United States Coast Guard Academy

Student Life

The Corp of Cadets is organized into eight companies which form one regiment. Cadets run the Corps themselves through their regimental chain of command. First class (fourth-year) cadets fulfill roles as Regimental Staff Officers, Company Commanders, Department Heads and Division Officers. Second class (third-year) cadets have overall responsibility for the fourth class (first-year, also known as "swabs") training program. Third class (second-year) cadets serve as mentors, each providing personal oversight of one or two fourth class cadets.

Swabs value their free time with good reason: During the academic year, liberty is generally authorized only on Saturdays from noon until 1:00 A.M. and resumes at 7:30 A.M. Sunday through early evening. As a cadet progresses through four years at the Academy, he becomes eligible for Friday night and eventually some weeknight liberty. Leave is authorized for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break, and for only about 16 days in the summer.

There is a strong emphasis on teamwork at the Academy. CGA offers 23 Division III intercollegiate sports teams, and all cadets are expected to participate in either a varsity or intramural sport each year during two of the three sports seasons. In addition, cadets may join any of the 18 additional clubs and activities, many of which are musical. Then there's the mandatory Cadet Social Program, which has two main components: the Etiquette Training Program, involving instruction of the rudiments of military protocol and proper comportment in any social situation, and the Social Activities Program, involving the planning of activities such as formal dinner dances, mixers, concerts, and pep rallies.

Women have a long and proud history of service in the Coast Guard, and nearly 30 percent of the corps of cadets are female. "I loved the idea of going out to save lives and stopping the importation of drugs," explains a female fourth class cadet on the CGA website. Among the reasons a female third class cadet gives for enrolling in the Academy: "It offers every cadet a great education as well as letting them participate in varsity sports at the college level, which I knew I wanted to do."