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mb_ · 01-11-2012, 07:12 AM

Long story short, not attending BCIT in February for Automotive anymore and decided to take Criminology and was hoping some of you could chime in!

My intended plan during high school (if I did wanna take something criminology related) was to take it at SFU but due to my laziness (I know, I regret it) my grades aren't good enough to get into SFU. After some researching I decided I'll take it at Douglas College first and then do a transfer to SFU in the future.

I'm hoping to get replies from current and former post-secondary students that took Criminology. How was it? What institution did you go to?

Gh0stRider · 01-11-2012, 07:44 AM

taking it at douglas. I enjoy it! During registration usually gotta go on waitlist to get in on courses.
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GTO-demon · 01-11-2012, 01:01 PM

I use to be a business major at SFU, but transfered into Criminology. I gotta say, i love it, and it's probably one of the best academic decisions i have made!

It's not the easiest major to be in, but all the profs here mark fair(ish)!
I have been a TA for a few courses and will say that most of your lower division courses will have a lot of overlapping material, but it can be overwhelming at times because there may be a lot of material to cover depending on the course.
Be prepared to read the book and assume you know nothing! A lot of things you read will seem like common sense, but do not assume that! profs tend to test on materials that may seem to be common sense to many people, so remember to pay attention to details.
Prepare to do a lot of writing and reading during your senior years since most upper division courses are theory extensive. However, these courses are also very practical based. You will see how all the theories you've learnt apply in real life and gets very fun and interesting.

I havent attended other schools like douglas, but i have herd positive reviews about it.
Basic principle applies: Just make sure your interested in criminology, willing to do a lot of reading and writing, and you'll do fine!

IF you do end up at sfu. Barry Cartwright, Simon Verdun-Jones and Ehor Boyanowsky are must take professors!

............Try staying away from Jennifer Wong .....and maybe Sheri Fabian (unless your willing to put in alot of work. SHe's a very hard and specific paper marker.. but overall a good prof!).

Good Luck!

FI-Z33 · 01-11-2012, 01:13 PM

^ VERDUN-JONES IS AWESOME. And I agree with Jennifer Wong...she's a hard and unreasonable marker. Fabian is not bad of a lecturer/professor...but yes she is very VERY specific with papers and research projects!

I think you should choose something that you have a high interest in and love. I love what I'm studying and Criminology can be VERY fun (given the fact that I always knew I wanted to get into this field).

kwy · 01-11-2012, 01:21 PM

Started out with crim at UFV, now transferred into business.

EvoFire · 01-11-2012, 03:56 PM

Expect lots of essay writing and reading. Like, LOTS of essay writing.

Take a few classes, if its not your thing, GTFO and don't waste time.

There are some small talk with my friends saying crim not having very good immediate opportunities after grad. Its a degree that needs supplements to give you an edge or specialty. How much truth there is in that, I'm not sure.

Jer3 · 01-11-2012, 04:31 PM

in terms of difficulty, i don't think its very academically challenging though thats my opinion from taking quite a few lower div crims and 3 upper div crims. lowest i got were B's while the majority of them ended up being B+ to A range with minimal effort. biggest tip i could say is to get barry cartwright as a prof for any of ur courses at sfu.

like evofire said, expect a lot of papers and reading (i remember having to read some pretty indepth articles and academic journals in crim 131 that were extremely difficult to comprehend). other than that, i found criminology to be one of those few subjects i actually had an interest in. i wish i was a crim major so i could take some of the upper division courses offered like the ones on drugs and gangs lol

Zoidberg · 01-11-2012, 04:47 PM

You wanna become a cop?

jing · 01-11-2012, 05:05 PM

My gf just transferred from Langara to SFU for Crim. She seems to find quite an interest in it but can't say whether she enjoys it at SFU yet since this is her first semester there. She took a bunch of Crim courses at Langara though. I think her goal is to find a Co-Op job and to eventually work in Corrections! There's a bunch of things you can go into I think, including CBSA and policing etc.
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Ulic Qel-Droma · 01-11-2012, 05:44 PM

i did crim for 2.5 years at kwantlen like... 7 years ago or something.

crim was fun sorta. forensic anthropology was my favourite course
it was basically CSI/get away with murder 101. had to remember too many bones though lol.

anyway, psychology is a big part of the course. you have to take beginner to late level psych.

anyway as the courses went on, after you pass all the basic level crims and sociologies and psychs... i found criminology became too much like psychology.

i thought it would be a lot more "crime" related. not the "criminal psychology" part, and emphasis on psychology. a lot of the courses i took felt like they were on the most part, psychology with a dash of crim thrown in.

my friend took crim at UCLA and his experience was TOTALLY different. they could specialize in different majors within crim

like "criminology, specialization in gang crime"
and a lot of the courses involved field work etc.
that was what i was expecting... but...

this is vancouver what do you expect. lol. just be prepared to do a lot of "psych" type courses after the first and second year.

