United States Coast Guard Academy

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Students Say - Academics
If you're ready to "deal with military rules and discipline along with a rigorous engineering education" so that "in four years you get the job you've always wanted" (provided that job involves military, maritime, or multi-mission humanitarian service), the United States Coast Guard Academy may be the place for you. "Rigorous academics and military training" prepare cadets "for success as junior officers in the [Coast Guard] as ship drivers, pilots, and marine safety officers." The workload is considerable. Students must take a minimum of 19 credits per semester while also handling military training and athletics. Cadets note that this regimen "builds character through intense physical and mental training," although some opine that "It's like a cup of boiling hot chocolate: It smells good, you know it tastes good, but you have wait a long time to let it cool down in order to enjoy it fully." Others simply say that the demands make USCGA"a great place to be from but not always the greatest place to be." The school offers eight majors, most heavily in science, technology, engineering, and math, including operations research, management, and government. In all disciplines, "The academic program is extremely difficult, but most instructors are willing to work with you one-on-one if necessary."

Students Say - Campus Life
Life at USCGA, unsurprisingly, is highly regimented. One student sums it up: "We have to wake up at 0600 every day whether we have class or not. We have to have our doors open whether we're in our rooms or not from 0600 to 1600. They tell us exactly what we can and can't do and what we can wear and what we can't. We have military training period from 0700 to 0800 and class from 0800 to1600. We all eat lunch together at the same time in a family-style fashion. Sports period is from 1600 to 1800. Military training periods from 1900 to 2000. Study hour-from 2000 to 2200. We all have to stand duty and play sports and get a certain number of community-service hours. We can't drink on base, and we can't leave during the week. We have to make our own fun, which involves some creativity sometimes (and demerits), but our fun wouldn't appeal to most college students because it's silly and doesn't involve alcohol." Cadets warn that "The school can be very rigid with the rules. It hurts to see one of your friends get kicked out after having made a stupid decision, as almost all college students do," but students recognize that "that goes with the territory of being a military institution." Students "can only leave campus on the weekends." When they do "there is a bus system that takes cadets to famil- iar places in the New London area" as well as "a nearby Amtrak station that takes cadets to New York City or Boston when cadets are allowed to leave the Academy for an extended period of time (rare), usually holiday weekends."

Students Say - Student Body
Service academies tend to attract students from particular demographics, and the USCGA is no exception. Most here are "fairly conservative," "extremely athletic," "very smart," and "were leaders of their schools while in high school." They tend to be "type-A personalities" who are "very disciplined or looking for discipline" in their lives. Students tell us that "although there are exceptions, almost everyone here is very selfless, and willing to take one for the team or to sacrifice to help out a buddy. As the saying goes, 'Ship, shipmates, self.' Along those same lines, everyone is held to a high standard by both comrades and superiors. Both have a low tolerance for slacking."

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