Master's or Law degree?

[studentcj]

I've been thinking about if I want to go to graduate school after I get my BS next year. The problem I have is that I keep hearing about that it is not wise to get a MS in CJ. Well, the things I'm really interested in is anything related to CJ, history, and a little of politics. I don't want to get my Master's in something like business or computer science just to get it because stuff like that bores me especially anything related to business or accounting. My question is would I be able to move up the ladder in a local dept. with a MS in a criminal justice related field or go to law school. If I couldn't be in LE I would want to be a prosecutor. I don't want to work for any law firms, just to be a DA. That way I would still be doing something in the legal system. I know that DA's don't get nearly as much as other lawyers, but that doesn't matter. I figure with a law degree I have something to fall back on if I can't be an officer anymore. However, even with a law degree, I might still never be hired by a city ir state. Also, one more question, I read something about Public Adminstration. What exactly does that entail, meaning like what would I be learning and would that be beneficial.

[Watcher]

I hope I don't get my *** whipped for answering a question in the "ask a cop section". :( But I'm the first one here I think, so here goes:

I think you should study what you want to study. If you try to pursue a curriculum that you are not really interested in, but do so because it is in demand, you are only setting yourself up for mediocre performance, IMO.
Study what you are passionate about learning, everything else be damned!
CJ is a traditional path to law school, but then again you can major in piano and go to law school. Law school v grad school? Depends. I will be the first to tell you that there are opportunities with a law school degree like no other, but that is not guaranteed. It is a longer degree, and definately more expensive. A grad degree is probably the easiest degree you can earn. The MPA or Masters in Public Administration is the graduate level studies for those who have earned undergrads in Political Science or Government.

[Seand442]

The simple answer is that the more education you have, the better you look as a candidate for any position. That being said, a masters in cj might not be worth as much as a mpa. Consider an mpa like an mba, except designed for people going into the public sector.The higher you go, the less police work is involved and more ***-kissing and playing politics. An mpa will teach you more along those lines than a mcj would. It is more along the line of theories, history and stuff like that. I don't see how a law degree would hurt however, there is much more money to be made in law than there is in law enforcement and the student loans would be a mofo to pay back on a cops salary.

[K9 Police]

If criminal justice peaks your interest and you don't have any interest in anything else, than go for the CJ degree. But I completely agree with the MPA or MBA degree. I am looking at an MPA degree with specialization in law enforcement. I started an online MCJ degree and abruptly stopped for two reasons. I hated online learning with the limited interaction, and the courses were not what I expected. If you want to move up the chain of command, a MPA or MBA degree is going to be of great value over a MCJ degree. Ask any supervisor and they will tell you the same. You don't learn anything about budgets, money, finance, etc. in MCJ courses. Just food for thought.

K9

[GMan26]

I did the MBA thing and I do agree with you it is very boring but you will make more $$ (if that's what you want) and will be more desirable to possible employers. But do what you want to do that's what's important.

[Joeyd6]

Ditto on the MBA or MPA. They will take you a lot farther in retirement. A law degree would be nice too...but a ton of work to make money. A MPA or MBA could lead right not teaching which has a 20 year retiremnt and summers off! LOL. I am working on mine in hopes of doing some college teaching when I am done. My BA is in criminal justice. It is good now...but what can I do with masters in in 20 yeasr? 20 years on the job is like a PHD in Criminal justice.