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Yes this is the truth!! I'm telling ya. They do not care about most liberal art/generic studies cause everyone has a that kind of degree.
Funny; I have a history degree. I know agents with philosophy, music, and education degrees. So no, it's not "the truth."
And no offense to anyone's faith, but in 17 years in federal law enforcement, I've never met anyone who said "jesus got me hired." It certainly won't hurt, but qualifications and a solid resume will do someone a lot more good than banking on getting hired via a prayer.
Getting a law enforcement job is like trying to win the lottery. Most of the time you lose, but sometimes you win.
It doesn't matter how good your resume is or how many languages you speak or how much experience you have, a lot of law enforcement agencies rely on polygraphs to screen applicants. Although there are a lot of bad applicants out there, a lot of truthful and good candidates are weeded out during polys. Basically your whole future is determine by some machine that supposedly can tell if you are lying or not...what a joke.
CJ, criminology,psychology, forensic psychology,sociology, police science, political science, admin of justice, legal studies, etc are the biggest waste of time. Criminology is not better than a CJ degree and vice versa.
Funny; I have a history degree. I know agents with philosophy, music, and education degrees. So no, it's not "the truth."
And no offense to anyone's faith, but in 17 years in federal law enforcement, I've never met anyone who said "jesus got me hired." It certainly won't hurt, but qualifications and a solid resume will do someone a lot more good than banking on getting hired via a prayer.
Ok. I didn't say it would be a def no. I meant that you could increase your changes because you won't look like every one else.
Now it is a fact that someone with a needed language skill/degree or any other skill that is needed or essential will have a far better change of being hired because they have a "in demand skill"-- (And that's directly of the FBI's website)
Now there are also other factors like who you know, networking, gpa, societies (hopefully not secret and satanic- Freemansonry, etc),references, any other special cases. Yes they look at the whole person but I'm talking like all things being equal then I want the skills that are in demand. Simple.
And on the prayer reference- All things happen or don't happen according to God's will. So yes do the resume and the cover letter because "faith without works is dead" but pray for guidance and help in the matter. Either you will get the job or not according to his will. I wish people would pray and seek the face of GOD more often. Cause on "THAT DAY" it will be far too late.
Criminology is completely worthless. Went to UC Irvine, wanted to become a police officer. I got into some trouble in college and it cost me my law enforcement career. I even attended police academy. I was not able to get hired anywhere. I applied to every department you can think of in law enforcement. I graduated in 2002. Since then I have not had a job that paid more than $11 an hour. Really sucks. If I can do it all over again I would have majored in Computer Science.
I kind of wonder...why do police officers need college education at all as opposed to police academy training? What specific knowledge from college education carriers over to the work of a police officer? It seems like it's just an added economic inefficiency--four additional years of expensive education that does not add substantive value in order to produce a police officer.
Yes,you can use any major to apply to be in the diversified pool of applicants for the FBI, but guess what? Diversified is the hardest and most difficult way to get a Special Agent slot. The FBI even put that on their recruiting website.
If you think about it, everybody with a four year degree and 3 years of work experience will be applying for the diversified field. Someone who was a bagger at a grocery store for 3 years with a college degree can apply to be in the diversified field. I bet the FBI has 90,000 applicants who applied to be diversified.
Yes, the FBI is one of many law enforcement agencies, but what you fail to realize is that LE jobs are competitive, even more so than regular private sector jobs. A CJ degree isn't going to make you competitive and "stick out" from the crowd of applicants. Everybody has a CJ type degree if you know what I mean. CJ degrees are a dime a dozen.
I guarantee if it came down to hiring either an applicant with a accounting degree and fluency in Arabic or hiring a Joe Schmo with a CJ degree, the former will get hired provided everything else is equal.
Your chances at securing employment with any law enforcement agency is better if you have some skills such as a CPA license, knowledge of foreign languages, or computer/IT skills.
Criminology is mainly a theory based approach on the study of crime and why people commit crimes. It is heavy on theory. I haven't heard of anybody with a Criminology degree making a lot of money, unless they get their PhD and compete, with the thousands of other applicants, for a tenured college professor spot.
Criminology is not that much different from Criminal Justice in terms of value or getting a job. They are both worthless majors.
The3vault:
I think you are one of those weenies that thinks a CJ degree is going to land you some CSI job or criminal profiler job out of college...hahahahahaha
I bet you are probably going to get, if you haven't already done so, get a Masters in CJ and then get a PhD. I have to say, you are setting yourself up for failure. Everybody I know that has a CJ degree is working for "peanuts".
I know a girl with a CJ degree who has been waiting tables for two years and will probably do it for the next 20 years.
I know a guy that is working some bull**** loss prevention job for $10 an hour.
Everybody I know who majored in CJ said they wish they could go back and major in something more valuable.
OP here is my advice: You can listen to the weenies on here and get your highly coveted CJ degree and then after countless applications wonder why you aren't getting hired anywhere OR you can save yourself the headache and disappointment and major in something that will help you stand out in the hiring process.
My advice come only from the small number of people I have talked to with a CJ degree, it is by no means gospel or universal, I am only relating from what I have heard. Many that I have talked to with a CJ degree say they did so he/she could launch a career in law enformcent, start as a police officer then work his/her way up. They have told me that whilst a CJ degree is nice, anyone with a college degree can apply. - take from that what you will.
Many will consider CJ, like sociology, english, history etc... lightweight "useless" degrees but if you pair those degress with internships, work expereince it will make finding a job easier whether it be in your field or not.
I think if you want to major in CJ and it makes you happy then do it. You have to look at the economy and see that finding a job in most fields is a challenge. Unless you plan on going to Harvard or going to be a doctor, engineer, or lawyer then your degree will be 'standard'. I know someone who graduated with a BA in CJ and ended up working as a Claims Adjuster and makes good money too. Its all about making the best of it, finding workshops, internships, etc.
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