Best Forensic Science and Technology Degree Colleges in the U.S. 2017

Forensic science and technology isn’t your run-of-the-mill degree program. This field takes specialized knowledge and training from experienced industry practitioners. The good news is that there are numerous programs around the country that offer a great education in forensic science and technology — all you have to do is seize it. Below you’ll find the top 10 programs in the United States.

If you really want to become a forensic scientist or forensic technician, you can’t use location as an excuse as there are several options to earn your certificate or degree online. Numerous schools offer online programs that range in degree types, from associate degrees to master’s degrees, and in cost, with some even below $10,000. Online, you’ll gain an introduction to forensic science, investigative techniques, and criminal psychology. The University of Florida Health’s website states:

“UF offers four master’s degrees and four specialized graduate certificates. Students are admitted year-round in this graduate program, and international students are welcome. The online forensic science graduate program covers a wide array of relevant topics in an online format designed to fit your busy schedule. Taught by award-winning faculty, you will connect with students and alumni from around the world through online, interactive discussion boards and forums.”

These programs give you the flexibility you may need with your lifestyle. You can go part-time and stretch out your program or even accelerate your graduation with summer classes. Online programs allow you to go at your own speed, whatever that may be. To get the best experience, though, look for accredited programs. The American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) accredits programs and ensures that the money you invest will garner you a quality education in the forensic science fields. It’s not all perfection though. One downside of studying forensic science and technology online is that you’ll miss out on labs and the hands-on experience with specialized equipment. To best prepare yourself for the field, and to give yourself a leg up in the job market, shoot for at least one if not more internships that will give you the experiences you’ll need to put your degree to work in a career after graduation.

Online Forensic Science and Technology degrees are available at a variety of different schools with as many as 70 degrees earned at the most popular school. Read more below about all schools that have offered online Forensic Science and Technology degrees. If you are interested learning more about getting a degree online, check out our page dedicated to online degree information.

As a forensic science and technology major, you’re sure to get a well-rounded education between natural science courses and criminal justice studies that will prepare you to face real-world crimes and injustices. At the heart of what future positions entail, you’ll need to learn how to collect and analyze evidence, interpret your analysis, and communicate your findings, while avoiding human error and remaining objective throughout the whole process. Problem solving and creativity should result from your interdisciplinary studies and provide you means to react successfully to what a future career has in store. Every forensic science and technology degree program will be different, but in general you’ll spend a lot of time in labs studying or applying the principles of:

• Chemistry — Investigators find an unknown substance at a crime scene. You make it known. There’s drug traces on a suspect’s clothing that you can help identify. Chemistry courses will help you uncover a substance’s role or irrelevance in an investigation.
• Biology — People leave biological traces everywhere they go, from skin flakes to strands of hair to even blood and other bodily fluids. You’ll learn the science behind these crucial pieces of evidence, so you’ll be able to look for them in crime scenes, maintain their integrities, analyze them, and interpret their meanings for the situation.
• Physics — From what angle did the bullet enter the victim? How fast was the vehicle going to cause that level of damage? By gaining a foundation of physics, you’ll be able to look at crime scenes and criminal investigations through a scientific lens that could shed insights into the truth.
• Law/Criminal Justice — You need to understand the industry you’ll work within, and law is not as black and white as many think. You’ll learn about processes and procedures, court proceedings and more, so you’ll be able to contribute your scientific evidence and findings in a way that will best lead to justice.
• Statistics — To what degree are we certain that the tissue sample is from a male? To what level are we sure this partial fingerprint matches the suspects? When you can’t be one hundred percent certain, which in this career will be a large majority of the time, you can at least show your level of certainty. You’ll learn how to either design, use, infer, or all the above probability models that can keep your work accurate.
• Specialized Areas of Study — From botany to zoology to entomology to forensic anthropology, you can become a specialist in certain scientific arenas and offer expertise that could be instrumental in a criminal investigation. Explore all your degree options, especially if you’re looking into graduate programs, and see if there is any area of specialty that aligns with your passions.

Your journey to a forensic science and technology degree can follow one of many paths. More than one hundred colleges and universities offer some form of an undergraduate forensic science and technology degree program, in which you can earn your Bachelor of Science in four or so years. You can take a less direct route to a forensic science and technology degree by majoring in a specific branch of science that interests you — biology, chemistry, statistics, physics, botany, etc. — and then pairing that degree with forensic science and technology by completing a certificate program in about a year’s time. The University of New Haven, for example, offers a variety of certificate programs. Their Forensic Computer Investigation certificate speaks to the nature of these programs:

“This certificate is designed for those professionals who wish to enhance their knowledge and skills in forensic computer investigation. Students interested in enrolling in the courses in this certificate must obtain consent of the instructor and/or the certificate adviser prior to registration.”

