Undergraduate

Prospective Student Information

APPLYING TO USF

The B.A. Criminology degree at USF is not a special access program. Freshman and transfer students will need to meet the general USF requirements set forth by the USF Admissions Office. View the general USF requirements. 

If you meet the USF admissions requirements and receive a letter of acceptance from Admissions, you will be eligible to declare a major in Criminology. This degree offers the flexibility to complete criminology courses entirely online, entirely in-person, or a blending of both.

After reviewing the information below, if you still have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact an advisor.

TRANSFER STUDENTS - BEFORE ADMISSION INTO USF

It is recommended, but not required, that a transfer student complete an AA degree at a Florida public state or community college prior to admission at USF. Students with an AA degree from a Florida public institution will have their general education requirement met, and will enter USF at the Junior level. Courses from out of state institutions will be reviewed and applied to the specific categories within the curriculum.

It is recommended that a student complete the following courses (if possible) for a smooth transition into USF:

  • A college level statistics course such as STA 2023.
  • College level foreign language Level 1 and 2 of the same language (C or higher).
    • If you have a strong background in a foreign language, there is a USF placement test you can take after admission to USF to try to test out of this requirement.

If any of the above requirements cannot be completed prior to being admitted, you will be required to complete them at USF as part of your Bachelors of Arts degree requirements.

TOUR INFORMATION

Can I tour the department? The Department of Criminology consists of faculty and staff offices, so department tours are not available. Classes are offered in various buildings throughout campus, independent of where the Department of Criminology is located.

Tours of the USF campus are offered through the Office of Admissions. Register for a campus tour today. 

once admitted

Register for a Mandatory Campus Orientation

If you have been admitted to USF, you must register for one of the USF orientation sessions offered through the Office of Orientation before you will be able to register for classes. 

Freshmen Information (Tampa Campus)

Class Registration

If you were admitted as a Freshman student and have cleared all of your registration holds, someone from USF will register you for your first semester’s classes. Once you sign up for orientation, you will receive an email from the Student Services office of the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences. This email will ask you to provide information regarding any incoming AP, IB or other exam credit, dual enrollment credit, or other information that needs to be taken into account when you are being registered for classes. You will also be added to a College/major online orientation module in Canvas that you will be required to complete that will provide essential information about the major. Make sure you are checking your official USF email address regularly and respond to all emails that request additional information. 

Transfer Student Information (Tampa Campus)

Transfer Pre-Orientation Advising

Once you have registered for orientation you will receive an email from us with instructions regarding the next steps for getting started in the major and the academic advising process. You will also be added to a College/major online orientation module in Canvas that you will be required to complete that will provide essential information about the major. Completing all of the steps outlined in that email will allow you to participate in pre-orientation advising and potentially register for classes prior to your orientation date. Make sure you are checking your official USF email address regularly so that you stay on top of all important information.

Transfer Course Evaluation

The following describes university and department policies related to courses taken at other institutions. Please note typically, courses are evaluated in the following manner 1. USF Admissions level, 2. College level once the student declares their Major, 3. Department level with the respective advisor if student believes additional requirements can be met with completed courses. The combined review process can take at least the duration of the students first semester. Below, you will find the process for evaluations at the Department level, specifically for Criminology course work within the above-mentioned evaluation process.

Course Equivalency 

At USF, course equivalency is necessary for students who have to transfer upper level Criminology credit from an institution other than USF. In general, transfer credit for CCJ1010 or CCJ1020 from Florida State Community Colleges who follow the Common Course Coding Such as HCC and SPC will NOT need an evaluation since the course prefix and number has already been equated to USF’s CCJ 3024 Survey of CJ systems course. (If both CCJ 1010 and CCJ 1020 are taken, one will count for CCJ 3024 and the other will go towards general electives).

However, previous evaluations by institutions other than USF Criminology Department will not supersede our evaluations for all other upper level Criminology transfer credit. All Criminology transfer courses are evaluated by professional faculty. Students must initiate this process by submitting their request for an evaluation to the Criminology Department.

Submitting Your Request

  1. Locate a copy of the syllabus or course catalog information for your transfer Criminology course. If you do not have a copy, you can contact your previous school and request one.
  2. Scan or save your syllabus into a PDF file. Please scan all pages of the syllabus into one file. If you have more than one Criminology course for review, please scan each syllabus as a separate file.
  3. Name the PDF file the same name of the course. For example, if you are submitting a syllabus for CCJ 3000 Intro to Criminology name the PDF file CCJ 3000 Intro to Criminology.
  4. Attach a scanned copy of syllabus to be evaluated (If you have more than one syllabus, you may submit all syllabi in the same email) and E-mail your syllabus/syllabi with the following information to crimadvise@usf.edu.
    • E-mail Subject: Criminology Course Evaluation
    • In the body of the e-mail include all of the following information:
      • Your name
      • Your U#
      • Name and state of each non-USF, out-of-state or private school
      • For each school, include a link to the online catalog information
      • For each school, include a list of course names/numbers of the Upper Level Criminology course(s) that you wish to have evaluated.
  5. Wait for an e-mail reply with the results of the evaluation. It is common for this process to take up to 2 weeks and sometimes longer. Please be patient. However, if you have not received a response after 4 weeks, please send a follow up e-mail to crimadvise@usf.edu. If your transfer course is approved, the college will receive a copy of the approval and will update your record to reflect the results. This can take up to 2 weeks (after the evaluation has been completed) to show on your Degree Works Audit.

For all other Undergraduate Program Forms, visit the CBCS website. If you have any questions, please send an email to our Criminology Academic Advising Office.