USCGA or USAFA?

trackandfield08 said:
JINSA: 21 days in Israel with the IDF
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Have they made more room/time for the JINSA trip now? When I did it back in 2008, we had only one Coastie join (but had 16 from each of the big three). He was only able to go because he was a Dec late grad and the schedule allowed it. Sounds like they are making it more available now?

He was one of my main room mates during the trips and was fun to talk to. Would be nice if more were able to make that trip. It was amazing (minus the Israeli super flu I got for a few days).
 
I'm ex-Air Force (not Academy grad) and my daughter has an appointment to USCGA. The major selling point for her was the humanitarian mission and the fact that there are no career options closed to women in USCGA. She will be a government major, too. The Air Force was a great start for me, and I have never regretted that decision. I agree that your daughter is in a very enviable position with two very good options. Best wishes to her.
 
Son also received acceptance from both in 2012

My son received LOA's from both and decided to attend USAFA. He wanted to attend medical school and the only way iwas through USAFA. He's currently double majoring in computer engineering and pre-med and will take the MCAT next year (SR year at USAFA)....
 
Mark Nielsen said:
My son received LOA's from both and decided to attend USAFA. He wanted to attend medical school and the only way iwas through USAFA. He's currently double majoring in computer engineering and pre-med and will take the MCAT next year (SR year at USAFA)....
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Hard to double major in Pre-Med since no such major exists. Are you saying he is just taking the required additional courses (such as biology and chemistry) to meet med school requirements or is he doing a full out second major such as biology or biochemistry?
 
Wow!! My daughter was in the same boat as yours is now. She had both an appointment to USCGA and USAFA. We live near USAFA so we took a trip out to New London to check USCGA out. She too was a swimmer (made State her junior and senior year) and although she wasn't a recruited athlete, CGA really liked her 100 yd free time. She was excited about the possibility of swimming for CGA, but in the end, it was the possible majors at USAFA and the proximity to home that caused her to choose USAFA. However, this fall she is going to do an Academy exchange to USCGA!
 
Mark Nielsen said:
My son received LOA's from both and decided to attend USAFA. He wanted to attend medical school and the only way iwas through USAFA. He's currently double majoring in computer engineering and pre-med and will take the MCAT next year (SR year at USAFA)....
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One of my classmates (and fellow EE) is currently on exchange at west point and wants to be a doctor. He validated a couple classes and is overloading on a bunch of pre-med courses. It can be done here if you set your mind to it.
 
I know I'll be biased, but I want to throw my $0.02 in.

Like T&F, my family is an AF family too, but I was drawn to the humanitarian aspects of the Coast Guard and the ability to execute missions in both peace and wartime. My dream has always been to become an aviator.

Speaking on the academics:

Academics at both schools seem top-notch, but usafa has more of a selection of majors. Of course, this isn't always a bad thing; For instance, our electrical engineers are very proficient in programming (much more so than the other academies) because we have to cram in more information. Broader education. However, our school year is much, much shorter because of how we schedule things. Which means...

Military Trainings

We have a longer training period in the summer than usafa, and ours is more directly related to our mission.

3/c Summer I was on a 378 high endurance cutter and got to participate in a counter drug operation and visit Panama and GTMO. The other half of this summer was spent on EAGLE, where I got to visit London, Iceland, and Halifax. It wasn't easy being on EAGLE, but I definitely grew more and closer to my classmates.

2/c Summer I was waterfront cadre for 3 weeks. I taught swabs how to sail, in addition to my normal duties as a swab summer cadre (training swabs, yelling, push-ups, etc.) It ended up being really rewarding interacting with all of 2016. In addition to that, I sailed colgates for a week, went to a naval conference in San Diego, flew multiple air craft down at our Aviation Training Center, and improved my shiphandling skills on Tboats. I also qualified pistol.

1/c Summer I'm looking at going back to EAGLE for half the time and an Air Station for the other half because I want to be an aviator. I'm excited to spend time with my classmates and 2016 on EAGLE for half the summer and see Air Station life if I'm selected for that program.

As for the law thing it really doesn't matter what your undergrad was in the coast guard; you can still become a JAG. My criminal justice teacher was a government major, but her husband was a civil engineering major and became a JAG. My government teacher was an MES major, but became a lawyer. One of my friends is operations research and is taking the LSAT in the coming months. Undergrad doesn't restrict you for law school.

I think perhaps the best thing about CGA is that you become incredibly close to your classmates and the classes above and below you. There are less than 230 cadets in my class now, and most of us know each other really well. There's something about having to keep your door open till 1600, going through EAGLE together, and going through 4/c year together that really binds everyone. Even the cadets from Air Force and the Mids from Navy who came on exchange here last semester commented that they felt closer to us than they did their own classmates.

