USMMA path to USCG

USMMA2009
Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:24:49 +0000

shinksha,
You clearly did not read any of my posts. Yes I did make it through KP. And no, I did it without any second chances. The 4 years there were anything but tough. I managed to get through my 4 years with no failed classes, no sits at the “long table”, and served less than 2 weeks of restriction while graduating with honors. The workload was not that challenging; in fact, I willingly overloaded my schedule for the last 5 trimesters to take professional classes such as ECDIS, Fast Rescue Boat, LNG PIC, and others. I graduated with several very competitive job offers. I’m not trying to sound cocky; I was a deckie (not that tough of a major at KP) and I actually enjoyed what I studied.

jasperdog,
You are absolutely correct. I have no data to support any of my claims. These are simply my views and opinions from other people I’ve spoken with. I agree with you that having athletics is a good thing, and results in a well rounded leader. However, this is a D III school, and athletics are obviously not its primary focus. There are a lot of people, whom when asked why they are at KP, respond saying “I was recruited for…”. For one, I think its silly that someone would sacrifice a “traditional” college experience to come to KP to play a sport, especially considering the commitment we have to the government. It appears to me (no data, all anecdotal) that a lot of recruited athletes have been duped into coming to KP because they are told they will have a job that pays 100k+ a year when they graduate. I have heard this from quite a few people. Clearly, they are coming here for the wrong reasons.

I also don’t feel that our higher setback rate had anything to do with the standard being raised. If anything, I feel the standard had been lowered. I don’t think that all the people set back back and who had failed out in 2009 were all for failing classes. I mean, yeah, we had the guys who failed calc and physics plebe year, but it seemed like the vast majority were setback to due disciplinary issues and failing sea projects. You mentioned that “and we indeed as Deepsea alludes felt and often feel the rigor of the program needs to be returned” and I honestly couldn’t agree more with you. I think that is basically what my gripe has been all about. I really feel the quality of the program was a lot better in the day you went to KP than it is now. Besides the fact that the administration has gotten so lax with enforcing policies, or playing favorites (“Cdr” ragin…) that people can get away, or talk their way out of a lot of things. I think for one, the whole system and administration needs to be overhauled. Academic, regimental and other policies need to be actually enforced. For example, there is a girl in 2010 (was setback from 2009) who has yet to pass a single PFA, which is in direct violation of the naval science policy. Its things like that which are embarrassing.

I would like to retract my original statement that graduating KP was a joke (even though at times I feel it was), and I am actually proud to have graduated. I wouldn’t trade the benefits, job placement, alumni network and experiences for any other college. However, I strongly feel that KP needs a lot of work to return to its former prestige.