A friend of mines kid is looking to attend one of the several maritime schools in the country. He doesn’t know very much about the schools, let alone the industry itself. Wanted to get some opinions and let him know, so I can help steer his son in the right direction. Anything will help.

[image] oldman22: Maine Maritime Academy … rumors’ of fraud with some of the endorsement stuff/ license issues This is the first I’ve ever heard of anything like that. Can you elaborate? [image] oldman22: USMMA I would move that significantly higher simply because it’s free.

[image] oldman22: New schedule Freshman year - training cruise Sophomore year - Cadet Ship with MSC Junior year- Cadet ship in industry The senior cruise is necessary because that’s when you get your STCW assessments signed off. Even the SVO kids have a senior cruise they have to do.

[image] cmakin: Whoa, you got that right. . . . . Honestly, I say fondness but… I think the more accurate word in hindsight would be indifference. Even if the experience didn’t help, it didn’t hurt.

Maine Maritime Cruise/Labs/Maintenance is 12 guys standing around watching one guy turn a wrench. How much of freshman cruise is spent mopping the main deck passageway? You do get a cadet ship after sophomore year. The KP cadets always have their signoffs. They need to clean a purifier, tighten val…

[image] W.T.Sherman: They need to clean a purifier, tighten valve packing, start a DG, line up a fuel transfer… They get to actually see this stuff and work on it with the engineers. I think there is a certain level of gaming the system that goes on aboard the training ships as well. They kno…

But they are getting the first purpose built training ship.

[image] Capt_Phoenix: This is the first I’ve ever heard of anything like that. Can you elaborate? During last summer’s cruise the ex-commandant taught a VSO class and sign-off on all the kids VSO endorsement training even though the class on the cruise was only 20minutes and didn’t meet the q…

Gotcha. On another note, I think VSO should have a sea time requirement and giving it to academy grads with no real experience is ridiculous.

I see that VSO courses privately are around ± $500 and last 3 days.

I don’t remember specific sign offs when I cadet shipped. . . and I didn’t sail on any motor vessels until after school, but I certainly did a lot of menial work, and also was allowed to handle the throttles during maneuvering. . . and typical steamship operational stuff.

Best maritime school to attend in U.S.- Need opinions/experiences

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Best maritime school to attend in U.S.- Need opinions/experiences

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