Why Forensics or Forensicscience is so popular? Why huge amount of people signs up for forensics courses?
It has become quite a trend to associate forensic science and criminal justice with adventure, righteousness and justice. Under the influence of media pressure, public support and interest in criminal justice careers, many colleges have received the title of forensics colleges because of the programs and training platforms they offer for future forensics specialists. The offer of forensics colleges is very wide and varied, depending on personal motivation and career goals. Different jobs require different forms of training. Thus, some will prepare you for on site investigations, others for lab work, others for computer forensics and so on.

There are two types of programs provided by forensics colleges: some for bachelors degrees and others for masters degrees. The competency is different for the two, since some of the jobs associated with criminal justice require special supplementary training and lots of years of study. DNA lab work represents one such domain, and the selection criteria are usually met only by the candidates with a solid education in chemistry, biochemistry, genetics and biology. If the candidate gets accepted at one of the forensics colleges for a masters degree, but he or she lacks work experience, extra courses will be necessary.

Microscopy, forensic molecular biology, crime scene reconstruction, population statistics and lots of others represent just a few of the programs that are common parts in the curricula of most forensics colleges. Keep in mind that skills are created in labs, and if you want to be a forensic technician for instance, you should have access to direct lab work to learn methods, techniques and the basis of the forensic procedure. This is in fact the faulty part of distance training, because people who choose programs that do not involve in-class work, will not develop the same skills. Therefore, although they are accredited, distance education formats remain questionable.

All in all, the career in criminal justice begins with the application at several forensics colleges. However, the first criterion is a perfectly clean personal record. You should have no convictions, no history of drug use or other similar problems that will get you discredited from the start. There are US states like Miami, where smokers are not allowed to train in the domain of forensics. And even if people have access to specific education, they will not be employed as long as they are addicted to nicotine. All these may seem rough, but the criteria as such are easy to understand and in fact accept.