Coast guard commissioning options

A

Antaine

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Aug 28, 2023
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I’m a junior in high school and plan on applying to USCGA, but looking at other ways to commission if that doesn’t work out. I’ve thought about a maritime college, but as far as I’ve seen it doesn’t seem to be worth it if coast guard is my goal vs maritime jobs in general. I’ve also been looking at AUP at colleges. The two main questions I have are
-is it possible to be enlisted in the coast guard reserves in college, and would that help with getting into ocs compared to MARGRAD/AUP?
-is it a good idea to do army/afrotc and try to switch to coast guard later?
 
Antaine said:
I’m a junior in high school and plan on applying to USCGA, but looking at other ways to commission if that doesn’t work out. I’ve thought about a maritime college, but as far as I’ve seen it doesn’t seem to be worth it if coast guard is my goal vs maritime jobs in general. I’ve also been looking at AUP at colleges. The two main questions I have are
-is it possible to be enlisted in the coast guard reserves in college, and would that help with getting into ocs compared to MARGRAD/AUP?
-is it a good idea to do army/afrotc and try to switch to coast guard later?
Click to expand...
My daughter was in the same boat last year. She was dead set on some path to commission as an officer in the Coast Guard.

USCGA was her first choice and fortunately she got in and is loving it now that swab summer is over. 😂

However her back up plans were Merchant Marine and DCSS (Direct Commission Selected School) schools. There’s a list of approved senior military colleges (SMC) that are eligible. She’s a swimmer and keyed in on schools with women’s swim teams and worked on getting recruited.

So, you basically attend a SMC on the list, become a member of the Corps of Cadets, then apply for DCSS probably your senior year. It’s places like Virginia Tech, VMI, Citadel, Norwich, etc.

It was sort of hard to get a ton of detailed info on the process from any of the SMC schools my daughter applied to just because there are so few officers generated through this path. You figure the CG goal is around 500 new officers each year. The academy creates 250ish, the other half come from all the other sources combined. OCS, DCSS, CSPI, OCS, MARGRAD, etc.

CSPI is a good option too. Catch is you must attend a predominately minority school (there’s a specific list). It doesn’t mean you have to be a minority, just attend one of the schools on the list. Or there’s a process to petition to get a school added to the list.

Here’s some info from Coast Guard Website. It’s down in the military trained section. There was a lot more detail when looking at this last year. They must have updated the website.

Good luck!

Direct Commission Officer Programs | United States Coast Guard

www.gocoastguard.com www.gocoastguard.com
 
Thank you,
Do maritime colleges count for dcss as well because they have corp of cadets? (so I could apply to both dcss and margrad)
 
Antaine said:
I’m a junior in high school and plan on applying to USCGA, but looking at other ways to commission if that doesn’t work out. I’ve thought about a maritime college, but as far as I’ve seen it doesn’t seem to be worth it if coast guard is my goal vs maritime jobs in general. I’ve also been looking at AUP at colleges. The two main questions I have are
-is it possible to be enlisted in the coast guard reserves in college, and would that help with getting into ocs compared to MARGRAD/AUP?
-is it a good idea to do army/afrotc and try to switch to coast guard later?
Click to expand...
Best to check with a CG Recruiter, but back in the day, the Reserves had two programs you may be interested in, the RK (12 months continous AD the active reserves) and the RP ( two consecutive summers, first one boot camp and second one "A" school). You drilled on a weekend, and did your 2 weeks whenever it was scheduled.

OCS back then required either being an E-5 (I think) or having a bachelors degree and serving in the active reserves. College Grads were and likely still are able to apply directly in the senior year just prior to graduation for OCS the following winter. Is there an advantage to being enlisted active reserves and college grad versus direct college graduate? Really don't know that answer, a FOIA request from CG Hqtrs would tell you if it's worth it, but it used to be highly desired to find enlisted college grads with time in service (skills and experience) to go to OCS.

And JMHO, but I would really investigate doing ARMY/ROTC and trying to switch! Most, if not all ROTC programs have ADSO's of three to five years, so it is likely the Army would keep you for those periods, and getting a lateral to the CG as an O-3 would be difficult. Most programs that pay for your training and schooling do not easily just say "Bye, Good Luck in the X" because they lose that money.
 
You didn't indicate how strong a student you are, but if you think you have what it takes to get in then the front door is always easiest: keep re-applying. The Coast Guard Academy likes re-applicants (who improve their app from year to year.) The current director of admissions got in on his third try, and a significant chunk of each class is college re-applicants.

Strive to get in the first time, but if you fail to do so you need to do some things:
  • Later in the spring after receiving the TWE, contact Admissions and ask what was good and bad about your app. They will tell you how to improve it for a second attempt.
  • Pick one of these alternate paths and go to school the following year. Just about any college where you can take a plebe-like schedule including Calculus, Physics/Chem and writing will do. ROTC is a nice garnish. Find ways to lead, get the grades, and stay out of trouble.
  • Improve your app in whatever areas you were deficient. How to improve will depend on what you're good and bad at, so step 1 is important.
Last point: for her fallback my DD had reapplying to USCGA and also applying to USMMA. You can usually choose to commission directly into USCG from there at graduation and it's a little easier to get into. (Caution: it can also be much harder to graduate from, depending on how you handle trimesters and your Sea Year. Read up, as it can be a terrible fit or a great alternative for those who are suited to it.)
 
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