Advising

The first step is to apply to UCF. If you are transferring from another college or university, review the criteria for transfer applicants. Once you are admitted to UCF, you will declare your major as criminal justice. There are no additional requirements to be admitted to our program; however, students applying as online students must have an AA degree (or equivalent) completed from a Florida state college. AS degrees are not equivalent to AA degrees. There are no undergraduate prerequisite courses required to apply for a criminal justice graduate program.

Students seeking a Bachelor of Arts are required to successfully complete one year of one foreign language in college (or equivalent proficiency exam) prior to graduation. Students pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree are required to complete two years of high school foreign language. If a student is choosing American Sign Language to fulfill their foreign language requirement, the student must take three semesters of that language.

The criminal justice bachelor’s program can be completed fully online. However, some elective courses are only offered face-to-face. The criminal justice master’s program and dual degree program in Public Administration MP and Criminal Justice MS can be completed online. The criminal justice doctoral program is not offered online.

Students who maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher and achieve a grade of B or better in both ENC1101 and ENC1102 can apply for the criminal justice scholars’ track. This track prepares students for graduate study. Students are introduced to specialized topics and receive mentoring from our professors. They also take 12 credit hours of seminar-style classes.

Yes, we offer several undergraduate and graduate certificate programs. Certificates are open to UCF students from all majors and programs. Undergraduate students must declare a certificate through myUCF. Certificate courses may be used to fulfill upper-division requirements. Graduate students must be part of a degree-seeking program to apply. See our undergraduate and graduate certificates.

All graduate certificates are offered online. Only three undergraduate-level certificates are available online: Criminal Profiling, Security Management and Victim Advocacy.

The GRE is not required for admission to our master’s program. However, it is encouraged for students who do not meet the 3.0 undergraduate GPA requirement. The GRE is required for students wanting to be considered for department assistantships and for doctoral program applicants.

If you do not have a 3.0 undergraduate GPA, you may still be admitted and placed on a probation period. However, we only admit a limited number of applicants on a provisional status per semester. Application requirements include the submission of a goal statement, resume and letters of recommendation. Submitting a GRE score is also encouraged to increase the competitiveness of an application.Another way to increase competitiveness is to complete a graduate certificate first. After completion of the certificate, students can apply for the master’s program. However, it does not guarantee admission to the program; rather, it is a way to show your academic ability at the graduate level when the admission committee reviews provisional applicants.

Criminal justice graduates often find jobs as police officers, correctional or probation officers, justice system administrators, crime analysts, private security administrators, superintendents, county sheriffs/deputies, program directors or elected officials. Many graduates go into graduate school and get involved in academia or law school.