Program of Study - Criminal Justice (MS)
Overview
The Master of Science in Criminal Justice is an intensive graduate-level program that is designed for students who want to pursue further studies beyond the bachelor degree and prepare candidates for the doctoral degree.
The program is designed to accomplish the following educational objectives:
- Enhance the student's competence in the content, theories, principles, and methods of criminal justice.
- Prepare students for administrative and management positions in federal, state and local criminal justice agencies.
- Prepare students for entry-level positions requiring graduate degrees, such as federal probation, parole and law enforcement agencies.
- Prepare students for academic study beyond the master's degree.
- Develop, through faculty and graduate research, a criminal justice knowledge base concerning issues unique to the region, including Mexico, and Central and South America.
- Provide a resource for federal, state and local criminal justice agencies in need of administrative assistance in policy analysis, development and program evaluation.
Admission Requirements
To be admitted to the graduate program in criminal justice, prospective candidates must first meet all requirements for graduate admission to UT Rio Grande Valley, as well as the other requirements listed below:
- Undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0 in the last 60 semester credit hours.If applicant does not meet the minimum undergraduate GPA criterion of 3.0 in the last 60 semester hours from the applicant's bachelor's degree transcript, but has a GPA of 2.75-2.99, GRE general test with minimum scores of 146 Verbal, 150 Quantitative, and 3.5 Analytical are required for conditional admission
- Three letters of recommendation from university/college professors who can assess the applicants’ abilities to pursue graduate study. In exceptional cases (where an applicant has not attended school for a long period of time, say five years), a non-academic referee, such as a captain and above in the US Armed Forces or law enforcement; a federal or state judge; a senior barrister/attorney-at-law; or a Senior Federal, State/County/Local Public Service Officer above the rank of a supervisor; or other similar position may be considered.
- A 250-500 letter of intent detailing why the student is interested in pursuing a graduate degree in Criminal Justice
Application for admission must be submitted prior to the published deadline. The application is available at www.utrgv.edu/gradapply.
Program Requirements
The Master of Science degree in criminal justice requires the successful completion of 30 graduate semester hours, plus a thesis or a research project; or in lieu six (6) additional graduate semester hours of coursework. All graduating students will take an exit exam prior to graduating.
Students are expected to make satisfactory progress in the program. Students must maintain an overall 3.0 grade point average at all times. Any student who receives two Cs in the core will be terminated from the program, while receiving two Cs in the electives or one C in an elective and one C in a core course will result in the student being placed on academic probation.
Required Courses (18-21 Credits)
Criminal Justice Elective (9-18)
Other/Outside Electives (0-6 Credits)
Capstone Requirement
Research Project (6 Credits)
Thesis (6 Credits)
Non-Thesis
Total Credit Hours: 36