Veterans, and Criminal Justice majors, help needed.

College Majors
1

Hello,

I’m writing to get a bit of advice in terms of how useful studying criminal justice would be. Let me give you a background to my story and maybe I can get some opinions to help steer my decision. I’m currently serving in the US Navy, 5 year enlistment that will be ending here soon. I’m looking at transferring straight into a university upon hornorable discharge, using my AA degree that I currently have I figured I could get into a university and use some Gi Bill to finish a BA or BS. My passion is law enforcement, so that’s what I’m wanting to study.

My question is…

With my prior US Navy service in mind, will receiving a BA or BS majoring in criminal justice actually help me look better to future departments I’d like to apply to? Or is a criminal justice degree pointless, and I’m better off applying with my Us Navy expirence alone? I’m not expecting some unrealistic dream that I’ll get straight into some FBI or federal gig, like I said, I’m in the US navy I dropped my expectations a long time ago. ;p

I’d like to start patrol cop, working a beat, and making detective eventually after some hard work. So degree in criminal justice a waste of time?

2

Is your MOS related to criminal justice/law enforcement? Is there a state school in your home state that offers this major at a reasonable cost for tuition? The GI bill will help offset cost. You would have to look at individual job openings in police departments and see if they look more favorably or award more points to someone with a BA or BS degree versus an AA degree. Do they give points to veterans and if your MOS is related to the profession, they may give more points towards your exam. Some states offer veterans who served active duty during a military conflict tuition waiver. CT is one of these, they require 1 year residency: vetjobs.com/the-states-that-offer-tuition-waivers-for-student-veterans/ So, you can see how variable your options are.