If you pursue a bachelor's degree in criminal justice & corrections, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #7 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 9 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Bachelor's Degree Schools in Minnesota ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 477 bachelor's degrees in criminal justice & corrections to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Criminal Justice & Corrections School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of criminal justice & corrections for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality criminal justice program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Earnings
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to criminal justice & corrections students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of criminal justice & corrections students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt criminal justice & corrections students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized criminal justice & corrections related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for criminal justice & corrections students working on their bachelor's degree.
The criminal justice school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Bachelor's Degree Schools in Minnesota.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
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Minnesota State University - Mankato is a good option for students interested in a bachelor's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Located in the city of Mankato, Minnesota State Mankato is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the criminal justice program earn about $49,019 in their early career salary.
Metropolitan State University is a wonderful decision for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Located in the large city of Saint Paul, Metro State is a public university with a medium-sized student population.
Criminal Justice & Corrections bachelor's degree recipients from Metropolitan State University get an earnings boost of around $3,016 over the typical earnings of criminal justice & corrections majors.
Saint Cloud State University is a great decision for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in criminal justice & corrections. St. Cloud State University is a large public university located in the city of Saint Cloud.
After graduation, criminal justice bachelor's recipients generally earn around $49,412 in the first five years of their career.
Winona State University is a good decision for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Winona State is a moderately-sized public university located in the distant town of Winona.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the criminal justice program make about $48,861 in the first couple years of working.
Located in the distant town of Winona, SMU MN is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the criminal justice & corrections program at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota make $15,785 more than the typical college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Your choice of criminal justice & corrections for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality criminal justice program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
