FAQ

Students must submit the following to be considered for admission: 1) personal statement; 2) resume or CV; 3) academic transcripts; 4) writing sample; 5) TOEFL/IELTS scores, if needed.

While there is no required GPA for admission, the Graduate Admissions Committee prefers that prospective students apply with at least a 3.0 GPA. Applicants with a GPA lower than 3.0 are encouraged to speak with their enrollment specialist to discuss their application.

Prospective students who attend a Graduate Welcome Day or a similar event are eligible for a fee waiver. Students who are experiencing financial hardship may also request a fee waiver. To request a waiver, please speak with your enrollment specialist.

All international applicants should contact the Office of Global Services for questions related to visas.

The personal statement should be a 1-2 page essay introducing yourself to the graduate committee beyond your transcripts and resume. It should address topics such as: who you are, your research interests, your career goals, why you are applying to Northeastern, and what faculty members would help you to obtain your academic and/or professional goals.

The writing sample should be a significant piece of academic writing. The most common examples are an undergraduate thesis or a research paper. Alternatively, if you write as part of your current job and would prefer to submit a piece of professional writing, that is also acceptable. The writing sample should demonstrate your academic writing skills to the graduate committee. There is no set length, although we recommend that it is at least 5 pages long.

The difference between full-time and part-time status is important for the purpose of scholarships and financial aid. Full-time status is defined by CSSH as taking two or more courses (8 credits) per semester. Students who are part-time only take one course per semester (4 credits) are not considered for merit-based aid and may have difficulty receiving federal financial aid.

The GRE is not required for admission to the MS program. Students may submit GRE scores if they prefer, but applications without GRE scores will not be penalized.

The graduate committee reviews applications on a rolling basis. Decisions are generally made within two weeks of receiving a complete application. Please keep in mind that any missing aspects of the application will cause a delay in the decision-making process.

Students interested in applying to one of the dual-degree programs must submit applications to both the program housed within SCCJ (MS) and the Law School (JD). SCCJ and the Law School work together to determine if a student is a good fit for the dual-degree program and applicants should be in touch with both admissions offices regarding application requirements and deadlines.

Co-op provides MS students with a six-month work experience during the course of their graduate education. Co-op is typically completed after the second semester in the MS program during either January-June or July-December. Co-op is optional and, if pursued, adds six months to the program.

Co-op is beneficial for any student looking to gain hands on experience in the field of criminology and criminal justice. Most experiences are paid and Northeastern has partnerships with many local and regional employers. Many students who choose to pursue co-op are hired upon graduation with their co-op employer.

Students will begin planning for co-op at the end of their first semester in the program. Our co-op coordinator hosts an information session at the end of each semester to explain the co-op process. Additionally, students going on co-op must reserve at least one curricular requirement to complete while on co-op as students are not permitted to graduate on co-op without a curricular requirement.

Placements are available in corrections, courts, human services, investigations, juvenile justice, law, loss prevention, security, social services, and more. We are one of the only programs in the country that offers experiential learning at the graduate level, extending Northeastern’s trademark undergraduate co-op to graduate students.

Recent graduate co-op placements include:

• Boston Police Department, Assistant Crime Analyst
• Office of the Inspector General, Assistant Investigator
• Department of Justice Interpol Washington, Intern
• Rwanda National Commission for the Fight against Genocide, Research Intern
• The New England Innocence Project LLC, Intake Intern
• Children’s Advocacy Center of Suffolk County, Support to End Exploitation Now (SEEN) Program Assistant
• Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc, Financial Intelligence Research Assistant

The modality is the only difference between the online and on-ground MS programs. All of the courses – regardless of modality – are taught by the same faculty and cover the same content. Our on-ground courses are run with weekly meeting times where the online courses are asynchronous. Students at any time during the program may choose to take courses on-ground or online, regardless of if they began the program in the opposite modality.

All of the required courses are offered online at least once per academic year. Below is a list of electives that are currently offered online.

