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A bachelor’s degree isn’t nec­es­sary to begin a career as a foren­sic sci­ence pro­fes­sion­al, but with­out it, many capa­ble work­ers will hit a cap on their salary and posi­tion pret­ty soon. After all, foren­sics is a high­ly tech­ni­cal, high­ly spe­cial­ized field, and the basics learned in an associate’s pro­gram, or on the job, aren’t enough to take on high­er-demand posi­tions. While on-cam­pus foren­sic sci­ence pro­grams have their advan­tages, prospec­tive stu­dents are turn­ing more and more often to ful­ly online bachelor’s in foren­sic sci­ence pro­grams. In fact, for many pro­fes­sion­als, online may be preferable.

Crim­i­nal jus­tice, in gen­er­al, is a field that many work­ers begin straight out of high school, or with an associate’s degree, so many of the peo­ple who would most ben­e­fit from a bachelor’s degree are already work­ing in the field. They don’t want to leave a good job to go back to school, and why should they? Since they’re already work­ing in crim­i­nal jus­tice or foren­sics, expe­ri­ence means that they don’t nec­es­sar­i­ly need the hand-hold­ing of an on-cam­pus pro­gram. The flex­i­ble sched­ul­ing and con­ve­nience of not hav­ing to com­mute make a foren­sics degree online ide­al for work­ing pro­fes­sion­als who want to become foren­sic scientists.

Methodology: How We Ranked the Best Forensic Science Bachelor Degree Online

To rank the 15 Best Online Foren­sic Sci­ence Degree Bachelor’s Pro­grams for 2022, Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter researched foren­sic sci­ence pro­grams that are offered ful­ly online or in a hybrid for­mat – pri­mar­i­ly bachelor’s degree com­ple­tion, but with some ful­ly online 4‑year pro­grams. Schools must be region­al­ly accred­it­ed, while FEPAC accred­i­ta­tion is a bonus.

Pro­grams are ranked accord­ing to 5 cri­te­ria: Cost, Rep­u­ta­tion, Alum­ni Salary, Grad­u­a­tion Rate, and Job Place­ment, with data drawn from IPEDS, Col­lege Score­card, and Niche.com.

1. CSU-Global Campus

CSU-Global’s online BS in Crim­i­nal Jus­tice in Crim­i­nal Foren­sics gives stu­dents the abil­i­ty to devel­op their skills to inves­ti­gate and become stronger lead­ers while using their foun­da­tion in law enforce­ment. This pro­gram gives stu­dents the flex­i­bil­i­ty of an online pro­gram while allow­ing them to gain knowl­edge of the process­es and ser­vices need­ed in crim­i­nal jus­tice. Stu­dents will learn the fun­da­men­tals of cri­sis respon­sive­ness and how to advise on those sit­u­a­tions. Stu­dents learn how to devel­op poli­cies, give updates on the law, and man­age records. Upon grad­u­at­ing from this pro­gram, stu­dents will be able to obtain employ­ment as a man­ag­er in cor­rec­tions, a police offi­cer, a pro­fes­sor, or a criminologist.

CSU-Glob­al is one of the most unique insti­tu­tions in the US — the first pub­lic, ful­ly online, stand-alone cam­pus found­ed as part of a major pub­lic uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem. CSU-Glob­al spe­cial­izes in bachelor’s degree-com­ple­tion pro­grams and grad­u­ate degrees, pro­vid­ing a cen­tral home for Colorado’s pub­lic online degree pro­grams. Known for afford­abil­i­ty and qual­i­ty, CSU-Glob­al offers one of the best foren­sic sci­ence bach­e­lor degree online pro­grams in the world.

