Applying to the FBI and West Point?

[spyder10]

These are two ideas that I am playing with right now. I am contemplating getting my law degree at a regular college and then applying to the FBI. One of my other options is to apply to West Point and then try to go to their law program. I am by no means set on either of these, but I was hoping some BF'ers would have some helpful info for me.

Quick Rundown on me
-School was easy for me,
~Mostly honors classes all A's and B's
-Good amount of extra-curricular activities
~2 varsity sports, National Honor Society, Venture Crew, Eagle Scout
-I was a good kid, no criminal record at all, etc.

There is one catch, I have exercise induced asthma. I think this may exclude me from West Point, even though I could do the entire fitness test w/o an inhaler and pass. (Without my inhaler I can 300m in ~38-39 seconds)

So what do you think? Worth Applying? What are my chances of getting into each of the respective schools? Experiences? Stories?

 

[Ken C.]

Go for it. I have activity induced asthma as well and it did not stop me from becoming a firefighter.

 

[Winston Smith]

go for both. no offense, but your "quick rundown" doesn't mean anything. you have a very impressive background and should have no trouble succeeding in whatever you choose to do. what you want as an end result is the only thing that really matters.

apply for them both in the order you want to do them, and then go for it. as a matter of opinion, it seems that going through west point, or any other military academy, and then getting into that branches law program would look good on your resume when applying for the FBI as you need a congressional, senatorial and V.P. recommendation to get into a military academy. no matter what the outcome, having applied for, and trying to succeed at, either one of these will help you no matter where you end up.

good luck in whatever your endeavors, you sound like a very motivated young man. i'm 46 and i still don't know what i want to be when i grow up.

 

[mwerner]

Speaking as an infantry grunt turned cop, I say that West Pointers and FBI agents are both insufferable.
Just kidding....(mostly...)
If you've got the chops, go for it. Takes a special kind of mindset to get through West Point; check out some of the documentaries or read a book or two. If you think you can hack it, it can be a steppingstone.

 

[Absintheur]

I was a cadet in a military academy for prep school. If you have any anger issues when people treat you like garbage and cannot just swallow it the I would avoid West Point, the plebe year, known as beast barracks, makes basic training seem like a Scout Jamboree. If on the other hand you can suck it up then you have a couple of options. One is to talk to your Congressman as the can make appointments which are normally available on a competitive basis.

Candidates for admission also must undergo a physical aptitude test as well as a complete physical exam (the Department of Defense Medical Examination Review Board, or DoDMERB), including a separate visual acuity test to be eligible for appointment, although medical waivers are available. Candidates with vision uncorrectable to 20/20, as well as a range of other injuries or illnesses, will be automatically considered for a medical waiver only if they are highly competitive.

If you do go to the Point you will graduate with a BS in Engineering and an 8 year obligation to the service (5 active, 3 inactive reserve).

 

[go2ndAmend]

Go to college first. Get a degree in most anything. (Mine is Agricultural Business) Then go to law school and be prepared to do nothing but study. A day law school lasts for 3 years and will run you about $90,000. The other option is to work during the day, go to school from 7 to 10 p.m., then study until 2:00 a.m. for 4 years.(That's what I did and graduated owing nothing). Then apply to the FBI, or most any law enforcement agency you can think of. A law degree and good background check opens lots of doors. I like living in a remote location so I chose to stay and work in a rural District Attorneys Office.

 

[Bronco]

These are two ideas that I am playing with right now. I am contemplating getting my law degree at a regular college and then applying to the FBI. One of my other options is to apply to West Point and then try to go to their law program. I am by no means set on either of these, but I was hoping some BF'ers would have some helpful info for me.

Quick Rundown on me
-School was easy for me,
~Mostly honors classes all A's and B's
-Good amount of extra-curricular activities
~2 varsity sports, National Honor Society, Venture Crew, Eagle Scout
-I was a good kid, no criminal record at all, etc.

There is one catch, I have exercise induced asthma. I think this may exclude me from West Point, even though I could do the entire fitness test w/o an inhaler and pass. (Without my inhaler I can 300m in ~38-39 seconds)

So what do you think? Worth Applying? What are my chances of getting into each of the respective schools? Experiences? Stories?

Congratulations on your accomplishments thus far in life, and on your desire to attend the second finest service academy in all the land.

To begin with, I would never try to dissuade anyone with the requisite maturity, drive and desire from pursuing a degree from one of the service academies. Without overstating things too greatly, the breadth and depth of that experience is something that can't really be approximated in the civilian world. That being said, however, if your ultimate goal in life is a desire is to become an agent in the FBI, then I wouldn't discount the civilian college route.

Either path can certainly get you to your desired end. And, to be honest, being both a lawyer, and a military officer/West Point grad, would probably give you an advantage over other FBI recruits if and when you made it to that point. Still, you have to keep in mind that West Point and Annapolis are primarily interested in developing officers to serve in combat related occupational specialties. As such, there is a minimum service requirement upon graduation - I think it may be up to seven years now. And while some programs do exist to send active duty officers to law school, they are few and far between, highly competitive and usually come with some additional service requirement of their own which is added on to your service academy commitment. Bottom line - even if everything played out perfectly in your favor, by going the West Point/military route, it could still be many years down the road before you had the opportunity to pursue your career in the FBI.

On the other hand, by attending a civilian university, you could begin preparing for law school even while completing your undergrad degree, and then immediately begin working toward your JD. Thus the path to your FBI career could potentially be much shorter, even if the experience you bring with you is far less. Having gone through the FBI recruitment process myself, I can tell you there are a few other advantages to becoming an agent early in life. For one thing, the entrance exams they administer are not the same ones given to other federal law enforcement recruits. Translation - relearning trigonometry and basic calc in your mid 30s is a pain. And once you've passed the tests, then you begin compiling data for your background investigation. Translation - trying to remember the name, address and telephone number of that lady who rented you an apartment for six months while you were attending flight school fifteen years ago is no fun either.

Perhaps you should take some time to think about which of all these goals is most important to you. You can be a military officer, you can be a lawyer or you can be an FBI agent. Or you can be any combination of the three. But if there's one of the three that at an absolute minimum you would want to be more than anything else, then I would need to know that before I could give you my best advice. You should also understand that none of the three is a prerequisite for being employed as one of the others. Hope that helps a little.

 

[RWS]

If you don't want to go to law school to get into the FBI, you could get an accounting degree and become a CPA. They use to highly favor accountants as much, if not more, than lawyers and there use to be a very strong recruiting fast track for accountants because they consider accounting to be one of their highly sought after critical skills for the Special Agent candidate.

Those who possess any one of a short list of "critical skills", like law, CPA , and IT, will be given top priority consideration. Most likely though, you will need to posses one of these FBI "critical skills" to even be considered at all for the Special Agent program.

Anyhow, that's what I did as I planned my life's career of becoming a G-man and went through their written test and oral boards. You can see the letters that I got from Washington DC after going through both the FBI's phase I and phase II testing process in this thread right HERE..

Ultimately, I decided to stay in corporate finance for financial reasons, as well as other considerations.

Whatever you choose (i.e., lawyer/FBI, West Point, or CPA/FBI) you cant go wrong with any of those career paths, IMO.

EDITEDTO ADD:
Whatever you do, don't take drugs or steroids; AND Don't default on your student loans if you get any or you can kiss your FBI chances goodbye.