What are the educational requirements for an FBI criminal investigator?

Criminal investigator questions?

• I really want to be a criminal investigator. I especially want to investigate murder cases, because it just really interests me. I know that's a risky career to be in, but it's what I want to do. I don't just want to handle cases like robbery and stuff. I'd really like to work with people in forensic labs to help solve murders, interrogate the suspects, interview the witnesses, etc. Is there like a branch of criminal investigators that does that kind of stuff? Where would you need to work to deal with situations like those? Would you need to be with the FBI? Also, if anyone could provide me with classes I should be taking (I'm a freshman in high school) to get on this career path. What colleges should I be looking at and what high school and college requirements will I need? Thank you!!

• Answer:

  You watch entirely too much television. Your dream job does not exist. Nobody gets to be a homicide investigator without working up through robbery and petty theft and property crimes. In some agencies, you do all those at the same time. Detectives don't work in the lab. Lab folks don't interrogate suspects. These are two distinct and separate jobs. If you want to work in forensics, you need to work on science and math in HS, and something like chemistry or biology in college. If you want to be a detective, general studies are fine in HS, and Criminal Justice in college.