Degree: BS in Crim­i­nal Jus­tice — Crim­i­nal Forensics

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2. Maryville University

Maryville University’s online BA in Foren­sic Psy­chol­o­gy is one of the best-ranked foren­sic sci­ence bach­e­lor degree online pro­grams in the nation. Maryville Uni­ver­si­ty was ranked as one of America’s Top Col­leges. This pro­gram is com­plete­ly online with no need for the stu­dent to come to St. Louis, Mis­souri cam­pus. Stu­dents do not have to take the SAT or ACT exams. The mis­sion of Maryville is to focus on its com­mit­ment to excel­lence in edu­ca­tion, with a focus on learn­ing through experience.

Maryville’s foren­sic sci­ence bach­e­lor degree online pro­gram gives stu­dents first-hand expe­ri­ence by serv­ing the com­mu­ni­ty. Stu­dents also join the fac­ul­ty in com­plet­ing research projects. Stu­dents in this pro­gram will com­bine the crim­i­nal jus­tice field with the psy­chol­o­gy field to be more mar­ketable in health care and law enforce­ment. Stu­dents take a deep­er look at soci­ol­o­gy, psy­chol­o­gy, and crim­i­nol­o­gy. They expand their abil­i­ty to think crit­i­cal­ly, gain a bet­ter under­stand­ing of research, and learn the ben­e­fits of pay­ing atten­tion to details. Upon grad­u­a­tion, stu­dents can apply for jobs in gov­ern­ment, pro­ba­tion and cor­rec­tions facil­i­ties, or clin­ics for sub­stance abuse.

Degree: BA in Foren­sic Psychology

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3. Kent State University

Kent State University’s online bachelor’s in foren­sic sci­ence pro­gram includes two spe­cial­ized degrees: the Bach­e­lor of Tech­ni­cal and Applied Stud­ies with a con­cen­tra­tion in Fraud Exam­i­na­tion, and the BS in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy with a con­cen­tra­tion in Applied Com­put­er Secu­ri­ty and Foren­sics. Both degrees can be com­plet­ed entire­ly online with no vis­its nec­es­sary to their Kent, Ohio cam­pus. The Bach­e­lor of Tech­ni­cal and Applied Stud­ies is ide­al for stu­dents enter­ing as a fresh­man, or who have an associate’s degree. Stu­dents are giv­en a foun­da­tion­al busi­ness back­ground and course­work on pre­vent­ing fraud and finan­cial mis­use in busi­ness­es. Stu­dents will under­stand how strong ethics and sound deci­sions are used in pre­vent­ing fraud and how to study and ana­lyze fraud cases.

Kent State’s BS in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy, on the oth­er hand, gives stu­dents a foun­da­tion in all com­put­er tech­nolo­gies that they then apply to crim­i­nal analy­sis. They’ll learn how to sup­port orga­ni­za­tion­al needs, includ­ing devel­op­ing pro­grams for desk­top and mobile use, sup­port infra­struc­ture, and cre­ate data­bas­es. They’ll also gain knowl­edge in cloud basics, how to deploy appli­ca­tions, and retrieve data. Upon grad­u­a­tion, stu­dents can gain employ­ment as net­work tech­ni­cians, help desk super­vi­sors, data­base admin­is­tra­tors, or tech­ni­cal support.

Degree:
Bach­e­lor of Tech­ni­cal and Applied Stud­ies — Fraud Exam­i­na­tion
BS in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy — Applied Com­put­er Secu­ri­ty and Forensics

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4. Florida State University

Flori­da State University’s online BS in Pub­lic Safe­ty and Secu­ri­ty with a con­cen­tra­tion in Crime Scene Inves­ti­ga­tion gives stu­dents flex­i­bil­i­ty with dis­tance learn­ing cours­es and the abil­i­ty to take accel­er­at­ed sum­mer class­es. This bachelor’s in foren­sic sci­ence degree gives stu­dents a foun­da­tion in the abil­i­ty to han­dle phys­i­cal evi­dence. Stu­dents learn to iden­ti­fy and col­lect evi­dence, as well as ana­lyze it to help solve crimes, and ulti­mate­ly pros­e­cute crim­i­nals. Stu­dents are giv­en the abil­i­ty to blend hands-on exer­cis­es with the the­o­ret­i­cal knowl­edge required in the field of crime scene inves­ti­ga­tion. Upon grad­u­a­tion, stu­dents will be able to seek employ­ment with secu­ri­ty com­pa­nies, law enforce­ment, or intel­li­gence services.

