Advising Information for Criminal
Justice Majors
Advisors:
Who to see for what
There
are several types of advisors. The college's advising program, located in the Student Affairs office on the second floor of Armitage Hall, advises students until they declare a major.
The
second type of advisors are departmental.
Advisors in Student Affairs and for other majors cannot be expected
to understand the requirements for our major, so make sure you
check with your CJ advisor before enrolling in classes. Once you have declared a major, you should only consult Criminal Justice faculty advisors for information and decisions about the major. If you change
your schedule around AFTER seeing an advisor, make sure to check
in again to ensure that you are still on track. It is highly recommended that you see your advisor prior to pre-registration each semester.
All declared CJ majors are assigned advisors from the department's faculty. If you are a registered criminal justicemajor, click here to see an excel file that will tell you who your advisor is. If you have not declared your criminal justice major, you should do so ASAP by going to the Registrar's Office and telling the person at the counter that you want to declare your major to be criminal justice (202). After you declare your major, go to the department office at 405-7 Cooper Street (enter through the white porch on the campus side) and ask our secretary, Sherry Pisacano, to assign you a faculty advisor. (You will be assigned one eventually in any case, but this will speed up the process.)
The
third type of advisors are programmatic ones. Athletics, EOF,
and some other offices have academic counselors to help students
served by those offices arrange schedules. While these individuals
are often great sources of information, make sure you run your
intended schedule by your CJ advisor to avoid any bad surprises.
General
Education Requirements
Criminal
Justice is housed within the Camden
College of Arts and Sciences and CJ majors must fulfill the
college's curricular requirements (often referred to as the "general
academic requirements"). The basic idea behind these requirements
is that all liberal arts students should graduate with a broad
intellectual background that includes the humanities, social sciences,
and natural sciences, regardless of their particular major. It
is generally a good idea to concentrate on fulfilling these general
requirements early along in your time at Rutgers-Camden. Copies
of the general academic requirements worksheet are available at http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/RUCAM/studentaffairs/studserv_checklist.html
(pick the catalog under which you entered). You should keep this
worksheet up to date and bring it to all advising sessions. A
more detailed description of the college curricular requirements
may also be found in the college catalog. The current and past
college catalogs are available at: http://ruweb.rutgers.edu/catalogs/camden-ug.shtml,
but you can pick up a handy bound copy at the Registrar's or Admissions
Office.
Your
advising appointment
When you come
to your advising appointment, you should bring the following:
1. your
major checksheet. If you do not have one, you can find the
major checksheet for criminal justice at http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/RUCAM/studentaffairs/documents/crim03.pdf.
Note that there are two pages to the checksheet. The second
page (or the back of the sheet if you receive a copy on campus)
lists important course choices. You should print out and maintain
a copy of your major checksheet. When you have completed the
requirements on the major checksheet, you have completed the
major. If you lose your original checksheet, you may lose
your record of any accommodations signed off by faculty members
such as course waivers.
2. your
general education checksheet (to see which courses you need
to fulfill general ed requirements). These are available at:
http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/RUCAM/studentaffairs/studserv_checklist.html
3. a copy
of your transcript. The easiest way to obtain one is to print
a copy off the Internet at: https://www.acs.rutgers.edu/admgrades.
To access your transcript, you need to have established a
"NetID" and password for a student account on the "clam" server.
If you have not done this, follow the instructions at http://oit.rutgers.edu/services/account/quick.html.
4. checksheets
for minors, additional majors, or for programs. See http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/RUCAM/studentaffairs/studserv_checklist.html
to download checksheets for other majors and some minor checksheets.
Others are available in Student Affairs or from the departments
offering the minor.
5. your
copy of the class schedule which lists classes and times.
These are published on newsprint and distributed during the
pre-registration period. You can also access the class schedule
at: http://www.acs.rutgers.edu/soc
6. your
preferred schedule (i.e., you should decide before your meeting
if there are class times that you cannot attend due to work,
family or other obligations, or other reasons)
7. a list
of questions you want answered (so you won't forget to ask
them)
8. a list
of courses you have already considered (e.g., if you know
you want to take Spanish 102 on T-Th at 10am). You should
already have a tentative schedule in mind when you come to
your meeting as the advisors cannot go through the course
schedule course by course and pick classes for you (you wouldn't
want to take the classes we find interesting anyway unless
you're up for Advanced Statistics and Theory). The CJ advisors
will happily review course selections you have made, make
suggestions for better courses (e.g., those that fulfill requirements),
help you pick a class or two, and answer any questions you
have.
