What type of Criminal Justice Degree?

[BCD]

I've been through a couple of interviews already for Officer positions, and it was hinted to me during those interviews that I should get some sort of foundational eductaion concerning Criminal Justice. Does anyone have an AS (Associate of Science) in Criminal Justice? I have an AA and a BA: Graduated with Honors twice, which is the only positive thing I'm saying in these interviews I suppose. I can get a BA in Criminal Justice. However, the AS program looks like it offers more practical training in Criminal Justice areas that BA level classes may neglect. If anyone has an AS and would like to share their learning experiences and how it helped you gain employment, or enhance a position, that would be helpful.

Thank you.

[siberianexpress]

I'll be honest with you, I have a 4-year BS in Criminal Justice, and not to trash my alma mater, but I don't know a damn thing more about policing from going to college than I could have learned on my own. 90% of what I know I learned on my own. My college was going to offer a PA Police Academy giving you a PTC certification, but of course , they didn't go through with it.The one thing they could have actually done to help me out they cancelled it. F***ING clowns. One of my classes consisted of watching COPS almost every day. But having a BS looks good on a resume, and it allows me to branch out into another career if I choose to. I have used my BS to apply for many jobs that are not related to Criminal Justice. It sounds bad that I'm still not sure what I am doing careerwise at 23, but at least I am glad I earned my BS. Plus, I know guys who are 30 who don't know what they are doing with their lives.

[LawGurl32]

I attend a community college which also just happens to be the police academy. The cj program there is awesome!! We have the instructors from the police academy teaching the classes. As far as having a cj degree for law enforcement purposes I would say get something different. The degree is too easy and they are going to look at the difficultly of the degree when considering you as a candidate. Find another field that you are interested in and pursue that. Dont misunderstand me and take it that im saying not to get a cj degree but if you are going into the field of law enforcement I would suggest getting a different degree.

[EX_529]

Originally posted by siberianexpress
I'll be honest with you, I have a 4-year BS in Criminal Justice, and not to trash my alma mater, but I don't know a damn thing more about policing from going to college than I could have learned on my own. 90% of what I know I learned on my own. My college was going to offer a PA Police Academy giving you a PTC certification, but of course , they didn't go through with it.The one thing they could have actually done to help me out they cancelled it. F***ING clowns. One of my classes consisted of watching COPS almost every day. But having a BS looks good on a resume, and it allows me to branch out into another career if I choose to. I have used my BS to apply for many jobs that are not related to Criminal Justice. It sounds bad that I'm still not sure what I am doing careerwise at 23, but at least I am glad I earned my BS. Plus, I know guys who are 30 who don't know what they are doing with their lives.

What other career other than security could you use a BS in CJ?

[rdp]

What are your degrees in that you currently have??

Before you run off to a dead end degree like CRJ, you can try and sell what you have to the interviewers.

[EX_529]

AA in CJ

BS in Physics with a minor in Economics

Masters in Computer Science

PhD candidate in Applied Plasma Physics.

I wasn't criticizing the degree, just asking its value outside of security and LE.

[Switchback]

A BS in CJ is much like a BS in management. It will count as a BS when looking at jobs, but offer little more than that. It'll meet the general requirement of having your degree. Will it help specifically? I'd say in most cases no. I have heard, though it is the minority, that some departments require a CJ degree. Someone posted it. I do not know or even heard of, for that matter, of a specific department that requires this.

And FWI, I have a BS in molecular bio. I have worked with more feds that have degrees in other disciplines rather than than CJ. CJ tends to be the minority here.

[siberianexpress]

Exactly what switchback says. My BS is a BS. I have used it to apply for jobs with the Health Dept., as a Attendance Officer for a high school, Loss Prevention manager at Home Depot. Yes, I do realize everyone and their f***ing brother has a degree in Criminal Justice. I see most of them whenever I show up to take a police written exam or a PT test. Everyone thinks they have an "edge" because they have a 4 year BS in Criminal Justice, but the people who are getting the jobs have Business management and Psychology degrees. I am a 23 yr old male, and I am considering other careers besides Law Enforcement, because I realize my real interests have always been in the medical field. I am considering going back to school to be a RN. People laugh at me for thinking about being a male nurse, I tell them to step into the 21st century,there are more male nurses than ever. I also tell them not to put pickles on my burger, because that's where they will be when I'm making $48 an hour at a job where I will be in demand, rather than competing with 400 people for 1 position.