Flori­da State Uni­ver­si­ty is one of the state’s three “pre­em­i­nent” uni­ver­si­ties estab­lished in 1851, along­side its sib­ling the Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da. FSU is a first-tier pub­lic research uni­ver­si­ty and one of the most influ­en­tial insti­tu­tions in the South, par­tic­u­lar­ly in STEM research and learn­ing. A high­ly diverse uni­ver­si­ty, Flori­da State is often named one of the best uni­ver­si­ties for minor­i­ty stu­dents, espe­cial­ly His­pan­ic and Lati­no stu­dents, as well as a best value.

Degree: BS in Pub­lic Safe­ty and Secu­ri­ty – Crime Scene Investigation

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5. Arizona State University

Ari­zona State University’s online BS in Foren­sic Psy­chol­o­gy gives stu­dents a strong foun­da­tion in the neu­ro­sci­en­tif­ic por­tion of psy­chol­o­gy, as well as a bio­log­i­cal one. Stu­dents receive in-depth train­ing in legal, clin­i­cal, and psy­cho­log­i­cal research, as well as in sta­tis­tics. Stu­dents learn the impor­tant place psy­chol­o­gists hold in the legal and jus­tice sys­tem. Foren­sic psy­chol­o­gists are the ones who per­form exams and assess the men­tal con­di­tion of defen­dants to deter­mine their men­tal state at the time a crime took place. Stu­dents will work close­ly with well-known lead­ers in the field as their instruc­tors, many of whom have been in the best sci­en­tif­ic jour­nals nation­al­ly, and internationally.

Long named the most inno­v­a­tive uni­ver­si­ty in the nation, Ari­zona State pio­neered the idea of the New Amer­i­can Uni­ver­si­ty, open­ing up admis­sions and mak­ing high­er edu­ca­tion as acces­si­ble and effec­tive as pos­si­ble. Today, ASU is one of the largest uni­ver­si­ties in the nation, and one of the most influ­en­tial. Ari­zona State is par­tic­u­lar­ly known as an online edu­ca­tor in pro­fes­sion­al fields, includ­ing the foren­sic sci­ence bach­e­lor degree online.

Degree: BS in Foren­sic Psychology

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6. Hampton University

Hamp­ton University’s online BS in Chem­istry offers a con­cen­tra­tion in Foren­sic Chem­istry for stu­dents who want to go into a career as a foren­sic chemist. This pro­gram, which is offered ful­ly online, under­stands the crit­i­cal role foren­sic sci­ence play in crim­i­nal jus­tice. In this pro­gram, stu­dents will learn to blend their knowl­edge of sci­ence with ana­lyt­i­cal skills and report­ing, as well as tes­ti­mo­ny to sup­port find­ing phys­i­cal evi­dence. Since this pro­gram is part of the chem­istry pro­gram, stu­dents have a wider range of employ­ment options avail­able to them.

Hamp­ton Uni­ver­si­ty is a pri­vate HBCU in Vir­ginia, well-known for its edu­ca­tion rig­or. Found­ed as an agri­cul­tur­al school, Hamp­ton built on its her­itage to become one of the lead­ing HBCUs for STEM — includ­ing being the only HBCU to lead a NASA mis­sion. The bachelor’s in foren­sic sci­ence pro­gram builds on Hampton’s STEM excel­lent to give stu­dents a sol­id base in the sci­ences, as well as a strong abil­i­ty to use sci­ence for prac­ti­cal approach­es to prob­lems. They gain invalu­able expe­ri­ence work­ing with­in a lab. Upon grad­u­a­tion from this pro­gram, stu­dents will find employ­ment in crime labs in law enforce­ment or gov­ern­ment agencies.