9. if
it is your first meeting with an advisor in CJ, you should
bring a transcript from your prior college with courses marked
that you feel should transfer to Rutgers-Camden and your transfer
evaluation form from Rutgers-Camden. If those courses are
within CJ or sociology or anthropology, also bring any course
materials you have for the classes in question (e.g., syllabi,
copies of texts, homework assignments, etc). At the very least,
you should bring a copy of the course description from your
former school's catalog (often available online). For more
information about this process, see the advice for transferring
students at: http://sociology.camden.rutgers.edu/transfer-advice.htm.
The
major in Criminal Justice
Before discussing
the major and its requirements, you can find a quick summary of
the major at: http://sociology.camden.rutgers.edu/major.htm#cjmaj.
You could also examine the major checksheet. The most detailed
writeup of the major is in the university catalog.
For double
majors, see the checksheet at: http://sociology.camden.rutgers.edu/Double_major_Form.pdf
CJ majors with a minor in sociology or anthropology are strongly advised to see their advisor to ensure that they understand what is required to satisfy the requirements of their programs. Details are available at our minor programs webpage.
Like other majors at Rutgers-Camden, the major in Criminal Justice
is divided into lower and upper division courses. Students transferring
from a community college can fulfill all of the lower-division
requirements before arriving on our campus.
Lower division courses: All of our majors must take an
introductory course in both CJ (202:201 Criminal Justice in America)
and sociology (920:207 Introduction to Sociology). They must also
take their choice of two of three process courses (Policing, Corrections,
or Courts). Those four courses are the lower division requirements.
Students may take upper division courses in the program as long
as there are no unmet prerequisites, but they should remember
that upper division courses assume some background in criminal
justice or sociology.
We recommend that students take Research Methods (920:301
Methods & Techniques of Social Research) as soon as they can
because it is a prerequisite for both Theories (920:313) and Ethics
and Policy (202:449). Students will also master MicroCase in Research
Methods, which will help them in other courses that use MicroCase.
Pointers
for selecting classes
When selecting classes, students should keep a few pointers in
mind:
| 1. |
Try
to make progress in both your general education requirements
and your major, especially when it comes to classes that are
sequential (e.g., you should not leave Research Methods until
late in your academic career since it is a prerequisite for
other courses). Taking a few classes toward your major and
towards general education requirements will help you move
towards graduation at a quicker pace.
|
| 2. |
Double-count
as many courses as you can. Double-counting means one course
can be used to satisfy both a general education requirement
and a requirement towards the major. Courses can also be used
to satisfy requirements for two or more majors, with the exception
of double majors in Sociology and Criminal Justice, who are
governed by special rules (see http://sociology.camden.rutgers.edu/doublemaj.htm
those rules).
You may use courses to fulfill multiple requirements at Rutgers-Camden,
so below are some some specific pointers to help you quickly
fulfill the requirements for your degree:
|
| |
a. |
General
Education Requirement 2B (Additional mathematics course):
All CJ majors must take 920:301 (Research Methods), which
fulfills this requirement, so you do not need to take an additional
course.
|
| |
b. |
General
Education Requirement 3b (History, Philosophy, or Religion):
Three Philosophy courses are among those that fulfill our
"Crime or Justice Related Course Outside the Department" requirement,
including Ethics (730:226), and Some Contemporary Moral Issues
(offered under both 730:315 & 730:316). Therefore, if
you take one of these courses, you will satisfy both a CJ
major requirement and a General Education requirement.
|
| |
c. |
General
Education Requirement 5 (Social sciences): All CJ majors
must take at least one course in sociology and at least one
course in criminal justice, so you will automatically fulfill
this requirement and do not need to take additional courses
to satisfy this requirement.
