Should I stay or should I go?

What you call judgmental, I see as constructive criticism. It's up to you to either ignore advice or see past perceived harsh tones and embrace a full range of opinions/mindsets. Since we don't know you personally, don't take it personally. Why post here at all, if ONLY are interested in opinions that align with yours?
^^^ THIS ^^^

Well said. Not just for this thread, but for all threads. We grow from hearing many and varied perspectives, not by sitting in an echo chamber. And if we’re going to ask for others’ opinions, we should be willing to hear others’ opinions.
 
Last edited:
Cannot not answer if you should leave or stay, you will have to find that in yourself to make that decision. I can give you some insight on a criminal justice degree. I majored in criminal justice with a minor in military science. At the end of the day, criminal justice degree ends up being a piece of paper that states you graduated from a college. If pursuing a career as a 1811 (special agent), they do not care what is on that degree. I am a current 1811 with the DEA and everyone in my academy class had work and life experience. The average age was 30 years old that came from all different backgrounds. We did not have anyone that was a 22 year old college grad in the academy. My work experience was enlisted active duty, state police and a officer in the national guard. Regardless of leaving or staying, if pursuing a 1811 career, get the degree then figure out what you want to do to get life and work experience and whatever that career is, (military or civilian life) make sure you enjoy the career as those positions are government positions and like applying to the academies, is a long process. Mine took nearly 2 years from initial application to starting the academy. Good luck with whatever decision you make.
 
At the end of the day, criminal justice degree ends up being a piece of paper that states you graduated from a college.
So true, so true, so true. Not just for a criminal justice degree, but for just about any degree. As someone who teaches at our flagship state university, I’ve become convinced that college degrees are incredibly valuable and terribly overrated.

How’s that? Incredibly valuable because they’re the admission ticket to so many occupations, especially those with above-average pay and satisfaction. Terribly overrated because so many grads are barely more functional or informed after 4+ years in college classrooms than they were when they entered. (There are many reasons for this, with blame to be shared by both school and student.)

A college degree may get you in the door. A major may give you baseline knowledge. But after a few months in that first job, the only thing that matters is competence: Can you do the job, can you do it as a team player, can you do it at even greater levels?

In my corporate career, I’ve hired and managed many young people 1-2 years out of college. Not once did I ask or care about their major. I only paid attention to whether they could do the job. Attitude, work ethic and emotional intelligence will trump a piece of parchment any day.
 
So true, so true, so true. Not just for a criminal justice degree, but for just about any degree. As someone who teaches at our flagship state university, I’ve become convinced that college degrees are incredibly valuable and terribly overrated.

How’s that? Incredibly valuable because they’re the admission ticket to so many occupations, especially those with above-average pay and satisfaction. Terribly overrated because so many grads are barely more functional or informed after 4+ years in college classrooms than they were when they entered. (There are many reasons for this, with blame to be shared by both school and student.)

A college degree may get you in the door. A major may give you baseline knowledge. But after a few months in that first job, the only thing that matters is competence: Can you do the job, can you do it as a team player, can you do it at even greater levels?

In my corporate career, I’ve hired and managed many young people 1-2 years out of college. Not once did I ask or care about their major. I only paid attention to whether they could do the job. Attitude, work ethic and emotional intelligence will trump a piece of parchment any day.

This is absolutely spot on. (Except much of the blame needs to extend way beyond school and student)

I would note their degrees during hiring, as someone with STEM would get a few brownie points higher than a generic one for the same GPA, etc. But once hired, it is ALL about the ability to perform.
 
In my corporate career, I’ve hired and managed many young people 1-2 years out of college. Not once did I ask or care about their major. I only paid attention to whether they could do the job. Attitude, work ethic and emotional intelligence will trump a piece of parchment any day.

At the end of the day, criminal justice degree ends up being a piece of paper that states you graduated from a college.

The degree (2,6, 5, 7 years) or certificate or license is merely the admission ticket to the dance. Once admitted, it is up to the person to decide what role to play and how to do it---wallflower, punch bowl spiker, dance maniac, etc.

For anyone, in the workplace, white collar or blue collar, desk jockey or ditch digger, you need to be admitted and then perform. Again look at what you role you think you want to play and then get your "dance ticket" to get in. Any degree from an SA with the experience and performance as an Officer will get you in to many dances!
 
