Criminal Justice degree or job?

Does anyone have either one of these? This seems to be the only thing that interests me if I were to go back to school. Is it worth it? Are there jobs or would I just be wasting my time? Thanks!

Re: Criminal Justice degree or job?

DH and I were just discussing this. He has a degree in Criminal Justice and he claims it's useless. He feels it's very limiting and that he could have gotten where he is without it like some of his co-workers. In that case, he'd have something to fall back on if he got injured and could not work or when he retires. (He is a Deputy U.S.Marshal)

I think it depends on what you are thinking about doing with it.

Re: Criminal Justice degree or job?

I have a degree in Criminal Justice and am always obessed with any aspect of Police work, etc. I don't have a job in CJ because I wanted to be a cop but DH and I decided that would be too dangerous for me (nor could I run a mile for the test right now ). BUT, I wish I did work around it more. THe crime and weird crap that happens at my job is only the top of the iceberg.

Re: Criminal Justice degree or job?

As a young college student, I thought I wanted to be in the CJ field. However, 2/3 into my degree, I no longer had the passion. I do kinda feel my CJ degree is useless to me now esp. b/c I am not looking in that area.

After graduating, my first job was working at the Federal Courts as a U.S.Pretrial Officer. It was a Great job.....high-profile cases, supervising defendants, home visits, etc. but the passion wasn't there.

If I had the opportunity to go back and change my degree, I would choose a degree in the Medical field.

So I guess it is a personal choice. If you want a job at the Federal level in Law Enforcement, they will not hire you after your 37th birthday. I am guessing you are in your early 20's?

Good Luck with your Decision!

Re: Criminal Justice degree or job?

Re: Criminal Justice degree or job?

DH and i are both cops. i also come from a family of cops. no one in my family, nor i have a degree in criminal justice. DH does and quite honestly, it is useless to him. you don't need a degree in CJ to enter into law enforcement... if you enter into that field, you will be trained with all you need to know. a bachelors degree can help further your career down the line, however, your major holds no importance. if you WANT to get a degree in CJ then go for it, just don't feel that you need to. like i said, i am a cop - i have an associates in liberal arts and have credits towards a bachelors in psychology. i stopped going to school when i got on the job, but i'll finish one of these days. fm me if you have any questions

Re: Criminal Justice degree or job?

Someone in my family went to John Jay for Criminal Justice and specialized in Forensic Science...He is currently a cop but wanted the 4 year degree just in case he wanted to do other things down the line

Re: Criminal Justice degree or job?

Re: Criminal Justice degree or job?

One of my friends has a bachelors and masters in criminal justice and has found it to be almost useless. Although it is a VERY interesting field, I don't think it gets you very far in terms of a job.

Re: Criminal Justice degree or job?

DH works in the field, and his degree is in sociology (both are kind of useless, IMO).. i mean, NO degree is 'useless' (especially since most of those positions require that you have some sort of degree, whether AA or BA), BUT, the major itself is not going to automatically set you up for any distinguished positions. most of those come with a pretty long time investment.

Science, Math, engineering... those degrees (at the associates/bachelors level) tend to get better results than Social Science majors- b/c they're more competitive. With a masters, etc... you'll start to see higher salaries, but from your posts, i feel like you may not want to wait another 6-7 years to be at that level. i may be wrong, but from what i've seen most social science degrees (not taking into account having worked for the company for a long time, promotions, etc...) generally keep you in the 30-40K salary range. At this point in time, taking into consideration the cost of tuition, etc... i think that the 'possible' salary to be made in that feild would have to be worth it for my time and monetary investment in school. for me, anyway.

Re: Criminal Justice degree or job?

Can you afford and have the time to go back to school? With two kids and DH's job issues?

If you can work it out..I would go.

Re: Criminal Justice degree or job?

I always wanted a degree in CJ, but changed my mind 1/2 way though. Very interesting. I think it depends on what your plans are for the future. Having a degree is great but if you go back to school for one, make sure it is something that you can use. I have a degree in Social Science and at the BS level their is not much that you can do.
Good luck!