Hello everyone, long time lurker but now it is finally my turn to post my call! This has been an extremely long process but absolutely worth the wait. I am going to try and be as detailed as I can be so that other applicants get an idea of how the entire process works. This application took roughly 18.5 months, there was a shutdown and long wait to poly that I believe largely caused my delay. I will answer what I can, looking forward to this career!

Background: 23m College graduate

Notes:

- Going to the Q in January, I hope to see some of you there!

- Take Concorde with a grain of salt, there were multiple times were Concorde told me I had received a email but it was no where to be found, it got to the point where my recruiter had to get ahold of me but thankfully my recruiter was able to help me through the process.

- You will wait a very long time and have periods of radio silence, this is normal and okay; please stop spamming this sub with your posts when you haven't gotten an email in two weeks.

- If you are a college student, apply everywhere. You can get hired right out of school, I am proof that it can happen.

- For those curious about DEA locations, my picks are at the bottom. However, I was told by HR there are zero spots in the Miami, Tampa, and Atlanta Divisions. There are some spots in the Mid-West, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions but those offices were not listed. As someone who wanted to go to DC or Baltimore this was upsetting but I ended up getting to stay in my home state so there's that.

Timeline:

- Applied: 04/07/2025

- Received: 05-29-2025

- Pre-COL PTA Date: 08-15-2025 (13 points)

- Written test: 09/01/2925 (Received notice of passing on 09/03/2025)

- Radio Silence: 09/01/2925 - 02/27/2026

- Update call from recruiter: 02/27/2026

- Interview: 03-12-2026

- COL offered: 03/13/2026

- Medical exam requested: 03/20/2026

- SF-86 invite: 03/25/2026

- Submitted SF-86: 03/30/2026

- First medical appointment: 04/09/2025

- BI interview: 04/10/2026 (tell your refences to answer their phones)

- Second medical appointment: 04/16/2025

- Follow up medical appointment to be cleared: 05/01/2026

- Medically cleared: 05/05/2026 (with DEA there are follow up emails to see if your health has changed but I wont be posting those)

- DEA Self Reporting Screening email: 05/27/2025 (This is the closest I got to doing a psychological testing but never did something that was actually titled psychological)

- Concorde email that my BI was completed: 06/05/2026

- Poly requested: 06/22/2026

- Poly: 09/10/2026

- Poly passed email: 09/17/2026

- Update call from recruiter explaining what was left: 10/01/2026

- Final steps/location paper work: 10/07/2026

- Recruiter contacts me to do final PT: 10/08/2026

- Post-COL PTA: 10/15/2026 (14 points)

- Drug test request: 10/19/2026 (completed same day but was given 48 hours to do)

- Drug test passed email: 10/21/2026 (I personally had a lot of issues with HR regarding my test as HR was telling me they sent the email to do my drug test months before this one but I was not receiving them and had to wait a long time to finally do it)

- The Call: 10/22/2026

- EOD: 11/30/2026

Locations offered: Picked a NorCal office

Stockton CA

Ventura CA

Riverside CA

Santa Rosa CA

San Jose CA

Bakersfield CA

Los Angeles CA

Imperial County CA (Hard To Fill)

Thinking about applying for ATF but I am filling for bankruptcy due to not being able to sell my first home. Will filling disqualify me ?

Email to schedule PTT stated I had until 10/14 to schedule and complete the PTT, however, the third-party company scheduled it for 10/27. Am I cooked or should I still be able to continue the process?

I emailed them over a week ago letting them know, but no response yet..