I'm currently a Doolie at USAFA. So far, I've really enjoyed my time here. I met some amazing people that I know will be my friends for the rest of my life, I've learned a lot about myself, and I've had experiences that I will never forget. Despite how much Doolie year is supposed to suck, I've actually enjoyed myself. However, I am considering leaving for two fundamental reasons. One of the main reasons is that USAFA does not have a major that I am passionate about. When I applied here, I thought that it would be a lot more military focused and a lot less academic focused, so I thought it wouldn't matter that USAFA doesn't offer a major that I am interested in, however, that has not been the case. I'm not sure how I ended up with that impression, but I was wrong. 80% of what I do here is academics. It's not so much the issue that academics are hard, even though they are, I just know that I will never get to take classes that I am passionate about, which makes it really hard to be able to look forward to the future, especially when I know that no matter what my major is, I will need to take a great deal of engineering core classes that I am not remotely interested in. I've been told to just get through academics, and that it will be all worth it when I finally graduate. I have an issue with that. I will be spending 3 and 1/2 more years here, and since so much of my time is spent on academics, the thought of struggling through with a major that I don't care about is absolutely miserable. I don't want to "waste" that much of my life. My other reason for wanting to leave arose because I decided that I no longer want to be a pilot. All my life I have worked to avoid any kind of desk or management job, but I'm afraid that that's what I'll end up with upon graduating from here if I'm not a pilot. Growing up, I wanted to be an EMT or something where it was me actually physically doing stuff. I know that the role of officers is very important, but I just don't think that it is for me. I feel like somewhere along the lines I traded all the things that I am passionate about and that excite me for future job security and health care benefits. If I do decide that I don't want to stay at the Academy, I have no intentions of sticking it our for the next year and a half in order to "get more free credits" as I have been advised by my friends. I would leave after this semester. However, I am terrified that I would regret leaving. This is an amazing opportunity, that I worked very hard for. I also know that graduating from the academy will give me lots of connections, and that even if I decide to leave the military after 5 years, those connections will help me to get jobs in the civilian sector. If anyone could weigh it, that would be fantastic.
1. Talk with a counselor. But go in to that appointment with the specifics of what you want and what you do not want. Your post is sort of vague IMHO. 2. There is a sort of quiz/assessment in a book called: "What Color is My Parachute" answering those questions, MAY help you with the specifics of what you want. 3. Take some time now to "design your ideal life" for the future. Don't hold back with limitations, create on paper what specifically you want to be able to do when you graduate (even if you need graduate school as well). What does it include? What are your daily tasks? What are your goals for your "working life?" 4. Know that "law" is a good "background" for many things including, but not limited to, criminal justice. That said, there are a lot of lawyers and I do not see that as a future anymore given the problems with the current judicial system. We need "creativity" to improve that and perhaps some creative thinking with what YOU desire relating to "criminal justice." That said, one has to be a bit "practical" in creating their working life.....the engineering/science type classes, given that technology touches every aspect of the working world, is NOT a bad thing to have under your belt so to speak. I am a woman who was NOT encouraged to pursue math/science (child of the 50s and 60s) despite my gifts in that area. I became a lawyer (now retired) but if I had to do it all over, I would have pursued mechanical engineering....perhaps in addition....I am also logical so the latter may have fulfilled my need for "puzzle solving/logic" that I used with lawyering. 5. Criminal justice, depending on HOW you implement that into your life, will probably be a lot more "desk/paper" job than out in the field. 6. There are a lot of things you can DO physically through volunteer work in the "criminal justice field" at least IMHO. Good luck. This is a very SERIOUS DECISION for you. The goal is not to have regrets.
 
I say stay. Make the most of the golden ticket slot that the U.S. taxpayer provided for a quality education and most excellent future opportunities.
 
That said, one has to be a bit "practical" in creating their working life.....the engineering/science type classes, given that technology touches every aspect of the working world, is NOT a bad thing to have under your belt so to speak.

I was once a juror in a trial that involved child pornography. The defendant claimed that he "saved emails (containing the illicit images) from his AOL account onto floppy disks (this was a few years ago) without looking at them to "save space"".

We, the jury said BS because:
1) Nobody does that
2) The "created date" for the files and the "last changed" date were not the same so these files were opened.

Anyone who had any clue about computers would not have made that defense. Your jury pool was full of people who worked in tech where I live.
 