|
| |
d. |
General
Education Requirement 6 (Diversity or Global Studies):
A number of courses that count toward CJ fulfill this requirement,
including Race & Ethnicity (one of two required courses),
Poor, Minorities & Justice (a CJ elective) and all but
one of the Multicultural/Non-western Electives (all but Anthropology
of American Culture). Because nearly all of our students take
at least one of these courses, no one has had to take an additional
course to fulfill this requirement.
|
| |
e. |
General
Education Requirement 1C (Writing course): If you are
a double major in Sociology and Criminal Justice, taking Ted
Goertzel's Communications course (920:341) can fulfill the
writing intensive course requirement and also count as an
elective in Sociology. Communication, unfortunately, does
NOT count towards the CJ major, but I've included this double-count
here because we have a number of double majors in Soc and
CJ who could benefit from this information.
|
| |
f. |
General
Education Requirement 4b (English or Foreign Language in
Translation): On occasion, the foreign language departments
offer a special topics course that can be used to satisfy
the "Crime or Justice Related Course Outside the Department"
requirement, such as Crime & Justice (a French course)
and Crime and the French Novel. If you see a course offered
by any of the foreign languages that you feel could fulfill
this requirement, see the director of the Criminal Justice
program to get it considered and added to the master list. |
| |
IMPORTANT NOTE: Double-counting courses does not allow you
to count the credits twice. In other words, a three credit
course that is double-counted is worth only three credits
toward the 120 credits needed to graduate. Double-counting,
does, however, speed up your fulfilling of specific requirements.
|
| 3. |
Do
not over-enroll in courses. Sometimes, students want to
expedite their graduation dates by taking additional courses.
This plan often backfires after the drop deadline, and may
be hazardous to your GPA. Taking more than six courses is
ill advised even for academically strong students. Remember
the formula: according to University guidelines, students
should be prepared to spend six hours per week preparing and
studying for each three-credit course (i.e., two hours per
credit). That means you should expect each course to fill
nine hours of time (3 hours in class plus 6 hours out of class).
If you find that you will be unable to do well in your courses,
make sure you alter your schedule before the add/drop deadline.
Also remember that you must file the appropriate paperwork
if you decide to drop a class. Do NOT simply stop attending
or you'll be unhappy with what that does to your GPA. Go to
http://registrar.rutgers.edu/CM/ENROL-CM.HTM#drop
for more information on dropping classes.
|
| 4. |
Try
to create a balanced schedule. Creating a balanced
schedule means you should try to create a schedule that is
not overly weighted with courses that you consider to be difficult
or unpalatable or courses that meet at times that are inconvenient
for you.
|
| 5. |
Consider
all available courses. Many CJ majors lament about the
"small" number of courses we offer each term before they look
at the CJ-related offerings in Sociology, Anthropology, and
other majors. Our required theory course, for example, is
technically housed within Sociology (920:313, Theories of
Crime & Delinquency). In fact, every student who completes
the CJ major will have taken at least four courses in Sociology
and some will take up to nine. Because we are a combined department,
some CJ courses are listed under Sociology and Anthropology.
If you have not fulfilled the "Crime or Justice Related Course
Outside the Department" requirement, also check for courses
that fulfill that requirement.
|
| 6. |
Make
sure you get your schedule approved by an advisor.
The number of students who mistakenly take classes and end
up delaying their graduations is amazing. It's okay (actually
preferable) to work up your own schedule, but get it reviewed
by an advisor before the add/drop deadline. |
The mechanics
of registering
| 1. |
First, determine which courses you have already taken.
Before you die laughing at this suggestion, consider that
transfer courses often have different names from Rutgers-Camden
courses. This means all transfer students must examine the
course numbers to see which requirements they have met. I
have advised several students who repeated courses for which
they already had credit (one guy took the same course three
times!), which means they received no credit for the repeated
takings.
|
| 2. |
Using
either the Course Schedule (distributed before the registration
period) or the online "University Schedule of Classes," find
appropriate courses that allow you to progress towards
graduation. The online schedule is preferable to the printed
one in that you can limit your search to specific times and
you can tell if the class is full.
|
| 3. |
Review
online syllabi from prior offerings if you wish. Many
faculty post syllabi online, especially for CJ and Sociology.
