Hello, I was recently accepted into the Maine Maritime Academy for Marine Transportation Operations (MTO). I love cruising and everything about it, and one day aspire to be a captain of a major cruise line. My only main concern is the regiment. How demanding is it in terms of physical training etc, I want more of a traditional college experience but also coupled together with the same disciplines the regiment teaches you. I’m trying to find which academy would be the best fit for me and I keep seeing different responses as to what the regiment of Maine Maritime actually entails.
“Traditional college experience” and Maritime Academy, ANY Maritime Academy, are not usually phrases found in a sentence describing education plans.
Animal House and the Deltas may happen on occasion, but once you start grinding in year three or so, life revolves around maritime topics/license prep plans/sea project scheduling, etc
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It isn’t.
Then go to a normal university.
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If you want a more traditional college experience at a maritime academy you should be looking at csu maritime academy. They’re more relaxed with the regiment stuff during the school year and it’s a more traditional college experience in my opinion.
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If you dont mind the Cold of Michigan, Great lakes maritime Academy is even more relaxed than CSU Maritime. I just finished my Engineering License there, and About half of the Gen Eds we have to take are located on NMC Main Campus. No uniform requirement for those classes, and i think we have a formation maybe Once or twice a year unless you go SSO.
if you are looking for a traditional college experience then I’d consider Texas A&M Galveston. Its licensed program is a fraction of the school and has a relatively large marine business/science/biology/engineering program. Those students are non-regimented: no uniforms, formations, or any of that stuff, just college kids.
The licensed program is still para-military regimented, as that is a legal requirement for a USCG license maritime academy program.
Is it a dry dorm/campus?
Yes, there is a bar just off campus there but on grounds is dry and offenders that are caught have to complete an AA style program plus some additional punishments
Usually when these posters say they want a “normal college experience” they mean they want to party, that rules out a dry campus. It doesn’t matter how lax the regiment is, it’ll never be like a normal college. At Maine Maritime you can get in trouble with the school for drinking off campus when underage, even in another county if the school finds out.
I would hesitate to say that it is truly dry, plenty of people get caught and face the repercussions and plenty others don’t get caught. Plus people normally drink off campus there, lots of house parties or bonfires.
Drinking beer in the middle of a blueberry field is a right of passage at Maine
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