Choosing Major and Job

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TautCasualty

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Hello,

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I am wondering how much control I will have in what major I will do and what type of job I will end up doing in the Coast Guard. For instance if I want to do cybersecurity would I be able to select the major of Cyber Systems, and what are the chances I end up in a role that involves cyber security.

Thank you for any help!
 
When you apply you list a first and second choice for major. Assuming you get an appointment you'll be placed in one of those 2. It's possible to change majors but not guaranteed. You have to apply for that at the end of your 4c year.

Around March of your 1c year they announce the billets for after graduation. It's based (mostly) on class rank. A handful of billets (e.g. flight training) are based off an interview too, so its possible for a class rank of 75 to het it when someone with a class rank of 20 doesn't. Generally though if you want a billet closely aligned with your major you need to be near the top of your class.

If you don't get the billet you really wanted, second duty assignments (after a couple years in) may let you move to that more desirable assignment if your performance warrants it.
 
Northwoods said:
When you apply you list a first and second choice for major. Assuming you get an appointment you'll be placed in one of those 2. It's possible to change majors but not guaranteed. You have to apply for that at the end of your 4c year.

Around March of your 1c year they announce the billets for after graduation. It's based (mostly) on class rank. A handful of billets (e.g. flight training) are based off an interview too, so its possible for a class rank of 75 to het it when someone with a class rank of 20 doesn't. Generally though if you want a billet closely aligned with your major you need to be near the top of your class.

If you don't get the billet you really wanted, second duty assignments (after a couple years in) may let you move to that more desirable assignment if your performance warrants it.
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Thank you for the help! I have two follow up questions:

Do you know if you got the appointment before you lock yourself in?
How competitive is the Cyber Systems major and Cybersecurity appointments?
 
When you apply, you list your first and second choice for major. I believe when you receive your appointment, it tells you what major you have been accepted for (as Northwoods said - you can apply to change majors your first year, but not everyone gets that approved). The advice from the admissions officer for our area it to apply for the major(s) you would do best in. So, if you are on the cyber team at school and you love everything cyber, that will shine through in your application, and will help make you a stronger candidate to receive an appointment for that major. Cyber majors have an opportunity to apply for a cyber intership between your Junior and Senior year - I believe several cadets did their 1/C summer in DC at CG Cyber Command. Upon graduation, a majority of cadets will go to a cutter, but there are a handful that get selected to go an ashore billet like cyber or prevention. Billet night is coming up on 6 March. The stats are usually posted somewhere on the forum afterwards so you can see how many were selected to go direct to a cyber billet.
 
TautCasualty said:
Thank you for the help! I have two follow up questions:

Do you know if you got the appointment before you lock yourself in?
How competitive is the Cyber Systems major and Cybersecurity appointments?
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You get your major assigned when you get the appointment. So you're pretty well locked in by then.

When it comes to changing majors there are some it's relatively easy to change (e.g. between mechanical engineering and NA&ME) and others you are less likely to get approved (anything STEM into business or government).

I have no idea how competitive cyber is as either a major or for billets.
 
I believe that, like flight school, cyber billets (as first assignments after graduation) are also considered "special". I believe they also require interviews, and aren't strictly decided by class rank.

You ask about your chances to be accepted as a Cyber Major. I don't have the answer, but last year, Capt Fredie did a Lunch & Learn, where he talked about choosing an incoming class. He said that the only real area where they missed their goals last year was in the Cyber Team. I don't know what this year's class looks like, but it sounds like they want more cyber majors.
Here's the full link to the Lunch & Learn (which has been posted before):
April 18, 2023: A Conversation with CGA Admissions Director, CAPT Michael Friede
 

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TautCasualty said:
Thank you for the help! I have two follow up questions:

Do you know if you got the appointment before you lock yourself in?
How competitive is the Cyber Systems major and Cybersecurity appointments?
Click to expand...
I think there is some variation on the timing of appointments vs major assignments. My daughter received an EA appointment for 2027. She didn’t find out anything about major assignment until sometime in the spring. I imagine they needed to see how the class was shaping up before locking anything in.
I imagine it could be similar for an early RA appointment as well. I would guess later RA appointments may find out their major at or near the same time.

My daughter is a cyber major. It was her #1 and ORDA was her #2. She actually was assigned to ORDA initially. She emailed her AO politely asking if there was any chance of getting Cyber since it was her first choice, fully understanding if the needs of the service dictated otherwise, it was fine. He said it was possible and made the request for her. Lo and behold, after swab summer, during CAP week, she found out she was Cyber!

I believe Cyber is getting rather competitive. In talking to various people, my understanding is that over the last few years, being a newer major, it was desirable for applicants to request cyber as they were trying to build the program. I feel like now that it’s more established, the level of competitiveness is on the rise. Again, I’m no authority, but this is based on info I have gathered.
 
No one knows for sure, but speaking to graduates in 2021, 2022 and 2023 they estimate cadets assigned to Cyber were in the top class rank. They believe all cadets receiving a cyber billet were ranked 35 or higher, making it very competitive in an average class of 270. I believe for 2024 an interview was added to the process. This could affect future billet assignments beyond class rank.

