Top Criminal Justice Schools Ratings & Rankings

These days, anything you can do to give yourself a competitive edge in the job market is worth a shot. This includes making sure you get into a good school for your pursuit of a degree. Criminal justice is no exception. In fact, it may be even more important to have a legitimate, reputable degree in criminal justice than in any other category, given the nature of the work you will be pursuing. However, deciding which schools are best can be a difficult task. Sure, you can turn to rankings and ratings, but is that really going to give you the answers you need?

In one sense, it will, if you go to the right sources. US News and World Report issues an annual report of the top schools in multiple categories, including criminal justice programs. However, you need to know what goes into these rankings. About forty percent of the score is based on evaluations by faculty at other schools. Another thirty percent of the rankings has to do with the amount of funding the school receives. The final thirty percent rests of GPA of student, selectivity of program, graduation rate and the like. If these are things that are important to you, then the rankings can be very useful. It is necessary to make sure you are getting your rankings from a qualified source, though. Some websites will provide a “Top Ten” list, but are actually just providing advertising for lesser schools.

However, these rankings may or may not take into account, or at least give proper weight, to the things that are most important to you. If the professor to student ratio is critical to your ability to do well in a program, these scores may not be reflective of your priority. Moreover, these rankings do not take into account the variables in the different types of criminal justice programs available. Some require a good deal community involvement, whereas others educate strictly from within the classroom. You should always research the programs you are applying to make sure that it is a program that fits your needs.

If the rankings are still important to you, you should know that there are a good amount of excellent schools on reputable lists. Some of the top schools include: University of Maryland, SUNY-Albany, University of Cincinnati, University of Missouri, Penn State, University of California-Irvine, Florida State, Michigan State, Rutgers, CUNY-John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Temple, Arizona State, Northeastern, University of Florida, and the University of Pennsylvania. All of them provide an excellent education in criminal justice. Many of them provide specialized degrees in criminal justice, such as criminology, forensics, police studies, and international law and justice. With a wide range of options, you will not be let down.