Bachelor of Science in Applied Science in Criminal Justice 4+1 Graduate Track

After 78 credit hours students interested in the 4 plus 1 in the Masters in CRJS Program should contact the Graduate Coordinator about registering for three courses (nine credit hours), in their senior year. They should complete an “intent to complete the 4 plus 1 form” indicating what courses they plan to register for each term, so that they can apply those courses toward their future graduate degree in the Master of Science in Criminal Justice program at YSU. Students already in the graduate program cannot retroactively count courses toward their graduate degree. You must be accepted into the 4 plus 1 program in order to have the list of courses below count for both the undergraduate and graduate degree.

Admission to take part in the 4 plus 1 program includes: 78 hours completed as an undergraduate student majoring with a BSAS in Criminal Justice; an undergraduate GPA of 3.0; and admission into the YSU College of Graduate Studies.

Nine hours from a special menu of courses can be applied to the graduate program from a student’s undergraduate program. Of these 9 hours, 2 courses (6 hours) must be core courses. The special menu includes the selection of one CRJS swing (5800-level) course or CRJS 6925 and 2 out of these 9 6900-level courses (CRJS 6910, CRJS 6915, CRJS 6920, CRJS 6942, CRJS 6940, CRJS 6945, CRJS 6950, CRJS 6975, and CRJS 6990). After completing the required 120-124 hours of the undergraduate program, 4+1 students then choose a completion path involving either a thesis or a graduate project in the same manner as a non-accelerated student except the 4+1 students get to carry over 9 of the their graduate hours earned in their 4th year.

For the the thesis path, students need 21 more hours given they are starting with 9 hours and therefore should take the following courses:

    1-6 hours of CRJS 6999 Thesis

    3 hours of law/policy core CRJS 6910 or CRJS 6990

    3 hours of theory/core CRJS 6915 or CRJS 6920

    3-6 hours of methods/core CRJS 6942 or both CRJS 6940 and CRJS 6945

    3 hours of management/core CRJS 6975 or CRJS 6950

    0-8 hours of electives.

Students can use only 9 hours of 5800 level courses for students who choose the thesis option.

For the non-thesis option (i.e. the Graduate Project path), students need 26 hours to accompany the 9 hours of carry over from the 4th year in the form of these guidelines:

   2 hours of CRJS 6998 Graduate Project

   3 hours of law/policy core CRJS 6910 or CRJS 6990

   3 hours of theory/core CRJS 6915 or CRJS 6920

   3-6 hours of methods/core CRJS 6942 or both CRJS 6940 and CRJS 6945

   3 hours of management/core CRJS 6975* or CRJS 6950 and 

   9-12 hours of electives.

Students can use only 12 hours of 5800 level courses if they choose the non-thesis (Graduate Project) option.

The Masters of Criminal Justice has the following three Learning Outcomes:

SLO1: Students will demonstrate knowledge on how to evaluate programs, policies, theories, and research related to the CJ system.

SLO2: Students will demonstrate knowledge on how to use key CJ concepts to administrate programs and lead others.

SLO3: Students will demonstrate knowledge on how to perform their own research related to the CJ system.