Interesting part: As an cyber officer I'm told you don't sit at a terminal and do cyber. You manage cyber expert staff and cyber specialists. Some folks don't understand this. Cyber officers do a lot of planning, personnel actions, paperwork, etc. just like all junior officers. So, I think cadets interested in being cyber officers need to understand cyber at a high level, but will be supervising and managing folks who know much more technical aspects.

In other words, Ensigns and Lieutenants in cyber don't sit around coding and pinging firewalls, etc. they have staff for that. They lead and manage similar to all junior officers.
 
Haveaniceday said:
In other words, Ensigns and Lieutenants in cyber don't sit around coding and pinging firewalls, etc. they have staff for that. They lead and manage similar to all junior officers.
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And that's the case with many officer roles. The guys jumping out of the helo? All that cool shooting machine guns at speedboats and driving those boats into the surf? That dude beating on the submarine with his fist? Enlisted, enlisted and enlisted. Other than pilots, most officers are not doing the awesome Youtube stuff. Always keep in mind that you are making those people as effective as possible, not necessarily being one of them. it's important work, but not the same.
 
ProudMom7 said:
I believe that, like flight school, cyber billets (as first assignments after graduation) are also considered "special". I believe they also require interviews, and aren't strictly decided by class rank.

You ask about your chances to be accepted as a Cyber Major. I don't have the answer, but last year, Capt Fredie did a Lunch & Learn, where he talked about choosing an incoming class. He said that the only real area where they missed their goals last year was in the Cyber Team. I don't know what this year's class looks like, but it sounds like they want more cyber majors.
Here's the full link to the Lunch & Learn (which has been posted before):
April 18, 2023: A Conversation with CGA Admissions Director, CAPT Michael Friede
Click to expand...
 
The information on the slide in Post #6 is interesting. VA, which has a population of 8 million, had the most appointments of any state with 48. MA, where I am from, and which has a substantial USCG presence and a population of 7 million, only had 9 appointments.
 
Sully16 said:
The information on the slide in Post #6 is interesting. VA, which has a population of 8 million, had the most appointments of any state with 48. MA, where I am from, and which has a substantial USCG presence and a population of 7 million, only had 9 appointments.
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It's really hard to draw meaningful conclusions from that data. We would really need number of applicants too (by state, and by major) in order for it to be really valuable.
 
Yes, it would be interesting to see how many applicants there were by state vs. the number of admissions. Also, it could be cyclical; maybe last year MA was overrepresented. But if you look at the states with larger populations like CA, NY, TX, and FL those states have a large number of appointments, which makes sense. States with small populations and/or inland states that probably don't have much if any USCG presence have 0 to a handful of appointments (generally). MD and CT also did well last year with appointments, given their relatively small populations.
 
There's 2 ways to look at that data if broken down to appointments per million population. A) States that are high are relatively easy to recruit from so any one kid from those states is less likely to get an appointment. B) the CGA for whatever reason favors those states so you're more likely to get an appointment.

Trouble is, both interpretations are equally viable unless you also know about the numbers of applicants. And, really, you'd need to know the number of applicants that met the standards to get past the very first round of reviews. Because those that don't even make it past the very first screening wouldn't have made it in even if they were from ND.

FL got I think around 4 appointments per million population. Washington got about 1 per million. Did Florida have more (or less) than 4x the number of applicants per million? If WA had, say, 10 applicants per million, and FL had 20, it's much better to be from FL. But WA had 3-4 and if FL had 30 applicants per million population its much better to be from WA, if you're trying to maximize your chances.

Of course you'd have to be quite wealthy to be able to afford to move to some state just to game the system for the sake of getting your kid into a particular school.
 
The mid Atlantic and New England receive more applications than the mid west for example. Maryland is the home of the Naval Academy and many prospective cadets apply to both schools. Areas close to major military bases also have high application rates such as Norfolk and San Diego. The USCGA could potentially fill all of its openings with students who are from New England and the Mid Atlantic. A highly qualified student from Wyoming might have an advantage to an equally qualified student from Annapolis MD. This is just the reality of the constraints that the admissions department deals with as they attempt to assemble an entering class of qualified cadets who represent the nation geographically while also ensuring that the athletic programs are supported. Admissions has a tough job with multiple constraints
 
StPaulDad said:
And that's the case with many officer roles. The guys jumping out of the helo? All that cool shooting machine guns at speedboats and driving those boats into the surf? That dude beating on the submarine with his fist? Enlisted, enlisted and enlisted. Other than pilots, most officers are not doing the awesome Youtube stuff. Always keep in mind that you are making those people as effective as possible, not necessarily being one of them. it's important work, but not the same.
Click to expand...
The guy beating the narco sub with his fist actually was an LT. So that's pretty cool.

Here is the clip from San Francisco fleet week 2020 when he was interviewed (skip to 6:37)

 
It's not a per capita thing. There's no requirement to draw from all 50 states much less draw proportionally. Application numbers are loosely correlated with USCG presence, which is why smaller states like AK, HI, SC and AL are always so well-represented.
 
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