Criminal Justice

Criminal justice is a rewarding major offering diverse career opportunities in corrections, law enforcement, law and courts, and juvenile justice.

Its interdisciplinary nature helps you understand the psychological, sociological and political factors underlying criminal and delinquent behavior and critical issues within the criminal justice system. 

Through BW's program, you'll gain critical thinking and problem-solving skills that prepare you for a career in law enforcement, courts and corrections. You'll gain insights, strategies and professional practices that can be readily applied to real-world situations.

The interdisciplinary major includes coursework in criminal justice as well as psychology, political science, sociology and statistics. It offers outstanding preparation for employment as well as graduate or professional school studies.

Complementing BW's comprehensive, rigorous curriculum are rich experiential learning opportunities that include internships, professional mentoring opportunities and co-curricular organizations like the Criminal Justice/Sociology/Forensic Science Club.

BW's 20-minute proximity to Cleveland puts you within easy access to impressive networking, internship and career-focused opportunities at criminal justice agencies. Also invaluable is BW's criminal justice networking program, which provides one-on-one access to successful alumni employed in the field.

Admission to Baldwin Wallace is selective, and determined by a thorough review of all items submitted. Completed applications are reviewed on a daily basis with decisions determined within 2-4 weeks. 

Required items are submitted through the applicant portal and include:

• Application
• Secondary School Transcripts
• Secondary School Report Form
• Teacher Recommendation
• International Student Certification of Financial Support Form
  • Prospective F-1 students must have the financial resources to live and study in the United States. This includes being able to cover the cost of tuition, books, living expenses and travel while enrolled. BW must collect evidence of the student’s financial ability to attend BW for at least one year (or the program length, whichever is shorter) before issuing a Form I-20. Please review the Instructions for Completing the International Student Certification of Financial Support Form for additional information.
• Financial Sponsor Letter
  • A financial sponsor letter is required documentation if a sponsor is helping the student financially.
    • Sample financial sponsor letter
• One of the following exams*:
  • TOEFL (recommended scores of IBT 79, CBT 213, PBT 550)
  • IELTS (recommended composite of 6.5)
  • SAT (recommended evidence-based reading/writing score of 520)
  • ACT (recommended English score of 21) 

As noted, the score levels above are recommended but not required. Students whose English language skills need development may be conditionally admitted and placed in BW’s ESL program provided by the LADO International Institute.

* Students who have taken an English language curriculum are highly encouraged to take the SAT or ACT exam. If these exams are not available, students should submit TOEFL or IELTS scores.