Both of Aileen Fagan’s parents attended the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Nonetheless, Fagan’s transition to military life during the eight-week indoctrination before freshman year known as Swab Summer came as a bit of a shock. “One day you’re a civilian and you just graduated from high school, and the next day you’re doing pushups and getting yelled at,” she says.
Like orientation at all service academies, that first summer is meant to instill core values in students and prepares them to enter the classroom and join the Corps of Cadets. But in some ways, the similarities to other military branches end there.
The biggest difference is the Coast Guard’s mission, which covers three broad categories: maritime safety, maritime security and maritime stewardship. “We see ourselves as guardians, not warriors,” explains Susan Bibeau, associate director of admissions for marketing.
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Women make up more than one-third of the most recent class, the highest among the academies — females make up 22 percent of West Point’s Class of 2020, for example. And with a student population of about 900, the school vies annually with the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy for the distinction of smallest service academy and boasts a student-faculty ratio of 8-1.
Academics are rigorous, with a heavy dose of science and math. Save for a government and a management major, most options are STEM-related, ranging from civil engineering to marine and environmental science.
Support is baked into the chain of command system, with the entire corps divided into companies, consisting of students from each year. Older students mentor and advocate for the younger ones in their companies, Fagan explains. “We’re there for each other.”
Summers bring opportunities for professional development and training programs, such as the required multiweek stint for sophomores sailing aboard the tall ship Eagle that serves as a seamanship training platform. The experience also helps build leadership skills and challenges cadets’ physical limits — climbing the rigging on a tall ship is no easy task.
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Depending on their year, cadets are required to participate in a mix of training, professional development and academic internships each summer. For instance, last summer, Fagan, a marine science major, did oceanic research in Iceland.
Graduates are obligated to five years of service. The majority are stationed on ships in the Coast Guard fleet, from polar ice breakers to national security cutters.
Most grads focus either on commanding the movements of a ship and what goes on “topside” or on engineering, maintaining the physical plant of the ship. The actual missions of these new ensigns depend on the functions of the teams they’re assigned to, which range from drug interdiction to search and rescue.
Read on to find out what life is like at the rest of the five.
— U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
This story is excerpted from the U.S. News “Best Colleges 2017” guidebook, which features in-depth articles, rankings and data.
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U.S. Coast Guard Academy Makes Students Into Guardians originally appeared on usnews.com