The demand for Nurses of all levels, EMT's of all 3 levels, and Physician's Assistants is rising sharply, and shows no signs of slowing, as trained personnel to fill these positions are not always available.I know in my area, there is a severe shortage of RN's. People with experience are commanding high pay, as high as $80 an hour, plus double overtime.Not to take away from people seeking Police Jobs,but there will always be thousands of people trying to be Police Officers.

[BCD]

It seems, as I surf the net, there are more and more online degree programs in Criminal Justice being offered. Is there a "give away" attitude with this degree? If so, is that one of the reasons why it has lost the weight it once carried? A BS in CJ? Is that different from a BA in CJ? I ask because where I graduated from they only have a BA in CJ. I just received my BA in English and a Sociology Minor. I may forgo the CJ and get another degree, this time in Sociology; I enjoyed the various "drugs and their influences on society" classes I took for electives; those seemed like CJ related courses. There is no substitute for experience, I gather.

Thanks for all your advice.

[EX_529]

The onslaught of on-line degree programs have made a lot of degrees not worth as much. The BS in information technology, business admin, criminal justice, as well as the MBA's received on-line and by accelerated programs such as DeVry, University of Phoenix, and other on-line schools has diluted the degrees to the point that students having these degrees no longer stand out in the crowd. A case in point is that in 1970, there were less than 4,000 MBA's in the US. Now there are something like 300,000.

If you want to stand out, go to a named school. UT Austin, Stanford, Yale, Harvard, UCB, UCLA, Case Western, Princeton, etc. The programs are about the same as the on-line and accelerated schools, but the name itself will make you stand out in the crowd.

[jaunt10]

UT Austin baby, my alma mater..the only way to go and it is not the same as some online or tv program. there is no criminal justice degree through UT Austin. The only criminal justice degrees are at the community colleges where you can get certified as a police officer.

[siberianexpress]

The reason there are so many "online" and "study at home" or even Devry type accelerated degrees in Criminal Justice is because these schools are making money off the fairly recent sharp increase in the number of people who want to work in Law Enforcement. My college opened up its Criminal Justice major in 2001, and it filled up to capacity immediately. These classes are for people who not only want to be cops, but parole officers, probies, CO's, Juvenile CO's,high-level armed security, etc.

I overheard a Transit Cop saying that in the 80's they were practically begging for recruits. Now they have too many applicants to handle. I'm not sure why, maybe because of TV shows like COPS, but just about everyone knows 3 or 4 people who are trying to be cops, if they aren't going for it themselves. It's a competetive field,and will be for a long, long time.

[EX_529]

Originally posted by DC Law
But apparently no classes in debate, critical thinking or spelling, huh? :p

Aww DC - you know it ain't true. Of course you forgot all of the ethics courses in law school I see.

[EX_529]

Originally posted by jaunt10
UT Austin baby, my alma mater..the only way to go and it is not the same as some online or tv program. there is no criminal justice degree through UT Austin. The only criminal justice degrees are at the community colleges where you can get certified as a police officer.

I wasn't merely speaking of the CJ degree, I was speaking of degrees in general. I did forget to mention MIT for Engineering/Science. You can beat them for the endowments from various corps. I heard a lot of good things about UT-Austin as far as academics, that is why I mentioned it.

[jake47]

I just graduated with my Master's degree in CJ in September and I have my Bachelor's degree in Sociology. Unfortunately I live in Mass where it is nearly impossible to get a police job due to the current budget crisis, but once I do get a job the pay will be very good because Mass has the Quinn bill which pays officers different percentages depending on their level of education, 15% for an associates degree 20% bachelors and 25% for a masters. But your degree needs to be in a recognized field in order for these to be applicable. Example a friend of mine is a local police officer who has a BS in communication he does not earn any extra, so when deciding on a major look into these issues as well in your area.