Degree: BS in Chem­istry — Foren­sic Chemistry

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7. Oakland City University

Oak­land City University’s online BS in Crim­i­nal Jus­tice offers a con­cen­tra­tion in Inves­tiga­tive Foren­sics that gives stu­dents a foun­da­tion in crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion and crime scene inves­ti­ga­tion. Stu­dents learn how to process evi­dence found at a crime scene. They learn the prop­er way to col­lect evi­dence, and the tech­niques they should employ. Stu­dents also learn the prop­er way to pho­to­graph an inves­tiga­tive scene. Stu­dents can take course­work online from their own loca­tion or on-cam­pus in Oak­land, City, Indiana.

OCU’s bachelor’s in foren­sic sci­ence pro­gram blends the approach­es of crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion the­o­ry and mod­ern phi­los­o­phy behind inves­ti­gat­ing a crime scene. Stu­dents devel­op skills to help them think crit­i­cal­ly and become experts at tech­niques for inves­ti­gat­ing crime scenes. Stu­dents also learn to write doc­u­ments prop­er­ly and present infor­ma­tion oral­ly. Stu­dents gain an under­stand­ing of the types of evi­dence that is found and how it’s used dur­ing an investigation.

Degree: BS in Crim­i­nal Jus­tice — Inves­tiga­tive Forensics

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8. Florida Tech

Flori­da Tech’s online BA in Foren­sic Psy­chol­o­gy offers a fur­ther con­cen­tra­tion in Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Appli­ca­tions. This pro­gram teach­es stu­dents how psy­cho­log­i­cal research, as well as the­o­ry are used in crim­i­nal jus­tice. Stu­dents are giv­en a foun­da­tion in the behav­ior of humans, includ­ing crim­i­nal behav­ior. They also learn the ben­e­fits of strong writ­ing, prop­er research, and how to ana­lyze data. Stu­dents gain a foun­da­tion in crime analy­sis skills, how to pre­vent crime, and to be a liai­son in the com­mu­ni­ty between legal and social ser­vice orga­ni­za­tions. Stu­dents are pre­sent­ed with a project that gives them a chance to work with the FBI review­ing, as well as cod­ing, case files.

The Flori­da Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy dates back to 1958, when it was found­ed to train engi­neers for NASA’s Flori­da facil­i­ties. Today, Flori­da Tech is best known for strong men­tor­ing and col­lab­o­ra­tion with instruc­tors, thanks to a low student:faculty ratio. Upon grad­u­a­tion, stu­dents from the foren­sic sci­ence bach­e­lor degree online pro­gram can find employ­ment as a police offi­cer, or a crime scene ana­lyst. Pre­vi­ous stu­dents have start­ed careers in Naval Crim­i­nal Inves­tiga­tive Ser­vices, the Pub­lic Defend­er’s office, and the local Police Department.

Degree: BA in Foren­sic Psy­chol­o­gy — Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Applications

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9. Utica College

Uti­ca Col­lege in Uti­ca, NY, offers two online foren­sic sci­ence degrees: a BS in Crim­i­nal Intel­li­gence Analy­sis and a BS in Fraud and Finan­cial Crime Inves­ti­ga­tion. Uti­ca was one of the first schools to offer an online BS in Crim­i­nal Intel­li­gence Analy­sis. Stu­dents will learn how to process and han­dle infor­ma­tion, become expert in crim­i­nal mat­ters, learn the val­ue of eth­i­cal deci­sion-mak­ing, and learn the prop­er way to ana­lyze data. Stu­dents will learn how to pre­dict and there­fore stop crim­i­nal activ­i­ty. Stu­dents will be able to cre­ate pub­lic pol­i­cy to help low­er crime rates. Stu­dents will be able to solve cas­es and help put crim­i­nals in jail.

