The Master of Science in Criminal Justice program (MSCJ) is housed in the Department of Government and Sociology. Please see GCSU’s Campus Directory for department and faculty office locations, phone numbers, and email addresses, and use the department website for additional department information.
Mission
The mission of the Master of Science in Criminal Justice program is to create opportunities for critical thinking for future and current practitioners and academic researchers in the field of criminal justice/criminology. Moreover, the program encourages and creates environments conducive to learning the body of knowledge generally defined within the field of criminal justice/criminology which includes the meaning of laws, the creation of laws, the breaking of laws, social reactions to deviant and criminal behavior, and how individuals are processed over time.
The liberal arts mission is at the center of the program by placing emphasis on discussion and research-based learning led by a diverse group of faculty and professionals in the field. Individual relationships between faculty and students create unique opportunities through internships and independent research within the vast field of criminal justice.
More specifically the program is structured to focus on the areas of criminal justice policy, policing, corrections, criminological theory, legal issues, research design and statistics, and ethics. After the completion of the program, graduates will be able to critically analyze criminal justice policy and practices in relation to functioning in a democratic society. The goal of the program is to prepare graduates to assume roles as ethical, responsible citizens and professionals in the field.
Admission Requirements
All Applicants
- Must have completed requirements for a Bachelor’s degree from a college accredited by the proper regional accrediting association.
- Must submit a current résumé detailing relevant work experience.
Regular Admission Requirements
- Minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.75 on a 4.0 scale in undergraduate work.
- Applicants with an undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0 are not required to submit exam scores.
- Applicants with an undergraduate GPA of 2.75-2.99 must submit official scores on either the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), Miller Analogies Test (MAT), or Graduate Management Aptitude Test (GMAT) scores. Scores must be posted within the last five years. Test score requirements are a combined score of 290 (verbal and quantitative) on the GRE or a score of at least 395 on the MAT or a score of at least 450 on the GMAT.
- Applicants may make a formal request to waive these requirements only when the applicant has completed another graduate degree program and an appropriate transcript is submitted in support of the request.
Provisional Admission
- Provisional admission may be granted to applicants with at least a 2.75 GPA who have scored GRE 280-289 or MAT: 380-394 or GMAT: 400-449
- Any applicant who does not meet the GPA and/or GRE requirement(s) may be admitted provisionally with a formal review by the Admissions Committee.
- Provisional status may be granted for a maximum of one academic year. All students admitted under provisional status must maintain a 3.0 or higher GPA during the probationary period. At the completion of the provisional period of time, a decision will be made as to accepting the student as a regular admission student. To gain regular admission, a provisionally admitted student must take in that status the equivalent of a semester’s full load (9-12) of MSCJ courses and maintain a 3.0 GPA in all graduate coursework.
Graduate Progression Policy
Students are required to maintain a B average in order to remain in the program. Regular status students who receive a final grade of C must have an A to offset the C grade. Regular students whose grade average falls below B will be placed on graduate academic probation. Students on graduate academic probation must bring their graduate institutional average up to B during the semester they are on graduate academic probation. If a student does not bring their graduate institutional average up during the probation period, they will be dismissed from the program.
A student will not earn program credit for a D grade and has one opportunity to retake the course (with graduate coordinator’s approval).
A student may be summarily dismissed from the program if one or more of these conditions exist:
- Student fails to resolve an incomplete by the end of the following semester and the grade automatically is changed to an F.
- Receives an F in any course.
- Receives a grade of C or below in more than one course.
- The student is found guilty of academic dishonesty in accordance with GCSU academic honesty policy (Honor Code).
Career Information
Some students in the MSCJ program are already employed in the public sector and are interested in the MSCJ program for reasons of career development and mobility. In-service students come from practically every possible public sector setting and every level of government. Pre-service students will have available to them the information and assistance of the GCSU Career Center. Faculty will work with students in exploring career options. Many students have found their classmates to be valuable sources of networking information. Students should understand, however, that the purpose of graduate education in criminal justice is to prepare one to be a better manager of a criminal justice agency or to pursue further education. No graduate degree is a guarantee of employment.
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