The Accelerated Master’s Program is for exceptional students. The accepted student will:

• have attained an average GPA of 3.5 in all institutional courses
• have completed a minimum of 60 credit hours (at least 36 of these credit hours must have been taken at UAB)
• have declared criminal justice as an undergraduate major

Before applying, students should meet with the Directors of the Undergraduate and Graduate Programs to discuss the expectations and rigor of the program. Interested students should also meet with a financial aid/scholarship advisor to determine the impact of the ABM on their scholarships and/or aid award.

Students must submit their ABM application through the UAB Graduate School’s online portal, one letter of reference, a current C.V. or resume, and a personal statement. The Graduate School will assist the student with acquiring their official transcripts.

Admission into the ABM is decided by a committee chaired by the graduate program director and consisting of J. Frank Barefield, Jr. Department of Criminal Justice graduate faculty.

To maintain status in ABM, the student must:

• maintain an institutional GPA of 3.25 or higher
• receive a B (or higher) in criminal justice courses taken while still an undergraduate student

If either of these requirements is violated, the student will be withdrawn from the ABM program. If a student is withdrawn, they will retain credit for the courses already taken in the ABM program for either their undergraduate degree or their graduate degree based on the student’s preference.

Once the undergraduate student has completed all course requirements for graduation, their undergraduate degree will be awarded. Once the student graduates from the bachelor’s degree program, they enter the MSCJ program as a traditional student and must maintain the requirements of that graduate program.

To accelerate progress through the MSCJ degree, up to 12 credit hours may be counted towards the completion of the bachelor’s degree and towards the completion of the MSCJ degree.

Below is a list of courses allowed for credit sharing between the undergraduate and graduate criminal justice programs:

• CJ 500: Drugs and Society
• CJ 503: Restorative Justice
• CJ 507: Special Topics
• CJ 508: Juvenile Delinquency
• CJ 511: Juvenile Justice System
• CJ 540: White Collar and Corporate Crime
• CJ 542: Race, Crime, Gender & Social Policy
• CJ 543: Women and CJ System
• CJ 544: Law and Society
• CJ 560: Violence: An American Tradition
• CJ 563: Urban Structures
• CJ 564: Crime and Place
• CJ 566: Spatial Analysis
• CJ 583: Patterns in Crime

Each student will develop a detailed personalized plan of study that will build on the student’s transcript and future career goals. This plan must be agreed upon by all parties (student, their undergraduate academic advisor, undergraduate program director, and graduate program director) and strictly adhered to while in the Criminal Justice ABM program in order to guarantee student’s continued participation in the ABM.