Utica’s BS in Fraud and Finan­cial Crime Inves­ti­ga­tion pro­gram pre­pares stu­dents for a career in finan­cial crime. Stu­dents devel­op skills to ana­lyze and pre­serve evi­dence of finan­cial crimes. Stu­dents learn how to find and doc­u­ment finan­cial fraud. They learn how to find areas of vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty to fraud­u­lent crimes. Stu­dents learn how to use tech­nol­o­gy to find and pre­vent crime. They learn the val­ue of legal reg­u­la­tions, and how to rec­og­nize crim­i­nal behav­ior. Stu­dents gain a foun­da­tion in iden­ti­ty theft, insur­ance fraud, embez­zle­ment, and health care fraud.

Degree:
BS in Crim­i­nal Intel­li­gence Analy­sis
BS in Fraud and Finan­cial Crime Investigation

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10. New England College

New Eng­land College’s online BA in Foren­sic Psy­chol­o­gy gives stu­dents the abil­i­ty to study the his­to­ry and begin­ning of crime. They learn how to apply the prin­ci­ples and the­o­ries of psy­chol­o­gy to the legal field. Stu­dents under­stand how psy­cho­log­i­cal char­ac­ter­is­tics play a role in crim­i­nal activ­i­ty and behav­ior. Stu­dents gain an under­stand­ing of how close­ly relat­ed crim­i­nal jus­tice and psy­chol­o­gy are. Stu­dents will gain a bet­ter under­stand­ing of the psy­chol­o­gy of foren­sics, how to inves­ti­gate crim­i­nal activ­i­ty and the study of victims.

New Eng­land Col­lege in Hen­niker, NH, was built on the needs of non-tra­di­tion­al stu­dents, found­ed in 1946 to pro­vide edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ty for return­ing vet­er­ans using the GI Bill. While NEC pro­vides a strong base in the lib­er­al arts, like a tra­di­tion­al lib­er­al arts col­lege, it is also known for its excep­tion­al pro­fes­sion­al pro­grams. Upon grad­u­a­tion from the foren­sic sci­ence bach­e­lor degree online pro­gram, stu­dents may be able to find employ­ment as a detec­tive, crime scene inves­ti­ga­tor, or a sub­stance abuse coun­selor, with New Eng­land College’s strong rep­u­ta­tion and con­nec­tions to help them.

Degree: BA in Foren­sic Psychology

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11. Portland State University

Port­land State University’s online BS in Crim­i­nal Jus­tice, with a Cer­tifi­cate in Advanced Crime Analy­sis, is intend­ed for adults who are cur­rent­ly work­ing in the crim­i­nal jus­tice field who want to advance their careers. This pro­gram high­lights the­o­ry, as well as prac­tice to make a dif­fer­ence in the com­mu­ni­ty. Stu­dents are able to devel­op a pro­gram that works for them, includ­ing com­plet­ing one of the online cer­tifi­cate pro­grams with no extra cost nor require­ment vis­its to Oregon.

Port­land State bachelor’s in foren­sic sci­ence stu­dents will study meth­ods and tools to help them ana­lyze the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem. Stu­dents will begin to under­stand crim­i­nal behav­ior, as well as the social fac­tors that lend them­selves to crim­i­nal activ­i­ty and behav­ior. Stu­dents will learn how to map out crimes along with tech­niques for advanced analy­sis of crime. They will bet­ter under­stand the rela­tion­ships between the police and local com­mu­ni­ties. Stu­dents will also learn to cre­ate con­trol over evi­dence-based crim­i­nal activity.

