ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Do you have what it takes to join the FBI? Some local college students had the chance to find out.
Michael Cohen may be an accounting major, but he would happily trade in his calculator for a badge.
“I have a big interest in law enforcement and [the] FBI,” said Cohen. “If you like law enforcement, who doesn’t want to be in the FBI, right?”
Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox!
This year, UAlbany held the third annual “Train Like an Agent.” The event gives students the chance to take the fitness test that FBI agents need to pass every year to keep their job.
Luis Alvarez is the assistant special agent in charge at the FBI Albany field office. He says this event is part of a national recruiting push by the FBI.
“Today, we have graduates from UAlbany, who are special agents, who’ve come out to participate in the event and talk to students and let them know, ‘Hey, I literally walked in the same steps you did as a student here at UAlbany,’” said Alvarez. “‘And now I’m a special agent in the FBI.’”
Download our WTEN+ streaming app on Roku, Fire TV and Apple TV!
The test includes four events: pull-ups or chin-ups, 300m sprint, push-ups and a mile-and-a-half run. The FBI has a rubric to determine participants’ scores. The better they do in each event, the more points they score. Participants need to score a combined 10 points, with at least one point scored in each event. Students get a five-minute break in between each event. After the run, Alexis Dorval was happy with his performance. He passed with a score of 16.
“Sprinting first, and then everything that comes after is basically mental,” said Dorval. “If you can do it, are you willing to do it? So I think that’s very challenging.”
Lawmakers react to indictment of former FBI director James Comey
Cohen scored a 10 but didn’t score a point on the mile-and-a-half run, which means he failed. He’s only a sophomore, so he has plenty of time to improve.
“I think it was just one after another with only five minutes in between, [it] really took a toll on me,” said Cohen. “I just wasn’t prepared, but next year I’ll definitely be more prepared than I was this year.”
While Cohen may not have passed, he was planning on going to class 30 minutes after Friday morning’s event, and that has to be worth something.
Daniel Harkin is a senior atmospheric science major. He started out well, but wasn’t able to do the long-distance run at the end.
“Not being able to finish tells me that there’s work to be done,” said Harkin. “This test is a lot harder than I made it out to be.”
FBI agents are required to have a bachelor’s degree, so even though some students did well, they still need to finish their degree to be considered.
Read the latest from NEWS10:
NEWS10 is the Capital Region’s local news leader!