Available Online Electives (all requirements offered online)

Elective Courses:

• CRIM 5201 Global Criminology
• CRIM 5264 Immigration and Crime
• CRIM 5601 Financial Crime
• CRIM 5602 Crime, Place, and Community
• INSH 5302 Information Design and Analysis
• PPUA 5262 Big Data for Cities
• PPUA 5263 Geographic Information Systems
• POLS 7246 Resilient Cities
• POLS 7341 Security and Resilience Policy
• POLS 7343 Counterterrorism
• POLS 7369 International Security
• DA 5020 Collecting, Storing, and Retrieving Data
• DA 5030 Introduction to Data Mining
• PHIL 5005 Information Ethics
• PHIL 5010 AI Ethics

Students may use their elective credits within the MS degree to complete either a graduate certificate or a concentration. Currently, SCCJ offers a concentration in Cybersecurity and CSSH offers multiple graduate certificates. Graduate certificates as well as the Cybersecurity concentration are 12 credits, leaving students with 4 elective credits to use within CRIM. Since students are typically permitted to take 8 credits outside of SCCJ, the Graduate Program Director must approve student involvement in all concentrations and certificates.

https://cssh.northeastern.edu/academics/majors-minors-programs/#grad

Cybersecurity Concentration

Students interested in pursuing the cybersecurity concentration may indicate so on their application to the MS program. Once admitted, students will work to utilize 12 of their 16 elective credits to complete the concentration. See below for details about the courses required to complete.

https://catalog.northeastern.edu/graduate/social-sciences-humanities/criminology-criminal-justice/criminal-justice-mscj/#programrequirementstext

Northeastern hosts Open Houses and Graduate Welcome Days throughout the year where students can visit campus, sit in on classes, and meet with current students and faculty. Contact your enrollment specialist to find out when the next Welcome Day is happening. We also arrange individual campus visits upon request and availability of the faculty and staff. Students receive an application fee waiver for attending an event or visiting campus.

Yes. Virtual information sessions are held regularly. Please contact your enrollment specialist for a list of upcoming events. Students will receive an application fee waiver for attending online events.

Scholarships at the master’s level are awarded upon admission, based on the strength of the application as evaluated by the Admissions Committee.

The program does not offer formal assistantships. However, at the beginning of each semester, teaching and research positions are available on an hourly basis. These positions are competitive and are only awarded once students are enrolled in the program. Students are also encouraged to explore work-study opportunities within the university by contacting the Office of Student Employment.

Additionally, students may consider applying for Student Research Opportunities through the Center on Crime, Race, and Justice (CRJ).

For financial assistance, students are advised to contact Student Financial Services and submit an inquiry via the Student Financial Services Inquiry Form.

MS students from the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice move into prestigious positions after graduation. Our MS students have secured positions in corrections, courts, local and federal agencies, human services, police departments, legal firms, doctoral programs, and more. Below is a list of some career resources available to graduating MSCJ students.

For students interested in a legal path:

• Mass Lawyers Weekly is a periodical that shares information on important things happening in the MA legal community, including:
• Decisions from state and federal courts, including the Supreme Judicial Court, Appeals Court, and 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
• Verdict and settlement reports
• News from state agencies like the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination
• Classified job opportunities for lawyers, paralegals, legal support
• Mass Bar Association: The Professional Sections information is especially helpful for job opportunities and networking

For students interested in federal government jobs:

For students interested in federal government jobs:

• USAJobs.gov
• FBI Honors Program

For students interested in state government jobs:

• State Government Job Boards: Each state has its own job portal for state government positions
• Example: Massachusetts

For students interested in law enforcement:

• Go Law Enforcement lists law enforcement jobs across the country

For students interested in higher ed jobs: Academic and administrative positions in higher education, including criminology faculty roles

• HigherEdJobs

The NU Employment and Career Design link is a great university resource, as they have a very helpful graduate student job search tool kit: https://careers.northeastern.edu/graduate-students/

We also recommend using LinkedIn, Indeed, and Idealist.org for job searches. Given a strong prompt, ChatGPT is another tool that can suggest career paths or employers to target in your search.