College

Paying for College
1

Hello everybody!
I am currently a junior and I have many questions related to college, please respond if you know the answers or have an idea to any of these questions, I will greatly appreciate it.

Any good colleges for becoming a federal agent?
LIke schools that have majors in specific fields that an agent might need to have experience on.

What is FASFA and A Pel Grant?

3.2 GPA,18 Composite ACT Score(Yes I know it’s low),~350 Community Service hours, Extra Curriculars in a “MESA” program, (Bilingual, Fluent English, Average Spanish, low income family and community, if that matters…)
Do I have a chance to UCS or CSUs with the academic grades and test scores I have?

I have only one “College” course for Junior year and it’s political science…
For senior year I am taking AP U.S Government,AP Spanish Language and Culture, and AP Physics 1…

Thanks for any responses, I appreciate it.
Cheers!

2

Oh I forgot to mention I am first generation, so please simplify any explaination because I am very inexperienced with this type of stuff, thanks.

3

What kind of federal agent? There usually isn’t a major for “federal agent”. You can usually major in many subjects.

What did your HS guidance counselor say?
How much can your parents honestly afford?
Given your GPA and test scores, you need to look to your in-state safety that is closest to your home.
Honestly, your test scores won’t be competitive for the UC’s.

The public schools in California do not use affirmative action to admit students, so, the culture thing won’t help.

4

Thank you for responding, aunt bea.
By Federal Agent I mean an F.B.I agent.
What do you mean what did my HS counselor say? Say about what?
Well my parents do not make much so we cannot afford a college that will be around 10,000+ yearly, or even near that amount honestly.
So I can still get into CSUs though right? I have never really cared about entering in “competitive” schools like UCs, so it doesn’t bother me much.
And thanks for the information.

5

For UC’s and CSU’s, you need to calculate your UC/CSU GPA: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

With your current test scores, only UC Merced might be an option and your ACT score of 18 would put you below the 25th percentile. I think your current stats would be get you into several of the Cal States.

If you check this link, you can determine which Cal State is in your local area. Local applicants get priority however, if the campus is impacted, there is no guarantee of an acceptance.

http://www.calstate.edu/sas/onestopkiosk/documents/CSULocalAdmission-ServiceAreas.pdf

Majors for Federal agents: FBI agents in cyber security typically have an education in computer science, information technology or systems, computer or cyber security, mathematics or a discipline of engineering. Criminal Justice, Political Science, Business administration, Accounting are also good majors.

Here is a ink for the Cal States, their open major vs impacted majors: https://www.calstate.edu/sas/documents/impactedprogramsmatrix.pdf

The Cal States admit by major and eligibility index (EI).
Once you have calculate your UC/CSU GPA, you can calculate your EI: (CSU GPA x200) + (ACT composite x10)

I would look at the non-impacted campuses of Channel Islands, Stanislaus, East Bay, Bakersfield and Dominguez Hills for solid Match schools. If you can bump up your test scores, then schools like Sacramento State, San Francisco State, Sonoma, LA would be possible.

Being a First Generation, Low Income California resident will help your chances along with being eligible for financial aid.

FASFA is the Federal Student Aid Form which will determine if you are eligible for Federal aid which includes Pell Grants, work study and student loans.

https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types#federal-aid

I am assuming you are a California resident?, so you would also be eligible for Cal Grants to help pay for college expenses.
http://www.csac.ca.gov/doc.asp?id=905

Best of luck and continue asking questions if you need more information.

6

I think that you should either get some ACT preparation help then retake the ACT, or get some SAT preparation help and then take the SAT. Preparation classes can help a lot. Some high schools will have these, as well local community centers. My older daughter took an SAT preparation class at a local community center and it was quite helpful. This should help you get your ACT scores up which will improve your opportunities.

College can be very expensive. Many universities can cost as much as $70,000 per year, which seems crazy to many people (including me). If you live in California (which I am guessing from your post) then you should look at the nearest CSU, and see what GPA and test scores incoming student typically have (you can google this), and what it costs for in-state residents. Also look at what majors they offer (as an example, a state school near where I live offers a major in “Criminology and Justice Studies”). If you can live at home that can save a lot of money also. There is often need-based financial aid for in-state students also, but you will need to fill out forms for this that I am not familiar with.

7

My cousin was an accounting major in college, and worked in that field for several years before joining the FBI as a forensic accountant. He did have to be in excellent physical condition in order to be recruited, and had to stay in that shape once he had the job. If you aren’t particularly athletic yet, you should think about sports or other physical training that would help you get into (and stay in) recruitable condition.

8

Friend has a kid who has two FBI job interviews coming up.

Undergrad major was creative writing, and marketing.