Lots to comment about regarding the above comments. . . yeah, to me, at that time the license was the nut. I didn't even get my diploma for months later since they misspelled my name on the original. . . . As far as which school is better? I think that all depends on the student, more so than the school. I DO believe that the Sea Year program offers a greater opportunity to learn than a school ship, however I also believe that the cadet that is sailing in Sea Year needs to be self motivated to learn. There will be no teachers or support to assist the learning efforts onboard ship. The engineers and mates (Captains, too) may or may not be motivated to take the personal time to make sure that the cadet GETS decent training. In my experience, I was treated like one of the engineers so I acted like one, taking on different jobs as I felt I could handle, and even some that were challenging. Not sure one gets that on a school ship, however there are instructors for support.
When I sailed, I worked with grads from all of the state schools. Some were good, some were bad (one assistant engineer was so bad I was happy when he walked off in Port Everglades. . . good riddance). As a Chief Engineer, I worked with Captains from Maine, Mass, Cal. . . and hawsepipers. Never had a problem with any, but of course the relationship is different between Captains and mates. I only had one assistant that was from KP and the only reason I was friendlier to him than the other engineers is that he was a classmate and we had known each other for years. Out in the industry, I found that people were measured more by how good of a worker and shipmate they were and less by how and where they got a license.
Back to the question. . . if one has to pay for Prep, I would certainly rather do it at a maritime school. . . . as mentioned above, the credits may not transfer but the knowledge will. . . .