Degree: BS in Crim­i­nal Jus­tice — Cer­tifi­cate in Advanced Crime Analysis

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12. American Intercontinental University

Amer­i­can Inter­con­ti­nen­tal University’s online BS in Crim­i­nal Jus­tice with a con­cen­tra­tion in Foren­sic Sci­ence helps stu­dents learn the com­plete pro­cess­ing of the scene of a crime from the preser­va­tion of evi­dence to fin­ger­print­ing and inter­pret­ing blood splat­ter. Stu­dents also learn how to prop­er­ly write up a crime scene descrip­tion. Bachelor’s in foren­sic sci­ence stu­dents learn the def­i­n­i­tion of foren­sic sci­ence, as well as the role of a foren­sic psy­chol­o­gist. Stu­dents under­stand the var­i­ous stages of post­mortem, includ­ing bod­i­ly changes, and med­ical his­to­ry. They also gain a bet­ter under­stand­ing of the use of com­put­ers in solv­ing a crime, includ­ing tool test­ing, learn­ing to use com­put­ers to cre­ate data mod­el­ing to help solve crimes, as well as use com­put­ers to do the analysis.

Amer­i­can Inter­con­ti­nen­tal Uni­ver­si­ty is a rare for-prof­it uni­ver­si­ty that is region­al­ly accred­it­ed and rec­og­nized for edu­ca­tion­al qual­i­ty. Found­ed in 1971, AIU has two phys­i­cal cam­pus­es, but is pri­mar­i­ly known as an online edu­ca­tor — around 80% of AIU stu­dents attend ful­ly online. From the begin­ning, AIU was designed around the needs of work­ing adults, and that con­tin­ues today in pro­grams like the foren­sic sci­ence bach­e­lor degree online.

Degree: BS in Crim­i­nal Jus­tice — Foren­sic Science

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13. University of North Carolina at Pembroke

The Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na at Pembroke’s Bach­e­lor of Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies (BIS) in Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Stud­ies, with a con­cen­tra­tion in Foren­sics, gives stu­dents a sol­id foun­da­tion in the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem with advanced knowl­edge and skills in foren­sics. This pro­gram allows stu­dents to uti­lize their diverse back­grounds and expe­ri­ence as they study the foun­da­tions and blend­ing of more than one discipline.

UNC Pem­broke is a unique insti­tu­tion, found­ed to pro­vide an oppor­tu­ni­ty to the Native Amer­i­can com­mu­ni­ty in the Lum­ber­ton area. Like many of UNCP’s pro­grams, a bachelor’s in foren­sic sci­ence is intend­ed for work­ing adult stu­dents inter­est­ed in advanc­ing their cur­rent careers. Upon grad­u­a­tion, stu­dents will be able to find employ­ment in the court sys­tem, cor­rec­tion­al facil­i­ties, and in a police department.

Degree: BIS in Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Stud­ies — Forensics

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14. SUNY Canton

SUNY Canton’s online Bach­e­lor of Tech­nol­o­gy in Crim­i­nal Inves­ti­ga­tion gives stu­dents a thor­ough edu­ca­tion in the many sides of foren­sics. Stu­dents will learn prop­er pho­to­graph­ic skills and tech­niques for an inves­ti­ga­tion. Stu­dents will devel­op skills that will be use­ful dur­ing an inter­view and inter­ro­ga­tion. They will learn prop­er evi­dence pro­cess­ing and tech­niques to be used while inves­ti­gat­ing a crime scene. Stu­dents learn the prop­er way to inves­ti­gate death. They learn the foun­da­tion of crime scene inves­ti­ga­tion. Stu­dents in this pro­gram receive a spe­cial course in the exam­i­na­tion of firearms and tools, foren­sic taphon­o­my, ques­tion­able doc­u­ments, and graves.

The State Uni­ver­si­ty of New York at Can­ton began in 1906 as an agri­cul­tur­al and tech­nol­o­gy school, and applied sci­ence remains at the cen­ter of the university’s edu­ca­tion — includ­ing the bachelor’s in foren­sic sci­ence. The foren­sic sci­ence bach­e­lor degree online pro­gram focus­es on real-life expe­ri­en­tial learn­ing instead of focus­ing heav­i­ly on the­o­ry. Stu­dents have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to par­tic­i­pate in 600 hours of an inves­tiga­tive intern­ship, adding expe­ri­ence to their con­ve­nient, ful­ly online coursework.

