Right! So I met with the PA bro at my school and she really hammered home the importance of
accreditation in choosing a program. There are a lot of guarantees that go along with accreditation (at least 6 faculty members committed full-time to the program, internship placement, job placement statistics published yearly, etc.) plus Federal appointment is tons more likely given that they specifically look to accredited programs for staff. That eliminates Northwestern, unfortunately. Here is my prelim list:
San Francisco State University
University of Colorado Denver
The University of Illinois at Chicago
Northeastern University
Syracuse University
Portland State University
Carnegie Mellon University
The University of Texas at Austin
University of Washington
After my mom did some snooping, it looks like Northeastern may be phasing out its program (?) and she pointed out the John Jay College of Criminal Justice has an accredited program focusing on, you guessed it, Criminal Justice Administration. That sounds really exciting to me in general, plus it would be an opportunity to further my WS focus, or at least allow me to provide a strong personal statement for admissions. That's in NYC. U of I is obviously in Chicago and I love Chicago, plus it is a bit cheaper than NYC, living-wise.
My mom also discovered that UT Austin requires Calc-level math skills, which I lack, so that's out. So here's what I'm left with after a day of investigation, with the ones I'm looking hard at bolded, and others struck out.
San Francisco State UniversityUniversity of Colorado Denver
The University of Illinois at ChicagoNortheastern University Syracuse UniversityPortland State University
Carnegie Mellon University
The University of Texas at Austin University of Washington
John Jay College of Criminal JusticeColumbia