Steps for Applying to the Program

1. Complete the Criminal Justice program application. Within the application, upload your resume and copies of all college transcripts (unofficial transcripts are acceptable), or if you were a former or current Sac State student, contact us to see if we have access to your records.
2. Within approximately two weeks, you will receive an unofficial evaluation indicating if you are admissible to the program, and what courses you have left towards your degree.

Once you receive your evaluation results from us, we will let you know if you can move on to the formal admissions process (including the CSU Apply application for new students or change of major paperwork for current Sac State students) or if you need more prerequisites before you can begin the program.

Admissions Criteria 

The following admissions criteria must be met prior to admission:

• All four lower-division CRJ prerequisite courses must be completed with a “C” grade or better within the last seven years.  Older courses require approval from the CRJ department chair.  Work experience and training (such as the Police Academy) are not accepted in lieu of academic credit courses. At Sac State, these courses are CRJ 1, 2, 4, and 5 (please see the catalog for course details).  If you need help selecting the correct equivalent courses, please refer to the Articulation Agreements chart at the Division of Criminal Justice. 
• CSU General Education area A2-Written Communication must be completed with a “C-” grade or better.
• A course from either CSU General Education area A1-Oral Communication, A3-Critical Thinking, or B4-Quantitative Reasoning must be completed with a “C-” grade or better.  You do not need to complete all three areas prior to admission (although it is recommended) – you just need one of the three areas completed to meet this criteria.
• Completion of 45 or more CSU transferable units.
• An overall GPA of 2.5 is required.

All Sacramento State General Education and Graduation requirements need to be met before you can graduate from Sacramento State; these are only the admission requirements for our program.  Please view the Sacramento State Catalog to review all degree requirements for graduation.

While this does not replace one-on-one academic advising with a qualified advisor, you may consider referring to Assist to help you determine which courses you may use to transfer to Sacramento State for General Education requirements. 

If you need to find online options for your GE or CRJ prerequisite courses, please consider using the California Virtual Classroom search tool through the CA Community Colleges.  

We recommend submitting your application and transcripts ASAP for review so we can assist you in determining what requirements you currently meet, what requirements you still need to work on, and what specific classes we will accept for these requirements, as well as other CSU General Education requirements for graduation.

Please do not submit a formal application to Sacramento State via CSU Apply yet; wait until you are instructed to do so, as we will give you specific instructions on how to apply to the online CRJ program. 

If you decide to enroll in the program, you will be required to complete a California State University Application for Admission. Admission fees will include a $70 CSU Application Fee and a $50 CRJ Departmental Application Fee.