For more-specialized training specific to your interests and goals — and to qualify yourself for more-advanced positions — you can further your education in one to two years and earn a master’s degree. When researching programs, focus on the core faculty’s research interests. If their interests align with yours, you’ll be sure to get the most out of the program.

As much as you can see actors playing forensic scientists on television shows and in the movies, many forensic scientists like to remain out of the spotlight. The everyday forensic scientist plays a huge role in the justice system, notable in their own ways. There are some well-known names, though, with even better-known contributions to the field and to our society.

• Michael Baden: This forensic pathologist hosts the HBO series Autopsy and serves as an expert correspondent for Fox News. Out of the limelight, Baden manages his own pathologist consulting practice and gives expert witness testimony in court and helps behind-the-scenes with TV crime shows. He formerly worked for New York City as the chief medical examiner and received his Bachelor of Science from the City College of New York and an MD from the New York University School of Medicine.
• Clea Koff: Koff is a forensic anthropologist who has used bone remains to identify genocide victims in countries like Rwanda and Bosnia. At Stanford University, Koff received a bachelor’s degree in anthropology. She then went to the University of Arizona where she began a master’s degree program in forensic anthropology, which she later finished at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. She’s published an autobiography called The Bone Woman: Among the Dead in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Croatia in which she chronicles her work. She also has founded the Missing Person's Identification Resource Center, where families can turn to in order to connect with the U.S. Coroner’s office to uncover bodies that are unidentified.
• Cyril Wecht: This forensic pathologist has served on a number of high-profile cases—ever heard of Anna Nicole Smith or Sharon Tate? — but he is perhaps best-known for his criticism of the forensic work performed for President John F. Kennedy’s death. Wecht earned a Bachelors of Science from the University of Pittsburgh. He received a master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, an LL.B. from the University Pittsburgh School of Law, and a J.D. degree from the University of Maryland School of Law. He privately consults for crime investigations.
• Henry Lee: Lee earned a Bachelor of Science in forensic science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City and a Master of Science in biochemistry and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from New York University. He has worked on high-profile cases, such as the JonBenet Ramsey case, Laci Peterson case, and O.J. Simpson case. He hosts a television show on truTv called Trace Evidence: The Case Files of Dr. Henry Lee. He’s also appeared on CNN, the Larry King Show, Fox TV, Good Morning America, and more. Out of the Media, he’s founded the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science in West Haven, Connecticut.
• William Bass: This forensic anthropologist founded the “Body Farm,” a training facility at the University of Tennessee that helps forensic scientists learn how to study and identify human remains. Bass attended the University of Virginia for an undergraduate degree, the University of Kentucky for his master’s, and completed his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. He taught at the University of Tennessee for some years and is known for his research on human osteology and human decomposition and what those mean for crime investigations. He’s co-written a number of fictional books with journalist Jon Jefferson, such as Carved in Bone, Flesh and Bone, and The Bone Thief.

Your dream of becoming a forensic scientist may stem from the hours you’ve spent watching CSI or Criminal Minds. You want to be the Abby Sciuto of NCIS. You dream of playing Temperance Brennan’s role in Bones. While these shows are based on the forensic field, there are plenty of things a half-hour or full-hour episode get wrong about this type of work. Forensic evidence isn’t the end-all answer. You’ll learn that fingerprints, bullet prints, and other evidence you see strewn about crime scenes in your favorite NCIS episodes are hard to come by and even harder to make clear use of. A hair doesn’t lead to a solid conviction, and sometimes fingerprints are too fragmented to rely on. Your evidence supports a case, and, if done well, it can help support a strong case.

Forensic analysis isn’t easy or fast. Matching a bone fragment to the image of a real-life person isn’t as easy as Angela Montenegro makes it look on Bones. You’ll work with advanced technology, but you’ll be working with a slow, deliberate, often tedious process that spans weeks or months. You’re not concerned about keeping a viewing audience enthralled but rather maintaining the integrity of your evidence and the accuracy of your results.

You may never have the “aha” moment or discover the truth. While forensic science has come a long way in uncovering the story behind forensic evidence, there are still cases where that’s not enough. You may spend months analyzing evidence from a case to come up with nothing admissible in a courtroom. But that still doesn’t mean you shouldn’t continue to try to uncover justice and realize new, innovative ways of doing so.