# Age, schooling questions



## Heisenberg91 (May 13, 2014)

Hi Everyone, 

I just had a couple questions I was hoping I could get answered here. Searched and couldn't find much. Sorry if this has previously been discussed.

1) Do you have the be 21 years old when you take the exam, or would it be satisfactory to be 21 by the time the results come in. As in, if the examination date is on 6/1 but I turn 21 on 6/10, does that mean I cannot take the exam?

2) How much do local/state/federal agencies care about education? I go to a very well respected University and I will be getting some difficult degrees (Chemistry, Biophysics) but because I've always wanted to at least apply to become a police officer, I will be doing so regardless of research jobs/graduate school. Does having a, for lack of a better phrase, more complex degree give you any advantage at all?

Thanks in advance.


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## Pvt. Cowboy (Jan 26, 2005)

Mr White, chances are you degrees won't give you much of a leg up. Military service is a much better route to take to nearly guarantee police employment. The FBI however might be interested in your blue meth cooking skills... I mean Chemistry degree.


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## visible25 (Feb 7, 2012)

Heisenberg91 said:


> Hi Everyone,
> 
> I just had a couple questions I was hoping I could get answered here. Searched and couldn't find much. Sorry if this has previously been discussed.
> 
> 1) Do you have the be 21 years old when you take the exam, or would it be satisfactory to be 21 by the time the results come in. As in, if the examination date is on 6/1 but I turn 21 on 6/10, does that mean I cannot take the exam?.


Has been answered before, and I find it interesting you cannot find this answer online. What I've learned is that this is agency dependent; some require you to be 21 in order to sit in on the exam, others require you must be 21 at the time of appointment (if you are chosen)


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## niteowl1970 (Jul 7, 2009)

If you want to be a cop you have to be dedicated. I was not able to get hired as a police officer but I was hired as a dispatcher. 

I didn't do it for the family, I did it for me, I liked it, I was good at it I was alive.


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## LGriffin (Apr 2, 2009)

Heisenberg91 said:


> Does having a, for lack of a better phrase, more complex degree give you any advantage at all?


No. We have Doctors and Lawyers who decide that their field is not for them and they want to become Police Officers. If they score high enough on the exam, they wait in line like everyone else and hope to be called for the next phase.


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## Tuna (Jun 1, 2006)

"More complex degree" wow somebody is full of themselves.


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## GARDA (Dec 30, 2003)

He may also suffer from an overdose of being educated beyond his intelligence.
We've got enough of those who now wear gold accoutrements and make policy.


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## Pvt. Cowboy (Jan 26, 2005)

GARDA said:


> He may also suffer from an overdose of being educated beyond his intelligence.
> We've got enough of those who now wear gold accoutrements and make policy.


All brains, no balls.


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## FTH (Sep 11, 2013)

mtc said:


> For someone supposedly so smart, he can't find the simplest of information?
> 
> He'll never make it!


He said "complex degree", not "advanced degree"  ... although advanced degree often don't mean that person is smart and capable ...


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## HistoryHound (Aug 30, 2008)

FTH said:


> He said "complex degree", not "advanced degree"  ... although advanced degree often don't mean that person is smart and capable ...


There's a huge difference between book smart and common sense. Some of the most educated people I know are completely lacking in common sense. Oh sure they can calculate all sorts of complex equations and design some very complicated devices, but I wouldn't want to be stranded in the woods with them. (Not that I would ever be stranded in the woods with them unless I let them do the navigating in the first place.) I'll take the guy with common sense who can build a cabin with indoor plumbing with nothing more than a box of toothpicks, a straw and dental floss over the guy with the "complex degree" any day.


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## Goose (Dec 1, 2004)

HistoryHound said:


> I'll take the guy with common sense who can build a cabin with indoor plumbing with nothing more than a box of toothpicks, a straw and dental floss over the guy with the "complex degree" any day.


You don't seem hard to please.



Sent from my flux capacitor using 1.21 jigawatts


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## Dan Stark (Aug 2, 2005)

You're a complex guy huh?


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## Tuna (Jun 1, 2006)

Hey 91, you want to take a couple of tuff classes? try the entry level class "32 months over seas with the US Army" class.


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## niteowl1970 (Jul 7, 2009)

Tuna said:


> Hey 91, you want to take a couple of tuff classes? try the entry level class "32 months over seas with the US Army" class.


But his professors told him that the only ones that go into the military are people that couldn't get into college.


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## HistoryHound (Aug 30, 2008)

Goose said:


> You don't seem hard to please.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my flux capacitor using 1.21 jigawatts


Not at all. I'm quite easy to please as long as you know this is my idea of camping.










See, it's in the woods.


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## Heisenberg91 (May 13, 2014)

Pvt. Cowboy said:


> Mr White, chances are you degrees won't give you much of a leg up. Military service is a much better route to take to nearly guarantee police employment. The FBI however might be interested in your blue meth cooking skills... I mean Chemistry degree.


Hahaha thank you for the information. It seems like you know a lot about what I do.

For everyone else, I'm sorry your butthurt over some diction. Guess it doesn't take much for you guys to riled up and start making wild assumptions about someone on the internet. Didn't seem to take long.


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## Heisenberg91 (May 13, 2014)

FTH said:


> He said "complex degree", not "advanced degree"  ... although advanced degree often don't mean that person is smart and capable ...


That may have been a better choice. But advanced degree is usually synonymous with graduate degree (masters, PHD).

I did use the phrase "for lack of a better phrase" for a reason.


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## Dan Stark (Aug 2, 2005)

Heisenberg91 said:


> For everyone else, I'm sorry your butthurt over some diction. Guess it doesn't take much for you guys to riled up and start making wild assumptions about someone on the internet. Didn't seem to take long.


Its ok.

Fuck you.


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## BxDetSgt (Jun 1, 2012)

Boy you will be fun to work with, and then when you get rapidly promoted because of your advanced degrees you will be a pleasure to work for. Great, sign up, we need more know it all rookies.


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## Heisenberg91 (May 13, 2014)

BxDetSgt said:


> Boy you will be fun to work with, and then when you get rapidly promoted because of your advanced degrees you will be a pleasure to work for. Great, sign up, we need more know it all rookies.


That's pretty much what I said. Thank you for your support.


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## Renegade 4 (Oct 16, 2012)

I've been doing this stuff for 6 years. 1 year Sheriff and 5 Federal. I don't think it was my less complex CJ degree that got it done. I think it was 3 deployments in 2 wars. I had a nerd LT on one deployment with a complex degree from a wicked smart kid Cambridge university. He was the stupidest LT i ever had the displeasure to know with the least amount of common sense and zero interpersonal communication skills. Not uncommon with LT's but the lack of interpersonal communication skills IS common among nerds. It is also the most important skill set in law enforcement. My suggestion is since you have a decade or more before you age out on civil service (community dependent), go 6 years Infantry no bonus. Have the grunts teach you humility with smoke sessions and verbal abuse. Also master the art of drawing wangs. When that enlistment is done you will be artistic, be able to get that schooling done, get a fat post 9/11 GI Bill Boston BAH check to go to school with, plus vet status, or DV if you are "lucky???". Won't do much on the Statie exam but it is a world of difference with residency in a large community. Smaller ones you can still eat a d and die #1 or #2 on the list over and over until you age out. Good Luck. Infantry Leads the Way.


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