I am kind of partial to the Naval Academy and West Point, but I am also applying to USMMA. I know that you are trained in seamanship and driving cargo ships, but how does a commission work. If I attend, I would like to either commission in the Navy or the Army, but is it a typical 5 yr active, 3 yr reserve? Can you attend flight school? What is the possibility of obtaining your first-choice commission?
http://www.usmma.edu/admissions/PDFs/Catalog3.pdf Reading page 3 of the KP catalog is probably the easiest way to explain. Yep, you can go to flight school. You can even become a doctor if you want. Right now, there are kids out there working on seeing more than a dozen countries while learning how to drive every type of vessel that floats on the water. Some of them will not end up on ships after they graduate. They'll fly, they'll go to work for NOAA, some might make the cut to commission directly to Intell, some will go into law. The possiblities being a KP grad are broad. The chances of you getting you first choice? It is what you make it. Life isn't easy at KP. Sea Year can be lonely, academics can kick your butt, but if you end up in the top 20% of your class, I'd venture to say you can have the world. Its hard to predict this question. And this is why..... The more education you receive at KP, the more your eyes get opened to your options. One kid went in saying nothing but FLY NAVY FLY NAVY & ended up sailing. Another went in wanting to be a Naval Officer & three weeks before graduating, he jumped ship & went Army in logistics. His parent's kinda flipped. Had to throw away all their NAVY t-shirts. I recall hearing CG CG CG from my kid for three years. I now hear something about Navy out of the corner of his mouth. The long & short of it is, if you consider KP, you're gonna have alot of choices to choose from. It just doesn't occur to applicants this early in the game that they don't have to settle on one thing & set it in stone. Do your research & try to get hooked up with a KP kid to ask questions. You'll get alot of insight there. Good luck with all the applications!
Many more choices I 2nd everything Jamzmom said. KP offers so many more options than the other FSA's. My son is a plebe this year and he was aware of the options and that's why he appled to KP, but we really did not UNDERSTAND the scope of the options until he actually became part of the Academy. We probably still will find out more as his journey continues. The academics are extremely hard and takes commitment and focus, but if you have what it takes this school is an awesome option and I fully encourage you to apply..
Recently, I met a man whose son had graduated from USMMA in the nineties. The son served in the Navy for a few years and is now a commercial riverboat pilot making $250,000 a year. He just turned thirty.
Not an uncommon thing for a kings point graduate. If you think about the amount you can make the day after graduation. If you sail you are basically guaranteed at least 10 thousand a month the day you graduate. Sail for any period of time, upgrade your license and your pay will increase even further.
Feel free to correct me but the same man also told me that the average starting salary for a KP grad is $87,500. 70% of grads go right into the reserves and the others select a branch and serve active duty. I find it amazing that KP supplies the most Naval Reserve Officers of any commissioning source. Or did he say more than USNA? The reserve commitment is six years. He mentioned that at the start of the Iraq war the US government requisitioned about 200 merchant vessels and KP Reserve Officers staffed those ships.
SEALs? How does service selection work, exactly? With so many choices, do they have billets like USxA or what? How do you go about picking a specific service in a branch? And I realize that my eyes will be opened to other opportunities, but how difficult would it be to obtain a SEAL billet from MMA?
There is no service selection night like at USNA. If you want to do something you go talk to the particular service representative at Kings Point and then work on getting that spot together. There are pathways already in place for the more common things such as Navy Flight, but if you wanted something unusual you may have to do a little legwork to help get that through. Going SEAL out of KP is not common, but is not unheard of. I know there is a 2002 (I think he was '02 anyway, maybe '03) who is now a SEAL so it can be done. The main thing with that is to get the testing done so you can select for BUD/s. I would doubt that it would be difficult to get out of KP if you are qualified simply because nobody else would want it.
How competitive and how common are USCG commissions at KP? Is it really possible to sail on a CG cutter during Sea Year, and if so how does that work? Thanks
I will leave a more detailed answer to perhaps KP2001 when he's a free minute. But I can tell you that there are not many that go CG coming out of KP. I'll dig up the numbers & get back to you tomorrow. I think it was less than six this last year's graduation. The majority go Naval Reserves. If you should end up at KP, you will have options of going CG active duty -or- CG Reserves. There is a CG Officer who posts here, and he has had a KP Midshipmen on his Cutter. Cool stuff Morf. Keep doing your research on KP! Will add more later.
I'm glad to see JM post in here on the CG subject, I figured she would have the latest and greatest on that. I'm not too sure on the CG cutter for sea year, but JM appears to know of recent midshipmen doing so. As like most things at Kings Point, if you can set it up and it is reasonable it will most likely get approved. As she noted there are only a handful of graduates who decide to go to the Coast Guard each year. I would say my year was less than six. I do not think it is difficult to get the a commision in the Coast Guard out of Kings Point as there are so few going that route. There is usually a Coast Guard Liason at the Academy who sets things up for the midshipmen to make their lives easier.
CG from KP Been a while since I've been on......sorry! My son is a plebe at KP and is researching CG from KP. He wants to fly for Coast Guard, and he was told by the KP Coast Guard rep that there are no "flight" positions out of KP. You have to go active duty then apply to the flight program like everyone else. The same is true of getting Cutter Duty directly from KP. The CG rep also pointed out that the needs of the Coast Guard change from year to year, and this year 08 they are looking to fill Vessel examiner spots...several years ago it was engineering and who knows by 2011 it may be flight. However, once can take a commission in the CG from KP and then go from there. Additionally, he was told that during 2C sea year he could get time on a cutter if that's what he wanted, or go to Kodiak Alaska and do intern at Helo there (others have done this).
