College Grades/Age

[NJK522]

Do college grades play a big role of you getting hired by a police department? I currently have a 3.88 GPA majoring in criminal justice. I am also in the police academy with a 4.00 GPA currently. I am about halfway through the academy. Am I at disadvantage because I am the youngest one in the academy at the age of 20?

[crass cop]

are you self sponsored?? or already hired on somewhere?....(stupid question, you say? You would be surprised)

It doesnt hurt to be a college grad. It doesnt hurt to have great grades....a 3.88 is pretty good

Sometimes being young is good because youre vigorous and can be "trained", instead of "re-trained", which is harder to do.
Sometimes being young is bad because some "youngsters" have no real life experience, jobs, etc. My dept had 2 people quit during the in house training, after the academy, because they were going to be OC'd as part of the standard training.......THEY QUIT!!!! Both were very young and recalled from the academy that being OC'd was painful, (yet not deadly), and they didnt want to go through it again. Is this the guy you want to go into battle with and have to watch your back? Guts, bravery, the willingness to get the job done are not qualities they posess

It goes either way

[Iowa #1603]

I guess if I had two equal candidates...........equal education........equal test scores............... equal interview scores............equivalent backgrounds.....................
A GPA might be a tie breaker.

[ddurkof]

What are the demographic of the department you are applying at? Do they hire younger officers? If they have not hired anyone under 25 years old, then you most likely have a problem with your age.

Get involved in community and college organizations that are going to show that you are more mature than the average 20 year old.

Keep up the GPA, it can't hurt.

[Smurfette_76]

Excellent grades...congrats and keep it up. As Crass pointed out, age can be both a postive and/or a negative, depending on the agency and on how you come across. I was only a year older than you when I started this career. It's not impossible...while you don't know much about real life (in comparison to what you will know and learn in the future), that's not always a negative thing. I think you stand a good chance, assuming your background is clean, of course. Keep it up...best of luck

[SgtScott31]

I can tell you that when I was in the interview process with Secret Service my 2.5 undergrad GPA definitely came up. I had a 3.9 GPA from graduate school, but they wanted to know why my GPA was crappy during undergrad. I partied the first couple of years in college before I decided what I really wanted to do. Although I made a lot of As and Bs the last two years in my core CJA classes in undergrad, the damage had been done. It is very hard to raise a GPA even after retaking some classes to replace some bad scores.

As Smurfette & Crass already mentioned, age can depend. It can depend on how mature you are for 20. Some agencies are hesitant to hire that young because of a lack of life experience and a tendency to let the badge/authority go to their head. Other agencies may look at it as an opportunity to mold the officer they want to have in their department. There were several in my academy class that were barely 21 when they graduated, so I don't think it's a huge issue.

[NJK522]

are you self sponsored?? or already hired on somewhere?....(stupid question, you say? You would be surprised)

It doesnt hurt to be a college grad. It doesnt hurt to have great grades....a 3.88 is pretty good

Sometimes being young is good because youre vigorous and can be "trained", instead of "re-trained", which is harder to do.
Sometimes being young is bad because some "youngsters" have no real life experience, jobs, etc. My dept had 2 people quit during the in house training, after the academy, because they were going to be OC'd as part of the standard training.......THEY QUIT!!!! Both were very young and recalled from the academy that being OC'd was painful, (yet not deadly), and they didnt want to go through it again. Is this the guy you want to go into battle with and have to watch your back? Guts, bravery, the willingness to get the job done are not qualities they posess

It goes either way

I am self-sponsored. The police academy cost me close to $4,000. I have been looking and applying to any jobs that come available. I have only had 3 jobs. All 3 I have worked with the Army & Air Force Exchange Service. 2 of them I was a sales associate and 1 I was a laborer. I only have a speeding ticket and which was back when I was 17. I have tried marijuana once when I was 16. I have under-aged drinked about 5-6 times in my life. 2 of which was when I was in the police academy. Which is bad i know. I regret it. I actually regret the 5-6 times as well. Will that hurt me at all of getting hired?

[dashdriver]

Ummm....the underage drinking thing (TWICE, not just once) while in the POLICE ACADEMY is likely to overshadow any good grades you have. Shows a very recent and serious lack of judgment and inability to abide by the law. You see in police work, you not only have to abide by the law, you're held to a higher standard in your conduct than the average member of the public, both on and off duty. IMHO, the underage drinking in the academy will (or should) hurt your chances at getting hired. If anyone knows about it, it should, in fact, result in your immediate dismissal from the academy.

[NJK522]

Ummm....the underage drinking thing (TWICE, not just once) while in the POLICE ACADEMY is likely to overshadow any good grades you have. Shows a very recent and serious lack of judgment and inability to abide by the law. You see in police work, you not only have to abide by the law, you're held to a higher standard in your conduct than the average member of the public, both on and off duty. IMHO, the underage drinking in the academy will (or should) hurt your chances at getting hired. If anyone knows about it, it should, in fact, result in your immediate dismissal from the academy.

I know I made mistakes. I take full responsibility for my actions. I really do feel horrible. There is nothing worse to me than not getting a police officer position due to my inability to follow the laws. This is the only dream I have ever had. I am aware of police officers are held to higher standards. What can i do?

[Smurfette_76]

Stop right there. Only dream you've ever had yet you drank twice while at the academy? I say this to you as someone that has done BI and sat on hiring boards...I can understand underage drinking...UNTIL you throw the crap in there about this being your only dream and yet you did it twice while in the academy. Yes, your youth now comes shining through. No way would I expect you to make the right decisions with regards to other's Constitutional rights and handle the large responsibility that comes with this job when you can't behave in the academy. Sorry, your grades mean bumkiss to me at that point. I'd pass you over for that....far too many others are qualified...others that don't treat it as a joke.

[dashdriver]

What can i do?

Well, your actions in the academy are a pretty big black mark. Maybe not permanently disqualifying, however you're going to need to get a lot of really good clean water under the bridge between now and when you next apply for a law enforcement position. Your underage drinking in the academy will surface when you complete the personal history questionnaire for agencies you're applying to even several years from now. An agency is going to want to see substantial evidence that you've matured and progressed since then. So, a steady, stable job history with good references, no more criminal violations of any kind, minimal minor traffic infractions, good credit history, etc etc. I think you get the picture. I know you probably want to hear that there's something immediate you can do that will somehow make this go away for you and enable you to get a cop job now. Unfortunately there's no magic potion you can dust over your background and make it go away.

One thing is for sure...lie about it during the hiring process and that will buy you a certain and permanent death to your law enforcement career before it even gets off the ground. I hope you have been honest with the agencies to which you have already applied.

[LaPlaca]

I have under-aged drinked about 5-6 times in my life. 2 of which was when I was in the police academy. Will that hurt me at all of getting hired?

[Ohio5-0]

I have under-aged drinked about 5-6 times in my life. 2 of which was when I was in the police academy. Which is bad i know. I regret it. Will that hurt me at all of getting hired?

You've gotta be kidding. If you wanted to be a cop as bad as you say, you wouldn't have broken the law WHILE IN THE ACADEMY! That is rediculous, and yes it is going to hurt you in hiring processes. lol

[just joe]

Young people are generally immature, don't have a lot of life experience and make poor decisions...kinda like breaking the law while in the police academy.