Be warned about two things though (1) with the popularity of the CSI/NCIS/etc. TV shows, there are way more people who want to do these jobs than there are openings (2) in real life, this is an extremely boring job. CSIs are not detectives of any sort. They don’t talk to suspects ever, they don’t solve crimes – none of it. They normally just do very routine tasks, like spend all day on the phone to figure out what company makes a particular color and type of fabric. You’ll get a more realistic view of what CSIs do from Law & Order than the CSI shows.

If you just concentrate on the biochemisty or ballistics parts, you will not be out at the crime scene, you’ll spend all your time in the lab.

And the stuff they do on CSI and its clones is often impossible with current technology–which is not to say they’re bad shows, it’s called ‘artistic license’–but if you want to be out at the crime scene gathering evidence, start out by working your way from criminal justice major to cop and then detective.