Degree: Bach­e­lor of Tech­nol­o­gy in Crim­i­nal Investigation

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15. Miami Dade College

Mia­mi Dade College’s online Bach­e­lor of Applied Sci­ence in Pub­lic Safe­ty Man­age­ment includes an option­al con­cen­tra­tion in Crime Scene Inves­ti­ga­tion. This degree pro­gram is intend­ed for work­ing adults who are inter­est­ed in advanc­ing their cur­rent career, or for those who want to enter a career in pub­lic safe­ty. This pro­gram is intend­ed to be com­plet­ed in about two years with a full-time com­mit­ment. Stu­dents must take 60 cred­it hours of core class­es and 5 more cred­it hours in their con­cen­tra­tion for the bachelor’s in foren­sic science.

MDC’s foren­sic sci­ence bach­e­lor degree online pro­gram teach­es the stu­dent to think crit­i­cal­ly, improve their ana­lyt­i­cal skills, and devel­op oral and writ­ten com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills. This pro­gram allows stu­dents to take a deep dive into issues relat­ed to the inves­ti­ga­tion, includ­ing devel­op­ing stronger crim­i­nal and crime scene inves­ti­ga­tion tech­niques. They will learn how to improve inves­tiga­tive skills. Stu­dents learn safe­ty at a crime scene, inno­v­a­tive fin­ger­print tech­nol­o­gy, and how to prop­er­ly han­dle crime scene evi­dence. Stu­dents take advanced course work in crime scene inves­ti­ga­tion and how to use tech­nol­o­gy at a crime scene to be bet­ter able to col­lect evidence.

Degree: Bach­e­lor of Applied Sci­ence in Pub­lic Safe­ty Man­age­ment — Crime Scene Investigation

Click to learn more about the online foren­sic sci­ence degrees! 

What Kinds of Careers Can I Get in Forensic Science?

The foren­sic sci­ence field employs a broad range of jobs, with a wide vari­ety of areas avail­able to explore. After all, there are many facets to crime inves­ti­ga­tion and crim­i­nal jus­tice. For exam­ple, some­body with a pas­sion for psy­chol­o­gy could attain a foren­sic psy­chol­o­gy online degree to gain access to foren­sic psy­chol­o­gy jobs. In this spe­cial­ized area, a work­er can apply his or her exper­tise in psy­chol­o­gy to legal and crim­i­nal cases.

The field of foren­sic sci­ence is large encom­pass­ing every­thing from nat­ur­al sci­ence to psy­chol­o­gy to crim­i­nal pro­ce­dure to com­put­er sci­ence. Under the dis­ci­pline of foren­sic sci­ence, there are dif­fer­ent sub­dis­ci­plines like psy­chol­o­gy, anthro­pol­o­gy, tech­nol­o­gy, foren­sic biol­o­gy, crim­i­nol­o­gy, lab analy­sis, nurs­ing, foren­sic tox­i­col­o­gy, crim­i­nal­is­tics, pro­fil­ing, com­put­er foren­sics, dig­i­tal foren­sics, serol­o­gy, foren­sic DNA analy­sis, and crime scene inves­ti­ga­tion. You may work with foren­sic evi­dence in a crime lab­o­ra­to­ry, or at a com­put­er doing cyber­se­cu­ri­ty. There is a wide range of foren­sic inves­ti­ga­tion today.

It’s rec­om­mend­ed that foren­sic sci­ence majors get to know these sub­dis­ci­plines and pur­sue the ones that are inter­est­ing to them. Learn­ing a spe­cial­ty or a con­cen­trat­ed area will bet­ter advance a person’s career options.

