Criminology/Law

<p>Hello all. I have been lurking on this site ever since I got accepted in November; however, never felt the need to post as all my questions had been answered in previous posts.</p>

<p>I am among the many incoming freshmen that are indecisive about their major (I chose English/Business, however, I will probably change it to Criminology/ Criminal Justice, or perhaps Law (for graduate)). I don’t know what exactly I want to do in that field, I just know that it is something that I may be interested in pursuing.</p>

<p>Can anyone tell me about the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, and the College of Law; or perhaps if anyone knows of any careers in those areas? Any help is greatly appreciated, and I want to thank you all for your previous help in the other threads (even though I wasn’t the one directly asking).</p>

<p>The FSU College of Criminology is one of the oldest programs in the United States and is currently ranked 11 nationally. It is the best program of its kind of Florida. Criminology is useful in virtually all law enforcement and corrections careers with an undergraduate degree, plus the academic area if you obtain a graduate degree.</p>

<p>It is an intro degree to law, as-is, but frankly you would find yourself much more competitive in the job market and as a law applicant if you couple Criminology with another major like accounting, computer science, economics, statistics, chemistry and so forth.</p>

<p>Adding a foreign language is also an excellent idea for most all top-level law enforcement careers. I consider Criminology a generalist type of degree as opposed to a more vocational type of degree like accounting, since it can be applied to many careers.</p>

<p>The FSU College of Law is currently the most selective law school in Florida. It and UF's law school are the best in Florida. UF's program is currently ranked a few spots higher in the US News rankings (46 vs 55), but that difference is likely meaningless. You would do well to be admitted to either program.</p>

<p>The best jobs in law enforcement are the federal positions as they offer the best pay and benefits. The top two, in my opinion would be the FBI and the IRS (Criminal Investigation) series 1811 positions. The worst would be the Secret Service and the DHS series 1811 positions. The downside to a federal position is that you may have to move and that basic training will take you away from home for around six months.</p>

<p>If you go federal ensure you are applying for the series 1811 position.</p>

<p>Wow, thank you very much.</p>