Criminal Justice, Accelerated Bachelor to Master’s Program (144 hours)

The Bachelor to Master’s degree program in Criminal Justice (144 hours) provides students the opportunity to earn degrees at an accelerated pace. In this program undergraduates with 90 or more credit hours may be allowed to enroll in graduate classes with advisor approval and count up to 12 graduate credit hours toward the bachelor’s degree. The same 12 graduate credit hours may also count towards a master’s degree. Students must be accepted into this program.

For acceptance into the accelerated program, students must:

Apply to the Graduate School after having successfully completed a minimum of 75 and a maximum of 108 credit hours, including credits earned from advanced placement and approved transfer hours;
Transfer students must have completed a minimum of two semesters (minimum of 24 credit hours) as a full-time student at WTAMU;
Overall GPA of 3.0 or better is preferred;
Criminal Justice Admissions Committee may consider a student’s last 60 hours;
If less than an overall GPA of 3.0, students may be admitted on a probationary basis;
No GRE or other standardized test score is required.

Requirements for Accelerated Program

Non-Thesis Option

Fulfill the requirements for a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice (twelve credit hours can be taken at the graduate level and counted toward the bachelor’s degree);
Twelve hours of approved graduate courses that count toward both the bachelor and master’s degrees;
Twelve hours of required criminal justice courses: CRIJ 6340, 6348, 6387, and 6388;
Twelve hours of graduate level courses.

Thesis Option

Fulfill the requirements for a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice (twelve credit hours can be taken at the graduate level and counted toward the bachelor’s degree);
Twelve hours of approved graduate courses that count toward both the bachelor and master’s degrees;
Twelve hours of required criminal justice courses: CRIJ 6340, 6348, 6387 and 6388;
Six hours of approved graduate level courses; and
Six hours of thesis: CRIJ 6301 and 6302.

Additional Requirements for Both Options:

No more than 12 hours of graduate work may be counted toward the requirements of both degree programs and at least 24 of the required 36 graduate hours must be taken at the 6000 level;
Must earn a grade of “B” (3.0-4.0) or better in a double-counted graduate level course or the course will not be counted in either degree program (any grade of less than “B” must be retaken and replaced to count as degree requirements);
Must complete the bachelor’s degree requirements with an accumulated GPA of no less than a “B” (3.0-4.0) or the student will no longer be eligible to double count credit hours and is automatically terminated from the accelerated program;
A student who becomes ineligible to participate in or withdraws from the accelerated bachelor to master’s program cannot double count any courses for both the bachelor and master’s degree programs.
Graduate courses successfully completed with a 3.0 or better may count toward the bachelor’s degree as appropriate substitutions;
Graduate courses utilized for a bachelor’s degree cannot be utilized for a graduate degree outside of the accelerated bachelor to master’s degree program.