USCGA is unique in the respect that your classmates truly become family, something that LITS and T&F will atest too.
 
SamAca10 said:
I know I'll be biased, but I want to throw my $0.02 in.

Like T&F, my family is an AF family too, but I was drawn to the humanitarian aspects of the Coast Guard and the ability to execute missions in both peace and wartime. My dream has always been to become an aviator.


USCGA is unique in the respect that your classmates truly become family, something that LITS and T&F will atest too.
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Learning of your experience and detailed illustration of what to expect from USCGA is definitely the type of input that I find valuable. Thank you for sharing your perspective and I'll make sure that DD takes all this information into consideration. Good luck on the rest of your junior/senior year and may you attain your goal of becoming an aviator and serve our great nation.
 
Packer said:
If your DD has not done a Cadet for a Day visit at the CGA, I would recommend she do so prior to making her decision. My son was set on AFA and had done a visit there and had quite a bit of exposure to AF personnel active and retired. We had to seek out Coast Guard personnel for him to talk to in order to learn more about the CG. After talking with the Coast Guardsmen we found his interest in the CG increased substantially and he did a Cadet For A Day that was offered him. After doing the CGA visit he was really sold on the CG. For him he said USCGA just felt right.

The academy itself was a big part of his decision but I think the bigger part was realizing the mission of the CG. Paraphrasing his words he said the CG does what they train for everyday but the AF trains for what they may never do and hope not to have to do. Also, at this point he thinks he want to do a career and the CG lifestyle had greater appeal to him than the AF lifestyle.

Your DD is in an envious position with a big decision that has no wrong choices. Good Luck!
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We are in the process of finalizing a spring visit to New England in March or April and have her spend 24 hours with a cadet and experience USCGA first hand. Thanks for your input and congratulations on your DS's appointment and choice of SA to attend.
 
lsredmond said:
Wow!! My daughter was in the same boat as yours is now. She had both an appointment to USCGA and USAFA. We live near USAFA so we took a trip out to New London to check USCGA out. She too was a swimmer (made State her junior and senior year) and although she wasn't a recruited athlete, CGA really liked her 100 yd free time. She was excited about the possibility of swimming for CGA, but in the end, it was the possible majors at USAFA and the proximity to home that caused her to choose USAFA. However, this fall she is going to do an Academy exchange to USCGA!
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Would it be alright if you could share your daughter's career path choice and what an academy exchange to USCGA entails? Thank you for your much valued input.
 
SamAca10 said:
One of my classmates (and fellow EE) is currently on exchange at west point and wants to be a doctor. He validated a couple classes and is overloading on a bunch of pre-med courses. It can be done here if you set your mind to it.
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Getting into med school and "going to be a doctor" are two different accomplishments. :) As my DD explained who just got into a program where 95 slots where given to 5000 applicants, there are a ton of students trying to go into pharmacy, dentistry, and a MD program but a lot don't get in.

That said, medical schools actually LOVE to receive applications from students that have a diverse degree like English, business, art history, etc . They don't want a ton of biology degrees which is considered by most as "pre-med".

He needs to do his complete research (going to the source not talking to others who claim to have the answers). There are several unwritten rules as to when classes were taken and where. Being an EE myself and knowing the application process for med school, it's almost impossible to finish a EE and the MD prerequisites inside of 4 years. The EE classes are extremely focused. IT's almost a "vocational" degree and certainly not well rounded. For med school, you have to have a high GPA, do well on the MCAT, and a ton of shadowing hours etc. When/if he gets his EE inside of 4 years and gets into med school, I'll be deeply impressed.:thumb:
 
greentrees said:
I still firmly believe that if there are cuts it won't be to SA grads -- too much money invested in them. Now if SA grad goes onto training and fails that training, then I could see the service possibly saying goodbye rather than try to find a different job for them. I think the SA's and ROTC will just continue to be more and more selective and limit enrollment until things settle out

That said, having a good academic major to fall back upon would be a wise choice.
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Just FYI...a gentleman I met in Baltimore this last summer had a Naval Academy grad son who was in Flight Training at Pensacola. They called his entire group in one day and said "Adiós". Cutting back....his USNA grad status did not help him at all. He is now "out" of the service...they separated all of them...no choice give...waived his academy commitment years and bid them all well. Guy is trying hard to re-up in any service that will send him to pilot training including the Coast Guard. No luck yet. So, service academy grads, may or may not, fare better in any RIFs.

