Questions on FBI

[cal1nu]

How competitive, selective, and difficult is it to be hired by the FBI Police Uniformed Division? For an example, is it like getting into Harvard U, or MIT? I read on wikipedia their are only 240 officers so does this mean they are very selective and have a stringent criteria when hiring? Are they also only stationed at the following below FBI locations or are their other locations they may work at such as nationwide FBI offices ? If they are confined to work at these few locations only then does that mean there are more applicants than available positions and being hired by them is slim?

I was invited to take the written entrance exam. I live in Boston and it is costly to travel there to take the exam. So I would like to know if the position is very competive and is it worth going there to take the exam or are they like picking a needle out of a hay stack when they hire?

Washington, D.C.
J. Edgar Hoover Building (FBI Headquarters)
The Washington Field Office;
Quantico, Virginia
FBI Academy
FBI Laboratory
New York City at the New York Field Office
Clarksburg, West Virginia at the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Division.

[Piggy]

Every federal job is highly competitive. I can't speak specifically for that position, but we had an office job that didn't go any higher than a GS-7. There were over 400 applicants, and that was before the economy went south.