What Kind of Classes Will I Take in Forensic Science Colleges?

Forensic science colleges and degrees prepare students for work in any of dozens of jobs within the criminal justice system. If you’re interested in pursuing an online degree in forensic science, you should know that the classes you take will fall into two basic groups: core classes that are usually the same across all specialties, and the more focused courses that are specific to the path you want to take in the field.

For example, Kaplan University offers a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with a focus in crime scene investigation. In addition to university core requirements like math and communications, you’ll enroll in a series of courses that every criminal justice major at that school has to take. There are classes like Criminal Investigation, which covers the importance of evidentiary procedures and collection practices, and Criminology, which goes into the background of criminal behavior. But the forensic science degree has special courses like Crime Scene Photography, which instructs students in technique as well as modern legal opinions on photographic evidence, and Forensic Chemistry and Trace Evidence Analysis, which digs deeper into the chemical processes used in the analysis of evidence.

The forensic science degree offered online from American InterContinental University is similarly structured, with core classes for all students in the major and special ones that focus on forensics, like the forensic psychology course that examines everything from the human behavior that influences crime to the methods used to process a crime scene and notify next of kin. Forensic science colleges are designed to instruct you in a wide variety of topics, from the broader histories of criminal investigations to the narrower courses that delve into the technology you’ll use as a forensic scientist. But they’ve all got the same goal: to put you on the path to a job and career in the criminal justice and investigation field.