Usmma dorms

C

cpkousky

5-Year Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2010
Messages
53
Hi All,

Princeton Review has USMMA under the "Dorms Like Dungeons" category. Is this true? I thought they just renovated all the dorms?
 
KP'ers pride themselves on surviving "the worst" conditions. As I posted in another thread "if you ain't moaning you ain't happy". The dorms are fine, mids continuously like to rate everything at the school as low as possible.
 
What about the awful clanging and hissing of the radiator pipes in the rooms? It's hard enough to sleep w/ late nights, watches, etc without constant interrupted sleep, even if you wear earplugs. Fixing this should come before food, as much as we all like food.:argue1:
 
cpkousky said:
Hi All,

Princeton Review has USMMA under the "Dorms Like Dungeons" category. Is this true? I thought they just renovated all the dorms?
Click to expand...

Well in all honesty the dorms aren't great and never have been. That said they are livable and the price is right. The food is mediocre at best, but it's edible and the price is right. Like every other college and university some of the professors are not great teachers. However, when you graduate, if your experience is like mine was and the majority of people who have followed me in the 28 years since I graduated, amazingly you'll find yourself very prepared to excel and have a career of achievement that provides you with a very good living or even more.

Additionally, while there you will be on a trimester schedule - a trimester is basically a 16 week semester, crammed into a 14 week schedule. You will spend 4 months of your third class (sophomore) year and 8 months of your second class (Junior) year off campus at sea working on a real live commercial merchant ship. At times this will be the absolute highlight of the experience and you'll see the world and assuming you finish look back on it with nothing but good thoughts. However, while you are doing it, you may not be on a great ship (you'll generally be on at least three while you do your sea year), etc. You will be living under a regimental system that is much more military in nature than other maritime academies and for the most part, less so than what you'd live under as a member of student body at USMA, USNA, USAFA, or USCGA, and far, far more "regimental" than what you will generally experience as a member of an ROTC unit at a "normal college or university." So while you are there, you likely won't feel it's a "happy place or time" and like KP2001 indicates in other threads here, you'll probably like to complain about all those things.

Assuming you are one of the ~66% of an entering class to reach graduation from the USMMA you will leave with a B.S. Degree; a USCG License as either a Deck or Engineering officer aboard Merchant Ships, and a Commission, the majority of which are as an Ensign, USNR. You will have received an education worth ~250K and can walk out the doors with all three of the above with zero college debt. Yes you will have a Service Obligation and limits on your employment options for the next 6 - 8 years, but I've always said and still say it's the best deal out there if the traditional post graduation career paths and options are what you think you would like to do in your life.

IMO, As for all the issues that you will read about here, there and everywhere, they generally all have roots in something real and get at least somewhat over-blown by some and at times, too quickly dismissed by others. However, your living with and through all that is , at least to a degree, part of what makes USMMA graduates some of the most pragmatic and mature of any in the world.
 
Jasperdog,

I hope every admissions field representative keeps a copy of your last post in their pocket.

That is exactly what a prospective student needs to hear.
 
Jasperdog

You summed up USMMA perfectly in one post. Some people look for flaws and are never happy. Nothing is ever good enough for them. Others have a more positive outlook and have the maturity to see the big picture. They appreciate what a great opportunity they have at KP and their focus on the future allows them not to worry (complain) about every little thing that is not perfect in the environment around them! It's the difference between being happy and grumpy the rest of your life.
 
I may be mistaken, but I seem to recall reading somewhere that the rooms actually have Air Conditioning now. During my Plebe year, we didn't get to use fans until we earned the "fan privilege" (long after we needed one). Steam pipes banging is just a nature of the beast. I lived in the Fish Bowl in Fourth Company third class year. Coldest winter I ever spent. I don't think any steam ever reached the radiator. All in all, though, the accommodations onboard were far better than some that I had at sea. Noises at night? Even with the water hammer and the traps dumping, the rooms at school were far quieter than anything I sleep in while at sea or offshore.
 
jasperdog said:
Well in all honesty the dorms aren't great and never have been. That said they are livable and the price is right. The food is mediocre at best, but it's edible and the price is right. Like every other college and university some of the professors are not great teachers. However, when you graduate, if your experience is like mine was and the majority of people who have followed me in the 28 years since I graduated, amazingly you'll find yourself very prepared to excel and have a career of achievement that provides you with a very good living or even more.