I'm currently a Doolie at USAFA. So far, I've really enjoyed my time here. I met some amazing people that I know will be my friends for the rest of my life, I've learned a lot about myself, and I've had experiences that I will never forget. Despite how much Doolie year is supposed to suck, I've actually enjoyed myself. However, I am considering leaving for two fundamental reasons. One of the main reasons is that USAFA does not have a major that I am passionate about. When I applied here, I thought that it would be a lot more military focused and a lot less academic focused, so I thought it wouldn't matter that USAFA doesn't offer a major that I am interested in, however, that has not been the case. I'm not sure how I ended up with that impression, but I was wrong. 80% of what I do here is academics. It's not so much the issue that academics are hard, even though they are, I just know that I will never get to take classes that I am passionate about, which makes it really hard to be able to look forward to the future, especially when I know that no matter what my major is, I will need to take a great deal of engineering core classes that I am not remotely interested in. I've been told to just get through academics, and that it will be all worth it when I finally graduate. I have an issue with that. I will be spending 3 and 1/2 more years here, and since so much of my time is spent on academics, the thought of struggling through with a major that I don't care about is absolutely miserable. I don't want to "waste" that much of my life. My other reason for wanting to leave arose because I decided that I no longer want to be a pilot. All my life I have worked to avoid any kind of desk or management job, but I'm afraid that that's what I'll end up with upon graduating from here if I'm not a pilot. Growing up, I wanted to be an EMT or something where it was me actually physically doing stuff. I know that the role of officers is very important, but I just don't think that it is for me. I feel like somewhere along the lines I traded all the things that I am passionate about and that excite me for future job security and health care benefits. If I do decide that I don't want to stay at the Academy, I have no intentions of sticking it our for the next year and a half in order to "get more free credits" as I have been advised by my friends. I would leave after this semester. However, I am terrified that I would regret leaving. This is an amazing opportunity, that I worked very hard for. I also know that graduating from the academy will give me lots of connections, and that even if I decide to leave the military after 5 years, those connections will help me to get jobs in the civilian sector. If anyone could weigh it, that would be fantastic.
1. "I just know that I will never get to take classes that I am passionate about, which makes it really hard to be able to look forward to the future"---College is still about getting a "broad range" of classes for a FOUNDATION for later on. Sure, after a year or two one "declares a major" but you still need some basics. STEM is the present and the future and that foundation should not be "dismissed" so easily IMHO. 2. "I just know that I will never get to take classes that I am passionate about" ----What "classes" are you or would you be "passionate" about? Are you sure you cannot "create" them? As the counselor about independent study opportunities that may exist. ASKING is better than "ASSUMING THE NEGATIVE" and then regretting that you didn't ask in the first place. 3. " I will need to take a great deal of engineering core classes that I am not remotely interested in." ----life sucks sometimes. Sometimes you have to do/learn things that you may not be interested in, may not see the value of etc., etc....In the end though, they may be worthless or they may prove valuable to what you do in the future. It's hard to tell NOW. What value did Trigonometry have for me when I became a Lawyer...none. Well, perhaps some of the logic that is part of figuring out math problems. What value was there is my dissecting a lamb's heart when I wanted to become and became a lawyer...none. I hated blood and guts...but it was required and so I did it. Personally, it helped me for understanding my own anatomy and how things work. So there was SOME value for my personal life. Again, STEM is the present and the future.....it will be part of your professional and personal life in one way or another and probably in MULTIPLE ways. 4. 3.5 years out of the next 50+ is a drop in the bucket. I'm retired....I barely remember what I did or didn't do in College. Everything in life is a learning experience.....you still need a foundation...you can't "hurry up" with getting to your career. Even with my law school education....I learned more in the daily practice...but without the foundation...I'd be lost. 5. Let us know what you decide. Know that it is a BIG decision and you need to explore ALL avenues BEFORE you make that decision!! JMHO
 
I'm currently a Doolie at USAFA. So far, I've really enjoyed my time here. I met some amazing people that I know will be my friends for the rest of my life, I've learned a lot about myself, and I've had experiences that I will never forget. Despite how much Doolie year is supposed to suck, I've actually enjoyed myself. However, I am considering leaving for two fundamental reasons. One of the main reasons is that USAFA does not have a major that I am passionate about. When I applied here, I thought that it would be a lot more military focused and a lot less academic focused, so I thought it wouldn't matter that USAFA doesn't offer a major that I am interested in, however, that has not been the case. I'm not sure how I ended up with that impression, but I was wrong. 80% of what I do here is academics. It's not so much the issue that academics are hard, even though they are, I just know that I will never get to take classes that I am passionate about, which makes it really hard to be able to look forward to the future, especially when I know that no matter what my major is, I will need to take a great deal of engineering core classes that I am not remotely interested in. I've been told to just get through academics, and that it will be all worth it when I finally graduate. I have an issue with that. I will be spending 3 and 1/2 more years here, and since so much of my time is spent on academics, the thought of struggling through with a major that I don't care about is absolutely miserable. I don't want to "waste" that much of my life. My other reason for wanting to leave arose because I decided that I no longer want to be a pilot. All my life I have worked to avoid any kind of desk or management job, but I'm afraid that that's what I'll end up with upon graduating from here if I'm not a pilot. Growing up, I wanted to be an EMT or something where it was me actually physically doing stuff. I know that the role of officers is very important, but I just don't think that it is for me. I feel like somewhere along the lines I traded all the things that I am passionate about and that excite me for future job security and health care benefits. If I do decide that I don't want to stay at the Academy, I have no intentions of sticking it our for the next year and a half in order to "get more free credits" as I have been advised by my friends. I would leave after this semester. However, I am terrified that I would regret leaving. This is an amazing opportunity, that I worked very hard for. I also know that graduating from the academy will give me lots of connections, and that even if I decide to leave the military after 5 years, those connections will help me to get jobs in the civilian sector. If anyone could weigh it, that would be fantastic.
I'm a doolie there now as well. If you are still indecisive at this point, then maybe the academy isn't for you...
 
Back
Top