Education · 1 of 5

The path

There is no license and no single exam. There is a hiring standard, and it is strict.

1. 1

   High school

   Grade 12

   Grades matter for university admission. A clean record matters more, because a background investigation will look at all of it.

2. 2

   Bachelor's degree

   4 years

   Any subject. Accounting, computer science, languages and law are the backgrounds the Bureau openly wants most.

3. 3

   Work full time in the real world

   1 to 2 years

   You need at least two years of full-time professional experience, or one year with an advanced degree. This is not optional and it is why almost nobody is hired at 22.

4. 4

   Apply and get through the process

   9 to 18 months

   Written testing, interviews, a physical fitness test, a full background investigation, a polygraph and a medical exam. Expect it to take many months.

5. 5

   The academy at Quantico, Virginia

   About 5 months

   Months of residential training in law, investigations, firearms, defensive tactics and physical conditioning, then a first field office assignment.