BestOnlineCollege.org is an advertising-supported website. Many of the school and program listings that appear on this site are from partners who compensate us, and this compensation may affect how, where, and in what order listings appear (such as featured placements). This compensation does not influence our editorial content, evaluations, or rankings, which are determined independently using publicly available data. We do not review or feature every school or program available in the marketplace. Our goal is to provide accurate, unbiased information so you can make informed decisions. Read our full Advertiser Disclosure.
Key takeaway: Forensic science is the application of natural science – chemistry and biology above all – to physical evidence that will be examined in a laboratory and defended in a courtroom. That laboratory requirement shapes everything about how the degree is delivered. Fully online forensic science bachelor’s degrees are rare, because you cannot run a gas chromatograph or extract DNA through a browser. What exists online is largely hybrid: coursework delivered at a distance with laboratory work completed on campus, at a partner facility, or in intensive residency blocks. Programs marketed as fully online forensic degrees are usually criminal justice degrees with a forensic emphasis, which is a different credential aimed at a different job. Compare accredited programs below.
Forensic science coursework builds on the same general chemistry, organic chemistry, and biology sequence a science major takes, then adds the specialized analytical work: toxicology, DNA analysis, trace evidence, controlled substance identification, crime scene processing, and expert testimony. Some programs hold accreditation from the Forensic Science Education Programs Accreditation Commission (FEPAC), a programmatic accreditor specific to this field – verify it directly rather than trusting a marketing page. Accredited online and hybrid programs generally deliver the same degree titles as campus programs; browse the best accredited online colleges to compare schools that offer them.
These accredited schools offer online programs. Request information to compare programs, costs, and formats.
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS). To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked against schools at the same credential level:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:Accreditor: Middle States Commission on Higher EducationIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:Accreditor: Northwest Commission on Colleges and UniversitiesIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:Accreditor: Northwest Commission on Colleges and UniversitiesIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Forensic science graduates work in state and municipal crime laboratories, medical examiner and coroner offices, federal agencies, private testing laboratories, and law enforcement agencies. The occupations below are commonly associated with forensic science coursework. Median annual wages come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program.
These three occupations are not interchangeable, and the difference matters when choosing a degree. Forensic science technician roles, which had a median annual wage of $72,060 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS), are the laboratory and crime-scene positions the degree is built for, and the laboratory-side jobs generally expect a natural science degree with substantial chemistry or biology credit. Detective and criminal investigator roles, at a median annual wage of $93,790 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS), are typically reached through sworn law enforcement service and promotion rather than directly from a bachelor’s degree. Police and sheriff’s patrol officer roles, at a median annual wage of $76,210 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS), are the usual entry point into that sworn track. Individual outcomes vary by employer, agency, geography, and experience.
A forensic science degree trains you to collect, preserve, analyze, and interpret physical evidence, and to present those findings in court. The core is natural science – general and organic chemistry, biology, and often instrumental analysis – with specialized coursework in areas such as toxicology, forensic biology and DNA, trace evidence, controlled substances, and crime scene investigation.
Rarely at the bachelor’s level, and you should be skeptical of programs that claim otherwise. The laboratory sequence is the substance of the degree, and crime laboratories hiring analysts expect documented laboratory coursework. Hybrid formats – online lecture and theory with on-campus or partner-site laboratory work – are the realistic option. Fully online degrees marketed under a forensic banner are usually criminal justice degrees with a forensic emphasis.
Yes. The Forensic Science Education Programs Accreditation Commission (FEPAC) accredits forensic science degree programs, which is unusual – most fields covered on this site have no field-specific accreditor. Not every legitimate program holds it, but FEPAC accreditation is a meaningful signal that the curriculum meets the field’s expectations for science content. Verify accreditation status through FEPAC directly, and verify institutional accreditation through the U.S. Department of Education database.
Criminal justice studies the system – policing, courts, corrections, and the law that governs them. Forensic science studies the evidence, using laboratory methods drawn from chemistry and biology. A criminal justice degree prepares you for roles inside the system; a forensic science degree prepares you for the laboratory bench. If your goal is analyst work, the science coursework is the part that qualifies you, and a criminal justice degree generally will not.
Forensic science works with physical evidence: DNA, fibers, residues, latent prints, toxicology samples. Crime analysis works with data and intelligence – incident records, patterns, geographic and temporal trends – to support investigations and resource decisions. Both support investigations, but one is a laboratory science discipline and the other is an analytical and statistical one. They rarely compete for the same job openings.
Forensic science curricula generally move through three layers, and the first one is where students who expected crime scene work are most often surprised.
The first layer is hard science. General chemistry with laboratory, organic chemistry with laboratory, general biology, and often physics, statistics, and calculus form the base. Many programs add biochemistry, genetics, and analytical or instrumental chemistry. This sequence is not decoration around a criminal justice core – it is the reason a crime laboratory will consider your application. Federal and state laboratory hiring criteria commonly specify a minimum number of semester hours in chemistry and biology, which is why the science transcript matters more than the degree title.
The second layer is forensic specialization. Forensic chemistry covers the identification of controlled substances and unknown residues using instrumentation such as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Forensic biology and DNA analysis cover serology, extraction, amplification, and interpretation of profiles, including mixture interpretation and statistical weight. Toxicology covers drugs and poisons in biological samples and the pharmacology needed to interpret results. Trace evidence covers hairs, fibers, glass, paint, and soil. Crime scene investigation covers documentation, search patterns, evidence collection and packaging, chain of custody, and latent print and impression evidence.
The third layer is the courtroom and quality side, and it is what separates a science degree from a forensic science degree. Expect coursework in evidence law and admissibility standards, laboratory quality assurance and accreditation requirements, proficiency testing, report writing, and expert witness testimony. Analysts spend real time defending their work under cross-examination, and programs that skip this leave graduates unprepared for a routine part of the job.
At the bachelor’s level, expect roughly 120 credits with a heavy laboratory science core. At the master’s level, expect roughly 30 to 40 credits, often with a thesis or research requirement, and frequently with an assumed undergraduate science background.
The work splits into three rough shapes. Laboratory analyst positions sit in a crime laboratory and examine evidence in a discipline – DNA, controlled substances, toxicology, firearms and toolmarks, latent prints, trace. These are the roles a forensic science degree targets directly, and they generally require the science coursework, a background investigation, and a lengthy in-house training and competency period before you work casework independently.
Crime scene positions process scenes rather than bench evidence: documenting, photographing, collecting, and preserving. Some agencies staff these with civilian technicians, others with sworn officers, and the hiring path differs accordingly. If the agencies in your area use sworn personnel, the route runs through law enforcement service rather than through a science degree.
Adjacent positions apply the same training outside criminal casework – private laboratories, forensic toxicology in workplace or clinical testing, quality assurance, and forensic disciplines in insurance and civil litigation. For general labor-market context on these occupations, see the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook.
Forensic science or a related field? Choose forensic science for laboratory analysis of physical evidence. Consider biology if you want the deepest life-science foundation and are open to forensic DNA work or graduate study, criminal justice if your interest is the system and investigative or sworn roles, or crime analysis if you would rather work with data and intelligence than with evidence at a bench.
Compare programs by topic:
