The combined BA/MA program affords Villanova Undergraduate Criminal Justice majors the opportunity to earn a Master’s degree by completing a fifth year of study in the Criminology, Law and Society MA graduate program. This is achieved by permitting qualified students to begin taking graduate level courses during their senior year as an undergraduate. 

Special Provisions for Villanova Criminal Justice Majors

 *The graduate application fee will be
   waived and Graduate Record Exams
   are not required.
 *Tuition during the summer and fall
   sessions will be the standard
   graduate rate.
 *Tuition during the spring semester of
   the fifth year (up to nine credits) is
   covered by a tuition remission
   granted by the Office of Graduate
   Studies. 
 *Students should send a letter stating
   their interest in the program to the
   Graduate Program Director by March
   1st of their junior year.

Undergraduate majors with a GPA of 3.0 or higher will be invited to apply to the program early in the spring semester of their junior year. Those graduate courses count toward both the undergraduate degree requirements as well the course requirements for the graduate program. With completion of all undergraduate requirements, students are awarded a B.A. degree at the end of their fourth year of study and then continue in the graduate program.

Students in this program will meet with the Undergraduate Program Director at the end of their junior year to select three graduate courses for their senior year, of which a grade of “B” or higher must be earned. Upon successful completion of the graduate courses, students will be formally admitted into the graduate program at the end of their senior year.