[QUOTE=SomalianRoadCorporation;104762] Maritime Academy- Pros: 3rd Mate Unlimited, potential career in blue water, cadet uniform, extracurriculars, fun, women. Cons: 9, 10, even 11 out of a months a year either in school or on a ship. ~100k of debt.
Hawsepipe- Work 1080 days at sea (2.95 years) to qualify to sit for the exact same test the academy grad takes. However, after reading through and researching the GoM on here its become apparent to me that a 3rd Mates Unlimited license is essentially going over board (pardon the pun) to work on a OSV or nearshore/Intracoastal.From what I have read, the real “down fall” to not going to an academy is not being able to eventually obtain one of those fancy DP licenses…which I really don’t want to do anyway. Looks like Office Cubicle work. Also, I think the Hawsepipe would allow for more personal downtime with the “even time”, 28/14, etc. schedule. [/QUOTE]
let me start by saying I’m at CMA right now, you’re cons are totally correct your pros are far from. As far as women go, we have what are called maritime goggles similar to beer goggles (Don’t think i need to go any more into this). The blue water fleet is almost non existent. The uniforms and formation at 0720 everyday is a joy!(really there are a pain) but part of the deal. The real pros of the academy are the connections that you can get from the school. the Saying here is its a terrible place to be but a great place to be from. Also, on your hawspipe piece those 1080 days working even time is actually around 6 years, and to become a mate you still have classes and test to take just like we do here.