Sid Vicious · 01-11-2012, 06:56 PM

i dunno just reminds me of this

V4NC1TY · 01-11-2012, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ulic Qel-Droma

i did crim for 2.5 years at kwantlen like... 7 years ago or something.

crim was fun sorta. forensic anthropology was my favourite course
it was basically CSI/get away with murder 101. had to remember too many bones though lol.

anyway, psychology is a big part of the course. you have to take beginner to late level psych.

anyway as the courses went on, after you pass all the basic level crims and sociologies and psychs... i found criminology became too much like psychology.

i thought it would be a lot more "crime" related. not the "criminal psychology" part, and emphasis on psychology. a lot of the courses i took felt like they were on the most part, psychology with a dash of crim thrown in.

my friend took crim at UCLA and his experience was TOTALLY different. they could specialize in different majors within crim

like "criminology, specialization in gang crime"
and a lot of the courses involved field work etc.
that was what i was expecting... but...

this is vancouver what do you expect. lol. just be prepared to do a lot of "psych" type courses after the first and second year.

I'm still in HS and I'm planning to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology @ Kwantlen after graduating. Planning on becoming a cop

Is Kwantlen difficult to get into? Are there any specific requirements? I goofed high school so I don't think my grades would get me into SFU

Gh0stRider · 01-11-2012, 08:28 PM

if you can't get straight into SFU, then do a university transfer from douglas or langara

d1 · 01-11-2012, 08:53 PM

You don't need a Crim degree to go into things like policing or the cbsa. In fact, it's probably better to major in something else since they claim to be looking for candidates who are more well rounded.

kwy · 01-11-2012, 09:20 PM

That was my logic in switching out of CJ and into Bus. If you don't end up working in the CJS, what are you going to do with a Crim degree? It doesn't seem very practical.

V4NC1TY · 01-11-2012, 09:28 PM

Well, I really enjoy learning about the government system and criminal law (going to take Law 12 & History 12 next year)
If a criminology degree is useless, then I'm stuck

mb_ · 01-11-2012, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gh0stRider

if you can't get straight into SFU, then do a university transfer from douglas or langara

V4NC1TY this is what I'm doing since I suffered the same fate in high school haha

Quote:

Originally Posted by d1

You don't need a Crim degree to go into things like policing or the cbsa. In fact, it's probably better to major in something else since they claim to be looking for candidates who are more well rounded.

Thats what I've heard too but at the moment I don't have any specific careers in mind but I want to be involved with the government one way or another
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Araaadi · 01-11-2012, 11:03 PM

I am thinking about going the same route, I was very interested in going to the JIBC for the Law Enforcement Studies Diploma, but apparently that the LESD isn't that great. I am planning on two years of Douglas, and then two years of SFU, majoring in Criminology, my goal is to join the Vancouver police department, not the RCMP, and hopefully, join gang squad. I wan't a better education to improve my chances of moving up in the force. I also need to start at Douglas because, I had a very shitty high school career, and still need to fix some things before even going to Douglas, but I do know this is what I want to do.

JudeChow · 01-26-2012, 04:44 PM

I started out at Douglas College then transferred to SFU a year later. I received an excellent education at both institutions. Be prepared to write a lot, but it is very much doable. A lot of the things you learn in Crim will be similar to other majors within the social sciences, so you will have a lot of transferable skills/knowledge (i.e. research methods, statistics, etc.).
Near the end of my academic career at SFU, I opted to complete a practicum in lieu of regular coursework and ended up working for the VPD for 4 months, and it was extremely rewarding--they really have a great program.

There are many career options with a Crim degree (eg police officer, corrections, social worker, probation, etc.).

As for me, I was just like you in that I totally slacked in HS. I enrolled at Douglas, worked really hard, transferred to SFU, and graduated with a 4.00+ GPA, and now I'm headed off to law school. As long as you put your heart to it, you will suceed in any major, but criminology was great for me.

SiNzz · 02-08-2012, 11:44 AM

Old thread revive, but wanted to shoot a bit of advice in the same vein as JudeChow's, to anyone contemplating taking crim with the end goal of attending law school: While I enjoyed my program (also SFU) in terms of content, it has not given me any competitive advantage in law school beyond basic familiarity with a few criminal law terms. Furthermore, I don't believe it made any difference in admissions, and it certainly did not give me any advantage on the LSAT. My advice would be to pursue crim if it's something you'll actually enjoy and therefore will excel in, but don't do it under the pretense that it'll give you any sort of leg up in admissions or otherwise. Take what you like and what you're good at; there is no "pre-law" major...there are kids in my 1L class that took everything from music/fine arts all the way to biophysics and engineering.

As an aside: I did practicum as well in lieu of my final semester and would highly recommend it. I also did co-op and found both programs to be great.

JudeChow · 02-08-2012, 06:17 PM

I agree. There are indeed no pre-law majors. The law touches a variety of fields, and I don't think any particular major will give you a distinct advantage. As for the LSAT, I heard engineering and philosophy majors do the best. Whether this is due to the discipline that they study or that people who are good at the LSAT are more inclined to select these majors are another matter.

SiNzz · 02-09-2012, 11:09 AM

^Based on anecdotal evidence from classmates, I would say that's generally true as well (regarding engineering/physics). Something I wish I'd done in undergrad, as an arts student, is to have taken a course in formal logic....I believe that would have helped on the LSAT.