The 4+1 Pathway Program in Criminal Justice offers qualified Penn State Abington undergraduate students majoring in Criminal Justice the opportunity to complete their bachelor’s degree at Penn State Abington while earning credits toward a master’s degree in Criminal Justice at nearby Delaware Valley University in Doylestown.
Our 4+1 program is an accelerated pathway for students to complete their bachelor’s degree and gain a head start on the master’s degree in criminal justice at Delaware Valley University. Eligible students can apply for this program in their junior year. During their senior year, 4+1 students take one graduate-level course in fall and spring and in the summer following the junior and senior year up to the 9 graduate course maximum. These courses allow the Abington criminal justice student to save time and money toward completion of the master's degree.
Program Description
The 4+1 program creates a pathway for annual cohorts of qualified undergraduate criminal justice students from Penn State Abington pre-admission to the 4+1 pathway program (within) the second semester sophomore year, during and until to the second semester of the junior year to obtain pre-admission to the master’s in criminal justice program at Delaware Valley University. For more information, click here.
How the Pathway Program Works
If conditionally accepted by Delaware Valley University, the Abington pathway student would then be eligible to take up to 9 credits of master’s-level coursework for criminal justice at DelVal while continuing to be enrolled at Penn State Abington as a DelVal visiting pathway student, tuition-free beginning in the summer after the junior year, during and through the summer of the senior year at Penn State Abington. The master’s degree courses that students take at DelVal are fully online. During the fall or spring semester, the PSA pathway student will be restricted to no more than one graduate course (3 credits) per semester (fall or spring). The Penn State Abington student may take up to two graduate courses (6 credits) per summer up to the 9 credits total maximum. The goal of this Pathway program is to save qualified Penn State Abington students both time and money toward completion of the master's degree at the partner institution.
*Graduate coursework in this pathway program is non-transferable for use at another graduate program or for satisfaction of the undergraduate degree requirements at Penn State Abington.
Who Can Apply?
Penn State Abington criminal justice students may apply to the 4+1 Pathway Program in Criminal Justice starting in the second semester of the junior year at Abington (60-75 credits) and up until the second semester of the senior year (105-120 credits). Qualified Abington students must have declared their major in criminal justice, have a minimum of a 3.0 cumulative grade point average, and be in good standing with Penn State Abington to apply.
Student Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for this program, you must
- be a current Penn State Abington student
- be at least a second-semester junior at Penn State Abington (60-75 credits) up to the second semester of your senior year (105-120 credits)
- have a minimum of 3.0 cumulative grade point average
- have declared your major in Criminal Justice
*There is no application fee and the GRE is not required to apply.
Deadlines:
Fall: November 1
Spring: March 1 Spring 2024 Deadline extended to 5:00 pm Thursday, April 11
Summer: July 1
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There are minimum requirements, including a qualifying minimum grade-point average, and students may take as long as three years to complete the graduate curriculum at DelVal.
Please visit Penn State Abington’s website for additional information about the B.A. or B.S. in Criminal Justice. Please visit DelVal’s website for additional information about the M.A. in Criminal Justice.
For additional information, contact:
- Lisa Morris, Program Chair, Criminal Justice; Assistant Teaching Professor of Criminal Justice; Penn State Abington; at [email protected]
- Richard Maher, Assistant Director of Graduate Admissions, Delaware Valley University, at [email protected]
About Delaware Valley University
Delaware Valley University is a private, comprehensive, nonprofit university educating students with a curriculum that emphasizes and requires experiential learning. Located in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles north of Philadelphia, the University offers 28 undergraduate majors in business, arts and sciences, and agricultural and environmental sciences; ten master's degrees; and a doctorate in education. Founded in 1896, DelVal has been cited by the National Society for Experiential Education as having the country's top experiential learning program, by Princeton Review as one of the best colleges in the Northeast, and by College Factual as having one of the top 20 animal science programs in the country.