Foren­sic med­ical exam­in­ers, foren­sic accoun­tants, foren­sic engi­neers, lab­o­ra­to­ry ana­lysts, and crime scene inves­ti­ga­tors make some of the high­est earn­ings with­in this par­tic­u­lar field of work. While the aver­age foren­sic sci­ence tech­ni­cian makes about $64,000 per year, the above-men­tioned careers can make up to $105,000 per year.

Can I Get a Job with an Online Forensic Science Degree?

Yes, as long as the online pro­gram has region­al accred­i­ta­tion, online foren­sic degrees are just as good as on-cam­pus. Even bet­ter is accred­i­ta­tion from FEPAC for the foren­sics pro­gram. Employ­ers are very cau­tious of grad­u­ates who come from foren­sic sci­ence pro­grams that aren’t accred­it­ed. Foren­sic sci­ence needs skilled and high­ly-trained work­ers who match up with cer­tain stan­dards for the job. With­out prop­er edu­ca­tion and train­ing on the employee’s part, the work is put into seri­ous doubt. In a field like foren­sic sci­ence, pre­ci­sion and skill are much-need­ed in order to bring real crim­i­nals to justice.

But the good news is that increas­ing­ly, more employ­ers are rec­og­niz­ing the valid­i­ty of online learn­ing. Vir­tu­al cours­es are becom­ing pop­u­lar for a rea­son; not every­body has the sched­ule or the com­mut­ing options to attend in-per­son col­leges. And some fields are per­fect for online edu­ca­tion. A foren­sic psy­chol­o­gy online degree can pro­vide all the same course­work as an on-cam­pus foren­sic psy­chol­o­gy pro­gram. Employ­ers like police depart­ments and gov­ern­ment agen­cies will see online foren­sic psy­chol­o­gy degrees no dif­fer­ent­ly. So peo­ple who get foren­sic degrees online get the same jobs and the same pay.

The Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics shows strong num­bers for foren­sic career oppor­tu­ni­ties. Online stu­dents can expect low­er tuition rates (and less finan­cial aid to pay back). Enroll­ment in bach­e­lor of sci­ence and master’s degree pro­grams relat­ed to foren­sics is high. Work­ing adults may be able to trans­fer cred­its from ear­li­er stud­ies, or get cred­it for work expe­ri­ence. Expect a cap­stone project that puts your online learn­ing into prac­tice. Choose your elec­tives wise­ly if you wish to specialize.

What If I Already Have a Bachelor’s?

It is actu­al­ly some­what com­mon­place for a bachelor’s grad­u­ate to pur­sue an online edu­ca­tion for spe­cial­iza­tion. Online pro­grams are espe­cial­ly con­ve­nient for those look­ing for an accel­er­at­ed pace. Foren­sic sci­ence careers can start with online foren­sic sci­ence degree programs.

For exam­ple, if you already have a bachelor’s degree in psy­chol­o­gy, you may add an online foren­sic sci­ence cer­tifi­cate to your cre­den­tials to open to the door to foren­sic psy­chol­o­gy careers. An online foren­sic sci­ence cer­tifi­cate, plus your expe­ri­ence and edu­ca­tion in psy­chol­o­gy, will have the same effect for foren­sic psy­chol­o­gy jobs as a foren­sic psy­chol­o­gy online degree.

On the oth­er hand, if you already have a bachelor’s degree in crim­i­nal jus­tice or a relat­ed major, you can then spe­cial­ize in psy­chol­o­gy by find­ing an online foren­sic psy­chol­o­gy cer­tifi­cate pro­gram. After you have passed the foren­sic psy­chol­o­gy online cours­es, a degree or cer­tifi­cate in foren­sic psy­chol­o­gy will help you find foren­sic psy­chol­o­gy jobs.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Foren­sic Sci­ence Degree Pro­grams
10 Fastest Online Foren­sic Sci­ence Degree Bachelor’s Pro­grams
10 Most Afford­able Online Foren­sic Sci­ence Degree Bach­e­lor Programs