Also...acoording to "dad", the young ensign was doing great with his training...no problems at all, so was not a case of "not doing well"...whole group was "cut" not just this ensign.

So, yes, indeed...academic major and academic work while at any SA is VERY important.
 
MN-Dad-2016 said:
Getting into med school and "going to be a doctor" are two different accomplishments. :) As my DD explained who just got into a program where 95 slots where given to 5000 applicants, there are a ton of students trying to go into pharmacy, dentistry, and a MD program but a lot don't get in.

That said, medical schools actually LOVE to receive applications from students that have a diverse degree like English, business, art history, etc . They don't want a ton of biology degrees which is considered by most as "pre-med".

He needs to do his complete research (going to the source not talking to others who claim to have the answers). There are several unwritten rules as to when classes were taken and where. Being an EE myself and knowing the application process for med school, it's almost impossible to finish a EE and the MD prerequisites inside of 4 years. The EE classes are extremely focused. IT's almost a "vocational" degree and certainly not well rounded. For med school, you have to have a high GPA, do well on the MCAT, and a ton of shadowing hours etc. When/if he gets his EE inside of 4 years and gets into med school, I'll be deeply impressed.:thumb:
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My classmate has definitely done his research and overloaded last semester to take organic chemistry. He mentioned to me that he's taking anatomy courses and organic chemistry II, as well as a few others at west point. IT might be a vocational degree, but EE here at CGA is pretty broad based and we get a lot of exposure to different EE fields.

haha and he has over a 3.7 with all these overloads :eek:
 
hornetguy said:
Have they made more room/time for the JINSA trip now? When I did it back in 2008, we had only one Coastie join (but had 16 from each of the big three). He was only able to go because he was a Dec late grad and the schedule allowed it. Sounds like they are making it more available now?

He was one of my main room mates during the trips and was fun to talk to. Would be nice if more were able to make that trip. It was amazing (minus the Israeli super flu I got for a few days).
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Yeah we have 6 slots this year
 
Son - Double Majoring At USAFA

I stand corrected. Yes my son is fullfilling requirements for a Computer enginnering major and all requirements for application to medical school. He has two advisors at USAFA one for his major computer engineering and another for his medical school requirements. He's also a scholar student at USAFA. Approx 2% of all class cadets are offered spots for medical school and/or dental. You also have to qualify for the school. Evidently they take in your gpa and mcat score to determine acceptance. Currently holds and 3.9 and ranked 7th or so in his class. Also on the Supt's list for several semesters. With a solid MCAT score hopefully a spot for medical school witl be offered....

The bottom line USCGA does not offer student the opportunity for medical school. You could take their enviromental studies major and apply after your service. It's your bill then....
 
Mark Nielsen said:
I stand corrected. Yes my son is fullfilling requirements for a Computer enginnering major and all requirements for application to medical school. He has two advisors at USAFA one for his major computer engineering and another for his medical school requirements. He's also a scholar student at USAFA. Approx 2% of all class cadets are offered spots for medical school and/or dental. You also have to qualify for the school. Evidently they take in your gpa and mcat score to determine acceptance. Currently holds and 3.9 and ranked 7th or so in his class. Also on the Supt's list for several semesters. With a solid MCAT score hopefully a spot for medical school witl be offered....
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lol yes, I'm aware, I went through the entire process as well, two advisers (three including grad school adviser) and all. Usually the med/dental spots aren't filled and they end up with a surplus - almost always due to the fact that there aren't enough qualified med school aspirants to actually fill all the available spots. Based on what you say, sounds like your son will matriculate to a med school, assuming he followed standard "shotgun the crap out of the country and apply to all med schools" route.
 
Mark Nielsen said:
The bottom line USCGA does not offer student the opportunity for medical school.
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With good reason.

The Coast Guard is such a small military branch (smaller than the NYPD) they can't afford to "waste" 4 years of leadership training at the academy on someone they can easily get outside of the academy. They need those ~220 newly commissioned Ensigns to report directly to the fleet each year.

Medical doctors and dentists in the CG come in via the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps and are detailed to the USCG.

If you want to be a doctor, don't do it via the Coast Guard Academy. Become a doctor first, then pursue a CG/military career.
 
I wanted my son to attend - USCGA

Luigi...

Passionate about USCGA...

Do not get me wrong I totally understand your comments. If it were me I would have gone the USCGA route. However, my son has always wanted to serve his country as a physician. His decison to attend USAFA was based upon his chances of attending med school as a straight shot from USAFA.

It was a tough decsion walking away from his offer to attend USCGA. Looking back I know he made the right choice....

Regards,

Mark
 
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