Best Masters in Criminal Justice No GRE Programs (2027)

Every student takes an 18-hour core: Applied Data Analysis for Criminal Justice I, Foundations of Criminological Theory, The Criminal Justice System, a personnel management, ethics or social contexts course, Legal Aspects of Criminal Justice Management and Applied Research Design I. Non-thesis students add electives and a capstone research project, while thesis students take electives and defend a thesis proposal and a final thesis; topics include victimology, terrorism, global cybersecurity, crime mapping and grant writing. Students may embed the Graduate Certificate in Crime Analysis or the Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security into their degree plan.

Applicants must meet Graduate College admission standards, and Tarleton's general graduate admission requirements call for an official transcript showing a conferred bachelor's degree. The program also asks for two academic or professional recommendation letters and a phone or virtual interview. Tarleton recommends the thesis track for students planning doctoral study.

Every student takes four required courses (12 credits): Administrative Theory of Criminal Justice, Statistics, Criminological Theory I and Research Methods, plus 21 elective credits in criminal justice, with recent electives including Multinational Crime, Hate Crimes, Terrorism, Victimology and Police Policy Development. Students finish through one of three tracks: 33 graduate credit hours and a comprehensive examination, 30 credits and a capstone, or 27 graduate credit hours and a six-hour thesis. The on-campus program pairs evening in-person classes at Westfield State with online coursework, and the online program meets for evening classes on Zoom alongside asynchronous coursework.

Applicants need a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university, with a major or minor in a social science and a 2.7 GPA (or 3.0 for the last two years of undergraduate study), three professional or academic letters of reference and a narrative statement; GRE or MAT scores are optional. Most students finish in approximately two years, and all must complete the degree within six years. Westfield State says the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education recognizes the program under the Quinn Bill (PCIPP), and its own undergraduates can count 6 credits toward both degrees through a 4+1 pathway.

The degree requires 30 hours: a core of Administration of Justice, Applied Research, Theories of Crime and Applied Analytics, plus 18 hours of electives, at least 3 of them at the 600 level, from courses such as Restorative Justice, Critical Analysis of Gangs in America, Seminar in Law Enforcement, Contemporary Juvenile Justice, Civil Law and Liability, and Criminal Justice Leadership and Practice. The program does not require a thesis; its master's comprehensive examination is a portfolio compiled during the course of study, with one comprehensive item from each graduate course, and students enroll in GR698 in their final semester. The online courses run eight weeks, and SEMO's degree map lists the MS for face-to-face and online delivery.

Applicants need a bachelor's degree from a recognized institution and an undergraduate GPA of 2.5 or higher, and the online program admits students throughout the year. Graduates of the FBI National Academy, a federal or state special agent school, or equivalent senior or executive-level training may receive 9 hours of credit in Professional Praxis, which SEMO says can help students finish in 12 months or less; prior learning credit counts toward a maximum of 12 hours of graduate transfer credit. SEMO says FOP members get a 10% tuition discount through its NFOPU Consortium partnership, applied to programs built specifically for law enforcement and public service careers, and Southeast offers current students an accelerated master's degree.

The 37-credit program includes 13 core courses aimed at management and leadership in police, corrections, court operations and security organizations. Courses include Criminological Theory and Risk Mitigation, Cybercrime and Information Security, Organizational Administration in Justice and Security, Critical Incident and Risk Management, Finance and Budgeting in Justice and Security, Legal Issues in Justice and Security, and Public Policy and Civil Rights. Students take one five- to six-week online course at a time in a classroom open around the clock, and they can start year-round.

Applicants need a bachelor's degree from an institutionally accredited college or university, in any field, with a cumulative GPA of 2.5; there is no application fee and no essay, and GMAT or GRE scores are not required. Military or law enforcement training such as the FBI National Academy or the Senior Management Institute for Police can be evaluated for up to 30 credits, and active-duty service members and eligible spouses or dependents may qualify for a lower military tuition rate. University of Phoenix says its criminal justice programs do not prepare students to become certified peace officers, and not all programs are available to residents of all states.

The Master of Science is 36 hours, 11 classes and a capstone project: required courses on the nature of crime, the administration of justice, criminal justice research theory and methodology, statistics or risk and needs assessment, and power, perception and punishment or women and criminal justice; nine hours of criminology and criminal justice electives or a concentration such as Victimology and Victim Services; nine hours of open electives; and the capstone. UNO offers it entirely online or through on-campus evening classes, and says full-time students can complete it in 18 months. The Master of Arts is a 30-hour, non-terminal degree in which students write and orally defend a thesis, and UNO lists its delivery mode as traditional, which requires at least some in-person attendance.

Both degrees require a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution. Unconditional admission to the Master of Science also asks for at least a 3.0 GPA over the last two years of undergraduate work and at least 15 credit hours of criminal justice or related courses, including statistics, research methods, introductory criminal justice, criminology and a diversity course; applicants who have not completed all of those prerequisites can be admitted provisionally with no less than a 2.75 GPA both overall in the last two years of undergraduate work and in the undergraduate major. The Master of Science requires no GRE and accepts applications on a rolling basis, while the Master of Arts application asks for GRE scores.