I would REALLY love information on this. My DS does not seem to know if this is an option or not. Apparently it is written as an option on some paperwork but he cannot recall anybody at KP talking about it. I, for one, am extremely frustrated with this whole process. ...
It can and is indeed frustrating, especially for the midshipmen. I personally don't know the status of wether or not "Shopper" is or is not available to midshipmen in the class of 2015. The online catalog still says 6 majors are available but only lists 5 (five) of them. I was looking just the other day when a prospective candidate was asking about choices of majors while trying to consider that in their decision to pursue an appointment or not.
This lack of clear, consistent, and correct information relative to the Marine Operations and Technology Major aka Shopper is unfortunately NOT a new issue. My DS is 2012 and is a "shopper" - these sorts of partial and disinformation were no different then than now. When he was thinking about it (major selection), he and several and his class were told, I don't know how or by whom, that if they started "Shopper" they might or might not be able to take their QMED. Further over the 3+ years as he's tried to find out from the USCG what he would have to do, if he wanted to upgrade from QMED and take a Third A/E License (how many days he'd have to sail as QMED) the answer has changed. For reasons along the lines of deepsea's advice he decided he didn't care wether or not he'd be able to get the QMED or not and still chose "Shopper" -
for him, he still says, now hopefully just 9 months from graduation, it was the right choice.
Keeping in mind that the requirements to take and get the QMED (Qualified Member of the Engine Department - highest unlicensed rating in that department) and both the Third mate and Third A/E are not set by Kings Point but rather by the USCG in accord with IMO (International Maritime Organization) Treaty and Rules, and apparently there has been some sort of review and debate about such things over the past couple of years AND it takes forever to get the minimum 33 required nations to change or implement and IMO rule/treaty change; this whole licensure question might be understandable and overlooked. HOWEVER why the Academy, especially the Dean and the two responsible Academic Departments cannot provide timely, consistent information to the student body relative to what, at least in my own son's view, has been an excellent choice to take as a major - for all the reasons deepsea cites above -
and has not been able to do so for over four years -
is beyond comprehension to me.
Additionally on this subject I also offer:
As far as being afraid of the Engineering curricula and letting that or the usual wive's tales and fear mongering as to what major any midshipmen should or should not take ... like deepsea I offer the following points, experiences, and beliefs, consistently:
1) Looking back "over the transom" at the career choices and experiences of myself and my own classmates now 28 1/2 years out of KP: without a doubt at least 90% of the 254 graduates of our class has and continues to have successful careers and most if not all of us have continued to have great opportunities, regardless of whether we graduated "deck, engine or dual" (back in "our day" because the license requirements were different we had "dualies" instead of "shoppers").
2) Unless a midshipman is already struggling in the so called "plebe killers": Calculus and/or Physics; if they had reasonable aptitude (e.g. SAT scores, etc.) and grades in math and science in high school; if they want to "go engine" I wouldn't let the "be careful or you'll fail out" chant drive them away from majoring in engine. If they "enjoy" or want to be an engineer, sure if the math "scares them" maybe I would opt away from Marine Engineering Systems and take straight Marine Engineering but I wouldn't go for a deck major if that's not something I wanted to do. (I was deck).
3) Conversely, if I was interested in being a "deckie" I wouldn't let the thought about what post sailing career choices I might or might not have with my USMMA BS degree drive me to "go engine". If I look at those 15-20% of my own and really any KP class I know the details of who go on to become "wildly successful" the distribution among deck,engine, shopper and/or dual seems to me to be pretty much statistically evenly distributed. I think this is because most folks are better at things they enjoy/like and vice versa than things they don't AND to get into AND graduate from USMMA: isn't easy, generally takes folks smarter than the average bear, AND teaches you nothing if not persistence and some degree of intellectual discipline - so even us "stupid deckies" with degrees that only equip us to look out of the windows of ships and not run into other ships somehow usually find our way through life at least "okay". (Pardon the preemptive defensive jab at the likely plethoria of "go engine" or you might starve comments, I envision some might make here.)
It is indeed unfortunate that the Class of 2015 is being pressed to select majors before the end of the first trimester and before they have ALL taken KP100 completely. It's also a mystery to me how and why Instructors assigned to teach KP100 aren't given some sort of profile "test"/interview by the dean and the information they need about all five or six available majors to make sure they could help the Plebes understand their options completely. Given the changes from year to year in some of these items, this is something that if they go to their Company Academic Midshipmen Officers/Advisors (or whatever is the right term for those folks now) that too may or may not be useful or helpful. That's why I personally, really think this should be the primary purpose for making everyone take KP100 completely first before having midshipmen select majors.
In closing though, given the frustration is rooted in lack of good information, which I think is at least a fair criticism in this case, I'm not sure any of our answers/comments on this subject will actually help parents or midshipmen in the Class of 2015 when making this current choice -
and that is the real crying shame here.