United States Coast Guard Academy Top Questions

What should every freshman at United States Coast Guard Academy know before they start?

Bryan

The most difficult part of the transition to college life is time management. Even with the most difficult high school courses including Honors, Advanced Placement, and International Baccalaureate do not compare to the demands of educators at highly prestigious academic institutions. In order to manage a demanding workload including 4 or more of these classes, you must maximize the use of your time. If you are struggling in a particular field, align your study plan with the professor's office hours schedule and take advantage of their knowledge and expertise. Also, focus more of your time into classes which you are struggling with. If you personally track every grade you earn and continuously track your expected grade in each class, you can easily identify which subjects which need your attention and can also identify how you perform on different types of assignments. You may ace most quantitative assignments, but perform poorly when writing research papers. This knowledge also gives you the ability to plan your future course load to your advantage.

Carla

This college beat me down and built me up into a specific type of student the college believed would be successful at the Coast Guard Academy and in the fleet of the Coast Guard as an Officer. In short, I have developed a new appreciation for every task that I complete daily and a greater understanding of my leadership style.

Brett

Be mature, think about your future and not what you are doing rightnow. Sports are fun now, but they will not get you a job later in life. Go to a school that offers the best academics and that is very prestigious. Always do your best and never limit yourself to lower standards. Be strong, be thoughtful, and be innovative! And most importantly, love the ones who love you!

Jordan

Confidence and believe in yourself is all you need to do transition into college life, especially academy life.

Matthew

I would give myself advice on how to survive swab summer. Because that was tough, I would also tell myself to keep my chin up and be proud of where i was going.

Cory

Make sure you visit the school. Spend a night on campus with other students and without your parentsand see what really goes there. Make sure you ask all the questions you have, no matter how stupid. But most importantly you have to visit the school and do not sell yourself short

Matthew

Don't go to CGA unless you are prepared to give up the normal college experience.

Evan

I CANT USE A SCHOLARSHIP.

Trip

Follow your heart. Stick with your dreams but do NOT be afraid to change it.

Nicholas

When beginning the college application and selection process students should not over or under compensate. This is to say, they shouldn't apply to too many or too few colleges. Students and parents should work together to select a group of colleges to apply to that, should the student get accepted, they are willing to visit and gather further information on. It is especially important that the decison to attend a college not be made without visiting the campus as well as meeting with both students and alumni. Don't rely too much on ratings to aptly depict whether or not a student wil be happy there. Ratings are a good tool to use to decide on which colleges to apply to, but should not be the reason a student attends a particular college.