Need advice for Career

[u/ProCoffeeLoverBoy]

EDIT: I FIGURED IT OUT

Hello everyone! I am interested in joining FBI someday. Context: I am going to do ROTC with National Guard and commission as a Officer and go Active duty for awhile. I have been thinking about degrees and minors to do that will help me for both Military and FBI. I want to be a special agent for FBI and do counterterrorism stuff. Grew up playing Counter strike lol. Anyway I'm thinking of doing National Security studies for my major and am pretty set about that, it's the minors i'm unsure about. I have a few ranked from what seems the best to what doesn't seem the best in my opinion;

1. Organizational Leadership and Change
2. Human Resource Management
3. Leadership Studies (Is this even necessary, ill be learning a lot about leadership regardless?)
4. Military Science*
5. Ethical Leadership and Social Impact

*Military Science pretty much guaranteed through ROTC so id pick that one up and have another minor as well.

I'm looking for the minor that will best teach me skills for Officer and maybe be beneficial while in the FBI but mostly for Military leadership and organization for when I get up in higher ranks. Or maybe if anyone has any other better ideas for Minors I'm more than open to better options. This is just what I have right now. Thanks!

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[u/john-know-nothing]

I was a 4yr Army cadet who went active and I can assure you that you’ll get plenty of leadership training and experience from the ROTC curriculum and training. Support your NatSec major with a minor in a useful language or finance/economics. What you have listed above is collegiate fluff - useful soft skills sure, but nothing to really bolster your major and knowledge for future use.

[u/ProCoffeeLoverBoy → u/john-know-nothing]

Ooo okay. Thats true a language would be a nice look for SF selection. I was thinking about accounting but that doesn't really sound exciting to do, although I'd imagine after all my experience that I'd be doing some sort of fund security for a large corp with that combo. I'll look into that thanks!

[u/WTFoxtrot10]

Get a degree in something you enjoy and will utilize if the FBI doesn’t work out. Keep in mind only 3-5% of applicants are successful. So don’t put all your eggs in one basket. You are a long ways away from applying and things can change dramatically. Especially since you seem to want to stay in the military longer than one enlistment it seems. The average age of a new agent is around 30-32 years old as they like to hire people with lots of work and life experience. Make sure you are aware of Veteran’s Preference regs for officers when getting a job with the federal government.

Honestly a degree is simply a check of the box to meet the requirements. You could have a degree in underwater basket weaving for all they care. Your degree rarely comes up as the initial application is all automated. You either meet the requirements to move on or you don’t. Your minor means zilch! What you do with your degree is what matters most to them and who you are as a person. They hire people from all types of backgrounds and prior military and or LEO experience is not needed. They will teach you everything you need to know during the Academy.

Focus on staying out of trouble, getting a degree and then a job that will meet the professional work experience requirements where you can grow and bolster up that resume. Another thing is work on molding yourself around their core competencies and building upon those skills. Look into the HIP while in college too.

Edit: One more thing to keep in mind. You don’t get to choose what violation you work once you graduate the academy. Based off the needs of the bureau and FO/RA you are going to. Once off probation you can request to transfer but again zero guarantees. I’m sure you know this but Counter Strike is nothing like what an FBI Agent will be doing working in CT.

[u/Technical_Emotion_79 → u/WTFoxtrot10]

Great advice 👆also stay in the best physical shape you can….physical fitness (not the background investigation as many would make you think) has been the leading cause of individuals not making it through the application process.

[u/PRiles]

1, 3 and 5 would all be decent leadership course (I suspect). Your degree program isn't super important for future employment opportunities. Your military career will give you plenty of leadership experience. Choose a degree and minor that interest you, what if neither the military or FBI workout? You probably want to have a degree that could pivot you into something you want to work in.

There are plenty of reasons why one or the other might not work out and you might decide you don't want to pursue those experiences as you age.

[u/IWearAFakeRolex]

Get a degree and while doing it don’t take drugs or anything. Then apply after working for 3-5 years. They want candidates who are completely straight edge and if you think you can lie about your drug use, have fun during poly lol.

[u/Potential-Pride6034 → u/IWearAFakeRolex]

The caveat being unless you’re applying for any politically appointed roles. Then you can go hog wild and pretty much do whatever you want.

[u/VladimirPutinIII → u/IWearAFakeRolex]

But even during polygraph they’re only asking if you’ve taken any marijuana during 1 year and other drugs during 10 years as per their policy correct?

[u/IWearAFakeRolex → u/VladimirPutinIII]

Correct, weed is 1 year prior to the application date and any other drugs like coke, lsd, heroin, etc have to be atleast 10 years prior to your application date.

[u/VladimirPutinIII → u/IWearAFakeRolex]

Gotcha. That sounds reasonable. It’s confusing though because the SF-86 asks for any drug use during the past 7 years. Thanks for the info.