Internal transfer students
Other students decide to declare criminal justice after they have been admitted to SUNY Oswego in another major program or as undecided students. These students may apply for admission to the criminal justice major after completing 30 semester hours of college work. To declare criminal justice as a major (or second major), complete the declaration of major form (available from the Criminal Justice Department) and return it to the department's advisement coordinator. Students must be in good standing (cumulative GPA of 2.0 or better) to apply for admission to the major. Admission to the program is competitive and is based upon the cumulative grade point average, success in basic courses supporting the program and the number of available openings in any given year.
Since criminal justice is an multidisciplinary program, interested first- and second-year students are advised to concentrate on fulfilling their General Education requirements and to begin work in the major by enrolling in the appropriate introductory level courses in the social and behavioral sciences.
Outside transfer students
Transfer students should be aware that regardless of how many criminal justice-related courses you have taken elsewhere, most of your courses for this major must be taken at Oswego. All criminal justice majors must take five core courses and 21 hours of related electives.
Equivalent courses
Students transferring from two-year schools may apply a maximum of six hours of lower-division credit (typically two courses) and the equivalent of CRJ 101, and CRJ 2XX if they have taken an equivalent course towards these requirements. Two-year criminal justice students typically transfer the equivalent of CRJ 101 and two criminal justice electives toward the major.
Students may transfer no more than six semester hours of lower-division criminal justice electives. Additional criminal justice courses count as credits toward graduation, but not toward completing the major. Transfer students must take CRJ 401 and 15 hours of upper-division criminal justice-related electives at Oswego.
Please note
All courses taken at a community college are lower-division courses. Transfer students with a two-year degree must expect to complete 15 semester hours of upper division criminal justice electives at SUNY Oswego, as well as the remaining required core courses, plus enough other courses numbered 300 and above to earn 42 upper division credits. Transfer students should consult the college catalog for transfer credit policies.
Students attending two-year colleges are strongly urged to take courses in subjects outside their proposed SUNY Oswego major, particularly in the areas of mathematics, natural sciences and humanities. This will help fulfill your General Education requirements, which all SUNY Oswego students must do. (See the section on General Education requirements. For additional information, see the current college catalog.) You should also be careful not to retake Oswego courses that you have already taken at another school. You can only get credit for a course once, even if the first course was lower-division and the second was upper-division.