A couple things I can't seem to find anywhere.
How are summer billets assigned? Is it by class ranking or dealt like a deck of cards?
Also, what is the criteria for the Commandant's List (silver star)?
Are the Honor's Lists published anywhere? (I see the other academy's lists, but not the CGA)
thanks in advance.
1. In the very beginning of the second semester during Mid-Year Administative Processing week, or MAP week, each class is given training on the various options available to their specific class for training. Then, cadets put in a dream sheet ranking their options by preference. Typically, you can put in for location, type of platform, special programs, etc. In terms of actual assignment, I do believe it is more on the side of a deck of cards as you said. The only exceptions are assignments for special programs, if sports teams are still competing, or other special circumstances. I was lucky in that my third class and first class summers were awesome. 3/c year, I was assigned to Eagle for the 1st half of the summer and sailed to Europe. For the second half, I was assigned to a small boat station in Hawaii. My 1/c summer, I spent 5 weeks on CGC STRATTON out of Alameda, CA and then returned to the academy as summer company staff. 2/c summer is different in that you put in your preference for what cadre you want (Swab Summer, Waterfront, Eagle, AIM, CGAS) and then the 1/c assigned as company staff assign what cadre you get. Cadet Training handles the other summers. A lot of the "going out to the fleet" part of it depends on logistics issues such as patrol schedules and available number of racks.
2. The criteria for Commandant's List is that you must receive over and 82 on your Cadet Evaluation Report (CER) and also must be in the top 12% of your company in terms of your CER score.
3. Honor's lists aren't published anywhere to the best of my knowledge. When I was a cadet, we logged on to your Cadet Portal (ACADIS) account to see if we had earned any stars. Of course, if you knew your GPA and your PFE score, you knew whether or not you earned a star. The blue star was really the only one you had to wait for.