You can look those syllabi over to get an idea of what will
be covered and required in the course. The online syllabi
for our department are at: http://sociology.camden.rutgers.edu/courselinks.htm.
|
| 4. |
Get
on waiting lists if necessary. If a class is full that
you need, contact the instructor to see if you can get a special
permission number or be added to a wait list. This is most
effective if you are a graduating student. Be prepared to
show documentation of your claims if requested. In the meantime,
you might want to add a "backup" course in case you do not
get into the full course.
|
| 5. |
Actually
register. You can register in several ways, but the easiest
is online. Go to http://registrar.rutgers.edu/CM/ENROL-CM.HTM#enrollment
for directions and to https://webreg.rutgers.edu/
to actually register.
|
| 6. |
Make
sure you add and drop courses before the deadline.
You can add and drop courses up until certain deadlines. Check
the appropriate calendar at: http://registrar.rutgers.edu/CM/CALENDARS.HTM
to see the deadlines for each semester
|
Notes
on specific CJ courses and scheduling information
The following
courses are offered every semester, barring emergencies:
- 202:201
Criminal Justice in America
- 920:207 Introduction to Sociology
-
at least one of the three introductory courses to components
of the criminal justice system (Police, Corrections, or Courts--
we try to offer all three each year)
- 920:301
Methods & Techniques of Social Research
- either 920:316 Race and Ethnicity or 920:332 Social Stratification
-
920:313 Theories of Crime & Delinquency (NOTE: 920:301
and 920:207 are pre-reqs for this course, and this is a demanding
course-- NOTE#2: This course cannot transfer in from a community
college so consult a CJ advisor if it is mistakenly transferred
in for you)
-
202:449 Ethics and Policy in Criminal Justice (NOTE: 920:301
and 202:201 are pre-reqs for this course)
-
several electives, listed under CJ and Sociology (any 300-level
CJ course counts as a CJ elective as do several approved Sociology
courses)
-
several multicultural/non-western electives, listed under
Sociology, Anthropology, and Political Science (see the approved
list for specific courses)
-
several "Crime or Justice Related Courses Outside the Department,"
listed under appropriate department headings. If you see a
new course you believe should satisfy this requirement, see
the director of the criminal justice program to get it added
to the master list
Summer
and Winterim sessions are good times to pick up electives
as few of the upper division required courses are offered during
those times. You can count on at least one course (usually more)
that counts toward the CJ major being offered during Winterim
and two to six (usually more) being offered during Summer.
Night-time courses - Because we are a day program, it
is very difficult to complete our major attending only night-time
courses. We have had a few night students complete the program,
but most have had to take at least one semester of day courses
in order to finish their requirements. Psychology has a thriving
night program, so students who cannot attend any day courses
might consider changing majors to psychology or another program
with a night program.
Other assorted
advice (e.g., on language requirements) is available
at: http://sociology.camden.rutgers.edu/other-advice.htm
Some good links for students
Advice for tranfer students who are considering majoring in Criminal
Justice at Rutgers-Camden: http://sociology.camden.rutgers.edu/transfer-advice.htm
Calendars for add/drop, holidays, etc: http://registrar.rutgers.edu/CM/CALENDARS.HTM
Calendars, advanced: http://scheduling.rutgers.edu/academic.htm
Current Student gateway (lots of dropdown menus): http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/current.htm
Diploma and graduation information (you'll need this some day
soon!): http://registrar.rutgers.edu/CM/GRAD-CM.HTM
General education requirements, detailed: http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/RUCAM/facinfo/GenEdReq.html
Information
for students: http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/RUCAM/info/Students.html
Minor information for CJ, Sociology, or Anthropology: http://sociology.camden.rutgers.edu/minors.htm
Registrars- Enrollment, Web and RTTRS Information (all sorts of
good information): http://registrar.rutgers.edu/CM/ENROL-CM.HTM
Rutgers-Camden
main page: http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/
Search for people at Rutgers form: http://search.rutgers.edu/index.php?form=people
Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice department homepage:
http://sociology.camden.rutgers.edu/index.html
Student Affairs links:http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/RUCAM/studentaffairs/
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