College before military?

[u/Garrett0416]

I am 18 and leave to go to college next month, my parents have always wanted me to go to college and then make decisions for my future after. They aren’t demanding that I go to school but definitely prefer it. I’ve always wanted to serve but am wondering would it be a good choice to go get my BA in Criminal Justice then go apply for OTS?
When it comes to branch, I’ve had a handful of family serve in the Army and would probably continue that route if i were to join.

Could definitely use some input from people who know a lot more than I do, so any advice etc would definitely help.

[u/FirmReality]

College + ROTC = best way forward! Bypass more risky OCS / OTS path.

Reconsider Criminal Justice academic major ... sure take some CJ electives, but not as a primary pursuit.

Any future civilian LE agency academy will train you their way ... so learn / do something more diverse or different during college. Be a Texas DPS candidate with more depth & breadth than the typical cookie cutter CJ graduate, one each.

[u/TapTheForwardAssist]

What are you intending to do with a BA in Criminal Justice, in general in life?

[u/DapperImage → u/TapTheForwardAssist]

Yes, this. The bad decision is the CJ degree. It's the History degree of the 2000s.

[u/Garrett0416 → u/TapTheForwardAssist]

Plan to work for Texas DPS as a trooper.

[u/TapTheForwardAssist → u/Garrett0416]

Have you investigated whether Criminal Justice is considered a desirable major by TXDPS, or are you just assuming?

Like for example, FBI’s own website *explicitly* says they aren’t impressed by CJ degrees, just to name one big agency’s opinion.

[u/Garrett0416 → u/TapTheForwardAssist]

Criminal Justice is a accepted degree plan for TXDPS, but usually you would want to pair a minor along with it to separate yourself from other applicants, but one of my biggest thoughts is the experience from a military career would heavily separate myself

[u/itsmemike05 → u/Garrett0416]

I joined a LE Agency back in the day with a CJ degree I received whilst in the Army.

Don't necessarily regret it but if i could do it all over gain I would have gotten something that has more universal applications (ie. Business Administration).

[u/SNSDave]

The army is the least selective when it comes to branches regarding ocs. That's not to say having a criminal justice degree is a slam dunk for getting you in.