionally accredited university or a university recognized as an accrediting agency by the US Department of Education. Official transcript must reflect that degree was awarded. 
   or
2. Hold a bachelor’s degree and possess a minimum GPA of 2.75 on all attempted undergraduate coursework.

Conditional Admission

Any applicant failing to meet the requirements for unconditional admission to the MSCJ program may be conditionally admitted with recommendations of the graduate faculty in the Department of Politics, Justice, Law, and Philosophy. Applicants granted conditional admittance must achieve a minimum GPA of 3.0 in the first nine hours (three courses) of completed graduate coursework. Failure to make this GPA requirement will result in the student being eliminated from the program.

Advisement

Upon admission to the program, each student is assigned a faculty advisor who will provide continued supervision and guidance.

Degree and Program Plans

The Master of Science in Criminal Justice Degree requires a minimum of 30 semester hours of credit, to include the following:

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Required Core
CJ 618	Crime in America	3
CJ 640	Methods of Research in Criminal Justice	3
CJ 650	Criminological Theory	3
Electives 1		21
21 Hours of Criminal Justice (CJ) electives at the 500/600 level, with a maximum of 15 hours allowed at the 500-level.
Thesis or Non-Thesis Option - select one from the following:
Thesis Option 2
CJ 645	Advanced Statistical Applications 2
CJ 695	Thesis 2
12 hours of 500-600 level criminal justice electives
Non-Thesis Option 3
CJ 698	Comprehensive Examination
Total Hours		30

¹

Any and all CJ 500/600-level courses will be applied towards the MSCJ degree, with a maximum of 15 hours of 500-level courses allowed. Students are not permitted to receive credit for a 500-level course if they received credit for the comparable senior-level undergraduate course. Up to six hours of electives may be taken outside the Department of Politics, Justice, Law, and Philosophy with prior approval from the Department Politics, Justice, Law, and Philosophy.

²

Students must take CJ 645 and pass it with a B or better, before enrolling in CJ 695. Students choosing the Thesis Option must complete a minimum of 6 semester hours of Thesis (CJ 695), in addition to 9 semester hours of core and 12 additional semester hours of 500-600 level criminal justice electives.

³

Students choosing the Non-Thesis Option must, in the last semester in which all other course requirements are expected to be completed, register for Comprehensive Examination (CJ 698) in order to take a written comprehensive examination prior to graduation in order to complete the program.