WSU online criminal justice degree ranks best in nation

By Richard H. Miller, Global Campus

PULLMAN, Wash. – The online criminal justice bachelor’s degree at Washington State University is the best nonprofit program in the nation, according to a new ranking by Criminal Justice Degree Online.

The group emphasized its thorough methodology:

“To reach number one, a program had to pass a gauntlet of tests: be a part of a university with stellar graduation and retention rates, provide more department resources than others, amaze us with useful answers to our survey and even answer more questions over the phone. WSU did it all.”

The group praised the faculty’s strong professional affiliations and found that the criminal justice program had the nation’s ninth highest graduation rate and 12th highest retention rate, as well as high placement in rankings from U.S. News and World Report, Forbes and Washington Monthly.

It also said the responses from WSU Global Campus admissions counselor Emily Chandler were the “most informative and sincere” of their entire survey. (The full methodology can be seen at http://www.criminaljusticedegreeonline.net/methodology/)

Chandler said the group took a “secret shopper” approach to the survey.

“I had no idea that I had spoken with any reviewers – they must have posed as a prospective student,” she said. “I do my best to always give thorough and sincere answers, but the credit really belongs to our WSU faculty and to the Global Campus as a whole.”

Professor Craig Hemmens, chair of WSU’s criminal justice department, said it is dedicated to ensuring a world-class education for all students, no matter where or how they attend: “We take seriously our mission to educate the next generation of justice professionals and policymakers, and to make sure they have the knowledge necessary to make the criminal justice system the best it can be.”

The group looked only at nonprofit universities, citing factors that ranged from reputation to graduation rates on a  webpage that it devoted to for-profit programs.

The Global Campus online criminal justice program has also been ranked in the nation’s top 10 by Create a Career, Best Colleges and The Best Schools. For more information, please go to the Global Campus website at http://online.wsu.edu/undergrad/criminalJustice.aspx.

Contact:
Richard H. Miller, Global Campus communications, 509-335-5711, millerr@wsu.edu