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Graduate Studies
Graduate Studies

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criminology and criminal justice graduate programs.

Degree Programs

The School of Criminology and Criminal Justice offers a Master of Science or a Master of Arts degree in criminology and criminal justice and a Doctor of Philosophy in criminology and criminal justice. The degree programs emphasize crime and justice research, theory, planning and administration.

Masters Program Admission Requirements

All candidates for the criminology and criminal justice masters graduate program (i.e., MA and MS) must have a minimum of 18 semester hours of criminology/criminal justice or related courses which represent the core undergraduate curriculum. In addition, all candidates must have completed a basic statistics course, a research methods course, and a minimum of 15 hours in the social science area at the undergraduate level. Those students lacking these requirements will be required to make up these deficiencies during the first year of graduate work. All applicants need to submit:

  • online graduate application
  • graduate application fee
  • one copy of official transcripts from all previously attended universities
  • two letters of recommendations - Please provide the names and email addresses for your recommenders. (A Request form will be emailed to recommenders by UNO when you submit your online application.)
  • statement of purpose ( also known as personal statement )
  • GRE(MA only)
Doctoral Program Admission Requirements

To be unconditionally admitted, all candidates for the criminology and criminal justice doctoral graduate program must have an MA or MS in criminology and/or criminal justice from an accredited institution. Applicants with a masters degree in an allied field (e.g., sociology, political science, public administration, etc.) and/or who lack substantial criminology/criminal justice course work may be granted provisional admission, and may achieve unconditional admission upon the successful completion of 18 hours of criminology and criminal justice core curriculum course work. Outstanding applicants who have completed a baccalaureate degree and wish to be considered for the doctoral program may be provisionally admitted, but must complete masters degree requirements prior to being unconditionally admitted. In addition, we require a combined score of at least 1,000 on the verbal and quantitative sections of the GRE. Students demonstrating exceptional academic potential may be considered with GRE scores below this threshold. Applicants must present three letters of reference, at least two of which must be from an academic who has had the candidate as a student and/or has supervised the student. Applicants must also submit a statement of intent (not to exceed 5 double-spaced, typewritten pages) describing the applicant's prior education, relevant professional experience, career goals, the specific relationship of the doctoral degree to the achievement of those goals, and whether or not they are interested in being considered for a graduate assistantship. Applicants must also submit a sample of scholarly writing (e.g., thesis chapter, published article, scholarly manuscript).

All International Applicants

International students seeking admission to the graduate program must meet UNO Graduate Studies requirements governing the admission of international students. In addition, all ESL students are required to submit scores from the ILETS, the PTE, or the internet-based TOEFL. (The paper version of the TOEFL will not be accepted.) Minimum required scores are as follows:

  • ILETS: 7.5 required, 8.0+ preferred
  • PTE: Score of 76 or higher.
  • Internet-based TOEFL: Minimum of 21 in each of the 4 areas, and a minimum of 95 overall.

All ESL students are required to take a proficiency assessment examination at UNO upon admission, which will be used to determine if further assistance is required.

Electronic Submission of Application Materials

All graduate program application materials should be submitted electronically via the application platform located on the UNO Graduate Studies website. Letters of recommendation are to be uploaded to the site or sent via email to Graduate Studies by the letter writer and NOT by the applicant.

For more information...

Please call (402) 554-2610.

last updated: 11/22/2011 at 10:30 am