Plans?

[arna]

What are everyone's career plans? I would love to go to grad school because I just love learning about this stuff, but it seems that there aren't very many positions available for CJ professors or in government research, and I don't really know of any other job options with a CJ graduate degree. I will hopefully begin working as a probation officer soon (I've had 2 interviews, a drug test, and a psych evaluation, so I'm just waiting for the official job offer) and I think I'll probably work for a year or two and then reapply to grad programs, but I'm not sure if it will be worth it.

So what are your plans and thoughts on the matter?

[catrin82]

Hi!

I have heard otherwise about the job market in this field. In fact, one of the reasons I changed focus from psychology to criminal justice is the abundance of jobs, at least after a doctoral degree. In any case, I want to be in Academia probably. So much can change in a few years, but that is my current plan.

[highanxiety]

Hey ama,

I started out with an interest in enforcement but have since changed direction to focus almost entirely on rehabilitation. I even took a year off from my major and took courses in the fine arts to see if I could somehow meld the two; I believe I've found a way. Furthermore, I suspect that as society becomes more unwilling to spend its hard earned money on prisons, existing alternatives will need to be utilized - I am putting faith in the fact that rehabilitation will assume a greater role.

That said, as with catrin, I am also interested in academia. I believe future generations of CJ/Criminology students would benefit from having professor who seek to challenge their students to find creative solutions to a failing system.

I noticed you applied to USC, but not Irvine or CSU Long Beach and CSU Los Angeles - all three have great programs (the first a PhD, the second & third Masters).

What are your stats? (if you don't mind posting them).

[sba2016]

Academia.

I don't do criminology in the traditional sense - my undergraduate work is mostly in political/legal theory, as it pertains to the relationship between science and law as far as criminal justice, national security, etc. - which is where the crim. comes in (focus a lot on technologies used at trial)

I'm considering going to law school afterwards to get the traditional legal training before entering the job market, but plans may change.

Edited February 24, 2010 by sba2016

[arna]

I probably should've applied to Irvine, but I missed the deadline and in the little time I had to work on applications, I was focused more on schools in the Northeast. Oh well...I will probably end up working for a year or two before going to grad school anyway, if I do ultimately decide to go. I originally planned to go into academia as well, but I just keep hearing that there aren't very many teaching positions, especially with the increase in PhDs on the market. And as much as I'd like to help change the system, it's kind of hard to believe that I could do much as a professor since policymakers seem to pay more attention to what the general population wants rather than what the experts suggest.

As for my stats, I graduated in December with a B.S. in criminal justice, a B.A. in psychology, and a minor in sociology. My GPA was a 4.0 and my GRE scores were not so great - V 630, Q 610, AW 4.0. My letters of recommendation were great but not from people well-known in the field because I went to a small and pretty much unknown university. Let me know if you were wondering about anything else.

sba2016, are you planning on academia too?

[sba2016]

Avoid Northeast weather! JK

Yes, definitely. Thankfully, those that have been advising me in the process have suggested that my particular area of interest has opened me up to a number of disciplines in academia - STS, Poli Sci, Crim, Phil, etc. The jobs in academia really seem to depend on the type of research and the fields you can teach in, so hopefully in 6 or so years when I'm done I'll have good options.

[highanxiety]

Academia.

I don't do criminology in the traditional sense - my undergraduate work is mostly in political/legal theory, as it pertains to the relationship between science and law as far as criminal justice, national security, etc. - which is where the crim. comes in (focus a lot on technologies used at trial)

I'm considering going to law school afterwards to get the traditional legal training before entering the job market, but plans may change.

Hey sba,

When is recruitment week at UCI? I was under the impression it was next weekend, but I heard fro a friend at Irvine that it wasn't for another month. Can you confirm?

ha

[arthur1]

Seems like i'm the only one on here with no interest in obtaining a ph.d beyond my masters. Along with my post-undergrad, i'm planning on honing my skills in Arabic - i've taken a couple semesters already - and eventually finding employment within a federal agency, FBI in particular. With the amount of people graduating with their bachelors, it's becoming more and more difficult to have a step up.

[SLH122]

Seems like i'm the only one on here with no interest in obtaining a ph.d beyond my masters. Along with my post-undergrad, i'm planning on honing my skills in Arabic - i've taken a couple semesters already - and eventually finding employment within a federal agency, FBI in particular. With the amount of people graduating with their bachelors, it's becoming more and more difficult to have a step up.

Arthur1 - I think this is a very optimistic career plan. I had the same goals; however, as you know, the federal government is pretty much broke, and almost all federal agencies are not hiring and won't be hiring for the foreseeable future. I already have my masters in Crim and I speak Chinese and have lived in China for a year. It's not doing me any good whatsoever, as no one is hiring!