Additionally, while there you will be on a trimester schedule - a trimester is basically a 16 week semester, crammed into a 14 week schedule. You will spend 4 months of your third class (sophomore) year and 8 months of your second class (Junior) year off campus at sea working on a real live commercial merchant ship. At times this will be the absolute highlight of the experience and you'll see the world and assuming you finish look back on it with nothing but good thoughts. However, while you are doing it, you may not be on a great ship (you'll generally be on at least three while you do your sea year), etc. You will be living under a regimental system that is much more military in nature than other maritime academies and for the most part, less so than what you'd live under as a member of student body at USMA, USNA, USAFA, or USCGA, and far, far more "regimental" than what you will generally experience as a member of an ROTC unit at a "normal college or university." So while you are there, you likely won't feel it's a "happy place or time" and like KP2001 indicates in other threads here, you'll probably like to complain about all those things.

Assuming you are one of the ~66% of an entering class to reach graduation from the USMMA you will leave with a B.S. Degree; a USCG License as either a Deck or Engineering officer aboard Merchant Ships, and a Commission, the majority of which are as an Ensign, USNR. You will have received an education worth ~250K and can walk out the doors with all three of the above with zero college debt. Yes you will have a Service Obligation and limits on your employment options for the next 6 - 8 years, but I've always said and still say it's the best deal out there if the traditional post graduation career paths and options are what you think you would like to do in your life.

IMO, As for all the issues that you will read about here, there and everywhere, they generally all have roots in something real and get at least somewhat over-blown by some and at times, too quickly dismissed by others. However, your living with and through all that is , at least to a degree, part of what makes USMMA graduates some of the most pragmatic and mature of any in the world.
Click to expand...

Excellent post!!
 
jasperdog said:
The food is mediocre at best, but it's edible
Click to expand...

I would think this is an issue at most colleges. VMI certainly had the problem.

My advice to any prospective college student is to make condiments your friends. I became a fan of things like Tabasco and A1 sauce (even on things they were never designed for). Also, being a Maryland boy, I firmly believe that Old Bay seasoning can make anything palatable.
 
Christmas gifts this year consisted of a dry garlic seasoning, and some different bottles of hot sauce and condiments.
 
Bottom line there is nothing wrong with the barracks. 4 out of 6 of the dorms are newly renovated. Granted I haven't been at the academy in 6 months but there really shouldn't be a whole lot to complain about. The barracks were the one thing i really didn't have gripes about except for the half a year without hot water :)
 
Dorms are renovated, look nice and my DS has not complained about them at all. Complains more about the food. : )
 
Our DS is in Company 2 we saw it during indoc they were very nicely updated and very clean. No complaints from our son:wink:
 
Come fix my heater in Rogers. If the windows are closed, it turns into a steam room in my room, and it freezes if the windows are open too long. I also love communicating with my neighbors through the walls because they are paper thin. I guess its smarter to keep rooms empty in nicer companies than to put students in residence in. Classic KP.
 
This takes me back

Oh the pipes knocking... that was something. You get use too it. We figured out early on that adding a cut open pop can filled with water to the inside of the room radiator helped our skin a bit, very dry in the winter. As for the food embrace Ramen Noodles or add seasoning. It really does make a HUGE difference! It's all part of the KP experience.
 
Some barracks are renovated. Some aren't. The unrenovated room was still better than DD's berthing at sea last winter when she had NO heat at all in her room and slept in multiple layers and a hat. No one is going to freeze to death or die of overheating. They'll adapt to overcome. And since this is KP, they'll complain mightily whichever dorm they're in.:shake:
 
As for the food, we had to send many a bottle of Hot sauce, add enough and everything will taste the same.
 
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