Colleges in Dallas (Austin, Arlington, Richardson: crimes, transfer to, schools)

[bluvs4]

Hello all!
I have decided to relocate to Dallas in Janurary 2012. What is the best college to transfer to for a bachelors in Criminal Justice? Would like inside Dallas or surrounding areas; I have heard that UT in Richardson (?) is a good school, any others? Thanks!!

[TexasVines]

UTD (in Richardson) is a very good school

but you will need to know what part of criminal justice you wish to work in.....UTD actually offers a program in "criminology" which is the study of why people commit crimes

Criminology - School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences - UT Dallas

UTA (Arlington)on the other hand actually offers programs in both criminology and criminal justice (which is locking people up ect)

UTA offers a definition of both on their website

UT Arlington Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
What is Criminology and Criminal Justice?

Criminology is the study of the making of law, the breaking of law and society's response to the breaking of law. Criminal justice, on the other hand, is the study of the operation and activities of social control agencies that aim at regulating the behavior of citizens at large.

UNT in Denton offers criminal justice

UNT - Undergraduate Majors and Interests - Criminal Justice

Unless you are actually looking to live in a smaller town/suburb I would say don't go there for several reasons.....from personal experience it is not that great of a university and the college town life is just so-so.......I am not saying that the college life at UTA or UTD is any better.......but they are both better universities IMO and you mentioned "dallas" in particular so both of those universities are in "dallas" more so than UNT is

the second reason I would say don't go to UNT is because the focus of the criminal justice area of study is surely being moved to the UNT-dallas campus (along with a lot of other "focus" as well which is partly why I say UTD and UTA are better universities)

here is a link to their program

University of North Texas at Dallas

I personally feel (and know) that UNT-dallas is a joke and nothing more than a glorified community college and a degree factory (look at their list of degree offerings for the most part and keep in mind you will be doing a lot of tele-courses from UNT as well)

the one thing is that dallas (the city) did give a large sum of money (in the millions) to UNT-dallas to have their police training "institute" there

it is not reflected anywhere on the website for the academic program which is not surprising for UNT or affiliates, but what is surprising is that UTD list right on their webpage that one of their faculty members is highly involved in the same "institute".....not unusual for cross university and even cross university system cooperation, but it really to me reinforces the idea that UNT-dallas really does not bring all that much to the table in terms of faculty or name and recognition....they just produce warm bodies with degrees

here is a press release about the donation

University of North Texas at Dallas : $9.5 million philanthropic grant will fund Dallas Police Institute in UNT System

and again you can see right on the UTD website

John Worrall is editor of Police Quarterly and as associate director for research of the W.W. Caruth Dallas Police Institute, a unique partnership between academia and major police departments, characterized by cutting-edge research, education, and professional development services.

I don't actually know if TCU or SMU offer degrees in either field.....but I would not consider them anyway.....they are both fine universities IMO, but they are not worth the cost for a degree that is not "competitive" in terms of where you went to school or in pay based on that criteria......no offense to CJ majors it is just a fact of life

so you are left with a choice of UTD, UTA, UNT, and UNT-dallas

if you want really badly the CJ degree then UTD may be out of the running.....I would contact them and discuss your career goals with them and their program further......and you will also need to check the admission requirements because they are pretty tough at UTD

If all 4 programs are in the mix I would say UTD, UTA......UNT-dallas and UNT toss up

if you want to start out as a cop or a jailer in dallas proper then UNT-dallas might actually be a first choice.......anything else I would say UTA or UTD depending on grades, location you want to live and how their program meets your career goals

they are both better universities and while I don't think that matters much in that field of study to start out I would say you might look to the future and maybe it will make a bit of a difference in a promotion

UNT would not make the list for a number of reasons as said above and UNT-dallas only if you need that "dallas connection" that seems to work so well for dallas politicians and police alike in the last few years

most of the above should have similar cost with UTD probably costing a bit more......you will need to further research the programs, narrow down your career goals, and then contact the departments and talk with advisers.....I won't name names, but be careful of advisers that blow a lot of smoke at some schools......you should avoid the hype and stick to the focus of their program VS your goals and make sure it is backed up with numbers/qualifications/experience of faculty which can usually be found on the profiles of the various faculty members in the department

I know some comments were pretty direct...

hope this helped good luck,

TV

[akayc]

I dont know much about the Criminal Justice program here at UNT-Denton, but the town itself is a great place to live. I've gone to school here the past four years and the college life is not just "so-so". It is definitely more laid back than the Dallas area, and I've heard many people say it is a smaller Austin so if you aren't into that I can see the problem. The nightlife is also fun with many bars to choose from. Of course the college itself has some problems, but the only one I have had a problem with so far is the parking. So depending on what your criteria for a college is I would recommend UNT Denton to most people.