United States Coast Guard Academy Top Questions

I wish I would have known that the lifestyle here gets very monotenous. We do the same things every day. When I applied here, I thought we would do a lot of military activities, but we rarely do. Health and physical fitness is not stressed as much as you would think a military school would.

That I would be owned! There are a lot of different ways to find out if you want to come to the school- you can go to AIM (a 2 week camp, which assimilates life as a freshman), a tour, and once accepted you can visit the school before accepting the appointment by being in a cadet's shoes for 2 days.

I wish I had been aware of how strict the Coast Guard Academy was. There are a ton of rules and they make everyday life less comfortable than most people are used to. The Coast Guard is very much a part of the military so expect to fall in line or get kicked out. The academy has extremely low tolerance for cheating, doing drugs, or drinking under age or to excess. Be advised, survival at the academy is like running a marathon, it is not easy or fun most of the time but in the end it's worth it.

The REAL CGA-

I wish I had known more about Swab Summer (the indoctrination period before your first year) and the extent of the rules and regulations that students are held accountable to.