United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA)

Students at the United States Coast Guard Academy recommend their school as "highly demanding, immensely rewarding, professionally oriented, and the best choice to make the best friends you are ever going to have." Many appreciate the "regimented environment," which, according to one management major, "Gives me a standard to live up to and hold myself to, even when I am away from here." Cadets are "pushed to [the] limits" "academically, emotionally, and physically," and they wouldn't have it any other way. Importantly, "the academy fosters camaraderie amongst the Corps of Cadets that can't be found anywhere else. With a student body numbering around 1,000, the Coast Guard Academy is truly unique in its ability to provide an environment where classmates become shipmates, friends, and eventually family." Though there are a number of excellent programs, cadets call the most attention to the strong engineering department. The academics are "challenging but rewarding." Professors challenge cadets "to reach farther, expand their horizons, and to develop outside the classroom as much as inside of it." An electrical engineering major expounds, "The most surprising and excellent trait that all teachers have is that they are always willing to help outside of the class rooms. Always." Some students contend "the best part about my school is the summer training programs." Students have traveled "across the Atlantic Ocean" stopping "in London, Iceland, and Nova Scotia." Others have been to "Bermuda, St. Pierre France, Guantanamo Bay, and St. Petersburg Florida since coming to the Academy, which is absolutely amazing."

While in past, USGCA has been described as homogeneous; "the academy has been stressing diversity in its admissions and has had a good deal of success." Luckily, a civil engineering major assures us, "Those students of different backgrounds easily fit in with everyone else." In fact, one cadet goes so far to say "sometimes, I don't think that cadets recognize diversity because we all wear the same uniforms, take the same classes, and are going through the same experiences." Not surprisingly, the academy seems to attract "highly motivated [people] with a strong desire to serve in the Coast Guard." Certainly, another hallmark of Coast Guard cadets is that they're "hard working, smart, motivated, and in great shape." A naval architecture and marine engineering major adds, "Type-A personalities are most common among the Corps." A senior describes student as "very close with each other and for the most part, everyone has a group of friends that they fit in quite well with." This sophomore cheekily sums up his peers, "A typical student here is just like a typical student anywhere else but works harder, follows stricter rules, is in better shape, and is owned by the federal government."United stAtes coAst gUArd E-Mail: USCGA.Admissions@uscga.edu • Website: www.uscga.edu

Life at USCGA is unique. Only way to put it, says one junior. Day-to-day life at the Coast Guard Academy is "orderly and predictable." During the week, it's difficult for people to do anything "outside of their military, athletic, and academic obligations." As one honest marine and environmental science major reveals, "Every moment of every day is planned out." Required sports credits "keep people active and involved either intercollegiate or intramurals." Of course, life at the Academy isn't 100 percent work and stress. Free time is at a premium on weekdays, but "weekends are the time to explore New England, New York City, and the downtown New London area." A senior shares, cadets "go to the beach, head up to Vermont for some hiking or skiing.... There is a lot to do if you look for it." While "students aren't allowed off campus during the week," unless participating in an academy sanctioned activity, "most try and get away for the weekend." Another senior elaborates, "Underage students tend to go to the movies or the local mall. Of-age students usually spend their time off drinking at the bars downtown." Life at USCGA can be "very challenging and demanding at times, but the goal of becoming an officer makes it worth it." A "guaranteed job upon graduation" is pretty persuasive as well.