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  • Gia E. Barboza
  • Bruce L. Berg
  • Ryan Fischer
  • Henry F. Fradella
  • Judy Hails
  • Connie Ireland
  • Aili Malm
  • Harvey N. Morley
  • Lisa M. Murphy
  • Tracy Tolbert
  • Sam Torres
  • Brenda Vogel
  • Zheng "John" Wang
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Master's of Science in Criminal Justice

The Criminal Justice Masters Degree requires 36 semester units of course work. The program consists of six core courses and a series of electives. The program is designed to be completed in a two-year, full-time traditional program on CSULB's campus. In addition, we offer an off-campus accelerated master's program to be completed in 18-19 months of classes offered on Saturdays.

• To view the course requirements, click on on the links below:
  • M.S. Requirements for those Advancing to Candidacy During or After 2008
  • M.S. Requirements for those Advancing to Candidacy Prior to 2008
• To view the courses offered, click on the link below:
  • Graduate and Undergraduate Catalogs

Admissions to the Graduate Program

• Application Deadlines

  The following are application deadlines for the Criminal Justice Department.

  • May 1: Fall semester application deadline to full-time program.
  • October 15: Spring semester application deadline to full-time program.
  • May 31: Application deadline to the next annual cohort of the accelerated M.S. program.

  To view the online application instructions and university deadlines, click on the links below:

  • Application instructions
  • University admission deadline

• Admissions Process

  • Applying to the master's program in criminal justice at CSULB requires a dual application. One version of the application must be electronically submitted to the University using CSU Mentor. But being accepted to the University is only the first step; you must also be admitted to the master's program in criminal justice. That is accomplished by submitting hard-copies all of the materials specified below to the Department of Criminal Justice's Graduate Advisor.

• Admission Requirements

1. Complete a University Application via CSU Mentor.
   
   
• When completing the electronic application, print-out two copies of the university application; then:
  
  
  • send a hard-copy of the completed application to the Criminal Justice Department; and
    
    
  • keep a copy for your own records.
• When applying for the off-campus accelerated program, please indicate this where it asks for "Program of Study."
2. Official GRE scores (sent to the Department of Criminal Justice directly from ETS) from within three (3) years of the date of application.
   
   
   • Please Note: The Department of Criminal Justice does not require any minimum scores on the verbal, quantitative, or analytic sections of the GRE. However, a score of at least a "4" must be earned on the GRE writing test; scores of "5" or higher are preferred.
3. Three (3) letters of recommendation.
   
   
   • Please Note: Letters from college professors who can address your research, writing, and analytical skills are strongly preferred. If, however, you are unable to get letters from former professors, then letters from work supervisors who can similarly address your research, writing, and analytical skills may be submitted.
     
4. Two sets of official transcripts from all colleges and universities attended must be provided (including those from community colleges).
   
   
   • Send one set of official transcripts to CSULB's Enrollment Services.
     
     
   • Send the other set of official transcripts directly to the Department of Criminal Justice.
     
     
   • Please Note: A minimum GPA of 2.5 overall is required for admission into CSULB's graduate programs. However, the Department of Criminal Justice typically only accepts students who earned a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.
5. A résumé describing your academic achievements (including honors and awards), extracurricular activities, as well as relevant work and volunteer experiences.
   
   
6. A typewritten personal statement application essay of approximately 1,000 words is also required. This essay should address your personal goals and objectives for earning a master's degree in criminal justice at CSULB.
   
   

All above items should be addressed to:

Please Note: When communicating by email, please do NOT send attachments without a brief note explaining who you are and what you are sending. Email with unexplained attachments will not be opened.

Course Prerequisites

It is important to note that some of our master's-level courses have undergraduate prerequisites that must be taken before graduate students may enroll. Some substitution for prerequisites are permissible; contact Dr. Berg for details.

The prerequisites are:

• Graduate students must have taken CRJU 101 or an equivalent course during their undergraduate careers that exposed them to the primary components of the criminal justice system. Alternatively, students may take a qualifying exam demonstrating their understanding of the criminal justice system at a sufficient level to waive this requirement.
  
  
• In order to register for CRJU 504: Advanced Criminological Theory, graduate students must have taken CRJU 304: Criminological Theory or an equivalent undergraduate course in theoretical criminology. Alternatively, students may take a qualifying exam demonstrating their understanding of basic criminological theory at a sufficient level to waive this requirement.
  
  
• In order to register for either CRJU 520: Research Methods, or CRJU 525: Advanced Statistics, graduate students must have taken both CRJU 320 (or CRIM 480) and CRJU 325 (or CRIM 303) or equivalent undergraduate-level social scientific research methods and statistics courses.
  
  
• Use ASSIST to determine which courses are transferable to CSULB.
  
  

• Although these prerequisite classes are offered at CSULB, you may take them at any college or university. If these classes are offered in departments other than criminal justice, you will need the approval of the Graduate Advisor.

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