Most Popular Majors

[Hathery]

I'm about to go on my usual criminal justice rant just because this is my field. LOL. Criminal justice has to be one of the most unnecessary degrees out there, and it is disturbing that its popularity is growing at such a high rate. Most police departments do not require a degree. Even among the 100 largest police departments, most of them require less than an associate's degree. Among the departments that require a degree, a very small percentage have a preference for any major. Most of the law enforcement jobs that require a bachelor's degree are at the federal level, and most of those have no preference or a preference for something other than CJ. For corrections, a degree is almost never required. When you are trying to promote, correctional agencies often do have a preference for CJ, psychology, and sociology degrees; but, this is not true for law enforcement. Having a degree in puppetry will not hold one back from becoming chief of police. Many police departments give educational incentive pay and some give preference points to applicants with degrees, but these things are available to people with degrees in Bowling Industry Management and Technology (yes, this is a real degree).

Criminal justice majors are the most underemployed; business administration and management majors are close behind. The problem with CJ is that it is a rarely needed degree in the criminal justice field. The problem with business administration and management is that there are way too many people with that degree. The number of people graduating with general business degrees (as in degrees that aren't focused on something specific like accounting or finance) dwarfs the second most popular major.

Sorry. After teaching in a criminal justice program, I'm just so annoyed by the large number of people who think
1. That they NEED a degree to become a police officer.
2. That a CJ degree will give them a leg up over the competition with other degrees.

I did an extensive literature review for my research proposal, and the consensus is that CJ degrees don't have much worth when it comes to obtaining employment. My rant is over. :p

From my experience, you are correct. I am a Court Clerk, and got there with no degree (that means I am a Judge's right-hand woman.) We have a bunch of Court Aides who have CJ degrees; a Court Aide is the person who walks around the courtroom handing out papers and taking things off the printer. Sometimes it doesn't matter what degree you have if you don't have ambition to move ahead in your career!