Figuring out Major

[DesertGuy]

Hi All,

My DS has a nomination to USMMA from his Senator. We’re taking a trip to KP end of March to visit as he’s excited to get eyes on campus and see if it’s a good fit for him. And of course hope he gets an Appointment.

For those of you attending or past graduates, how did you decide what you wanted to do after graduation? He’s interested in Shipyard Operations, but also interested in active duty with the Navy & going to Nuclear Power School. Do they have that first year to explore options or must they be decided Day 1? Thanks for any input.

 

[beyond]

KP breaks down into two tracks - deck (boat driving) or engine (boat engines)... your first tri you take a survey course that gives exposure to both, after which point you're locked in on deck vs. engine. For active duty, you can be on either track and have almost every job open. Being an engineer makes more sense if you want to be a nuke, but I have a classmate who just finished a tour teaching at Nuclear Power School who was a deckie...

You don't have to decide on what you're doing after graduation until graduation, maybe a little earlier if you're trying to go on active duty.

 

[StPaulDad]

KP breaks down into two tracks - deck (boat driving) or engine (boat engines)...

I've heard this for years and but never thought to ask: what about port mgmt? I understand that the coursework probably falls along those two lines, but the web site describes five programs: Transportation, Logistics/Security, Engineering, Engineering Systems, and Shipyard Mgmt. How do they map to Deck or Engineering?

 

[cmakin]

Hi All,

My DS has a nomination to USMMA from his Senator. We’re taking a trip to KP end of March to visit as he’s excited to get eyes on campus and see if it’s a good fit for him. And of course hope he gets an Appointment.

For those of you attending or past graduates, how did you decide what you wanted to do after graduation? He’s interested in Shipyard Operations, but also interested in active duty with the Navy & going to Nuclear Power School. Do they have that first year to explore options or must they be decided Day 1? Thanks for any input.

Well, the purpose of the Academy is to graduate mates and engineers to sail in the US Merchant Marine. . . . of course there are other options available, but that is the primary purpose.

 

[beyond]

Transportation, Logistics/Security,

Deck.

Engineering, Engineering Systems, and Shipyard Mgmt.

Engine.


It doesn't really matter THAT much which major you pick within deck or engine. If you're the industry you know that the coursework is pretty similar, if you’re not then you can't really appreciate the differences anyway. When I look at a resume I want to figure out if you were a deckie or an engineer and what you've done since graduation.