<p>I will soon be a sophomore in high school and my aspiration is to be an FBI agent, preferably in the Behavioral Science Unit. I want to catch criminals but I'm more interested in the psychological aspect of it so I would love to do something like they show profilers doing on TV, and yes, I know profilers are not actually a job in the FBI. But I have a plan laid out in my head about what I could do to get into the FBI and was wondering what I should change about it.
I want to go to college and double major in Biology and Psychology and minor in Arabic. After I'm done with school I figured I would go into the police and get my work experience from there. I know Law and Accounting degrees are more preferable but I don't want to major in a subject I'm not interested in and would probably be bad at. I would like to know if thats a solid plan or not? </p>
<p>They won’t care about your major once they see Arabic. One of the biggest needs is fluency in a few specific languages, Arabic being one of them. But remember, if an FBI career doesn’t pan out/you get injured, will your major give you the opportunity to get a job in a field you like?</p>
<p>you should try for fbi internships (they are really competitive, obviously)</p>
<p>also, i’m unclear if your career goals are better suited to the special agent tracks or the professional positions… you should think about that.</p>
<p>lastly, you will need a clearance, so stay out of trouble. And know that the fbi has a no drug use in the last 3 years policy.</p>
This is bad advice because you don’t really understand the FBI hiring process. Many native speakers fail the FBI’s language test. Simply “seeing” Arabic somewhere on someone’s application isn’t good enough.</p>
<p>Accounting. And stay out of trouble…no under age drinking, no drug use, be careful what types of people you associate with and get very good grades.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if you’d like the approach I used to want to take whenever working for some federal level law enforcement was my dream, but I was going to get a B.S or an M.S in criminal justice and apply to the state police academy. After a few years (3 or 4) of state level experience I was going to apply for a federal level position. I don’t know of there are any flaws with that plan or not; I’ve changed my mind since then anyway. That was YEARS ago for me.</p>
<p>underage drinking will not keep the fbi from employing you unless it resulted in alcohol related issues (violence, arrests, hospital visits, etc). If the fbi didn’t employ people that drank underage in college, they would probably have about 10 employees.</p>
<p>Your major doesn’t really matter that much, although they definitely prefer accounting majors. In order to be picked as part of the FBI you need to offer some tangible skill that they are looking for (doesn’t really have to do with major). Obviously, critical language skills are one option (a minor in Arabic isn’t really going to cut it though, you will need a pretty high level of fluency in Arabic to be useful). </p>
<p>Things they look at (directly from their website):
Accounting
Finance
Computer Science/Information Technology Expertise
Engineering Expertise
Foreign Language(s) Proficiency
Intelligence Experience
Law Experience
Law Enforcement/Investigative Experience
Military Experience
Physical Sciences (e.g., physics, chemistry, biology, etc.) Expertise
Diversified Experience </p>
<p>So anything that you do that can get you substantial “expertise” in 2 of these fields (or more) would be very useful. Your biology/psychology major, arabic fluency, coupled with some classes on accounting, a criminal justice/law enforcement/psych lab or internship experience or two would likely be a good combo. </p>
<p>As for the security clearance thing, soccerguy is right. Underage drinking generally doesn’t matter as long as 1, you don’t get arrested/fined/hospitalized for it, and 2, you admit it in the security clearance interview if they ask. It doesn’t matter as much the people you associate with (guilty by association is only the case if the person in question is a foreign national) but obviously keep away from gang/terrorist/seriously radical types. Other things to keep in mind: no more illegal downloading, don’t get into any type of physical altercation, and don’t use pot/illegal drugs.</p>
<p>Finally, keep in shape if you are going into special agent positions. There are professional staff too, but those positions tend to be extremely competitive and only on an availability basis.</p>
<p>right… very important to be honest. If they ask if you drank underage, and you say “no”… and then they ask people who knew you if you drank underage, and they say “yes”, then you are in trouble. Hiding things and/or not being honest is probably the quickest way to get thrown in the “no” pile.</p>
<p>There’s a ton of bad advice being given on these forums. Federal law enforcement isn’t the typical desired career path for most people in this forum.</p>
<p>
Accounting is desired, but I would argue that it is not the best starting major. A BS Computer Science or Electrical Engineering is the best major as an undergrad for someone who desires to work for the FBI. The reason I say this is that the same person can pursue a JD or an MBA (which would cover accounting) as a graduate degree. Very few people have the ability to go back and be successful in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering. Coincidentally, the FBI may restrict the overall number of applicants from some entry tracks. I know for a fact that the CS/IT/EE entry program is unrestricted. Demand always seems to out-do supply.</p>
<p>
Your heavy hitters will be computer science/electrical engineering, law, and accounting. Yes, there is a “diversified” entry track and it is a “catch-all” but it has the largest number of applicants and lowest number of qualified applicants by far.</p>
<p>The truth is that if you’re deciding what you need to major in to have a better chance at being hired by the FBI, you’re very very far from being hired by the FBI.</p>
<p>You’re competing against applicants that have all this:
-Graduate degrees in a one or more of the three entry tracks.
-Foreign language proficiency that can test at the 2+/2+ level in a critical language such as Chinese or Arabic. Going forward, Chinese is definitely going to be more important than Arabic.
-Military experience. Many have served in units under USSOCOM, combat arms CMFs/MOSs, and have leadership experience such as company command (O-3).</p>