Maritime College-State University of New York

ADDENDUM to Previous Review: — —
VETERAN FRIENDLY: All the DD-​214 avails you is the GI-​Bill (Your EARNED money), and qualify for Day-​Student Status, that’s where it ends. I suggest you wear your military ribbons while in Khakis, especially if you’re a new student on campus. It will save you getting written UP and/​or confrontation (s) by overzealous cadets for failure to run the MUG Path or some other MUG BS.
DRINKING: PLEASE CONTROL YOU’RE DRINKING SPECIALLY WHILE ON CRUISE BEST IF YOU DON’T DO IT AT ALL. YOUR INABILITY TO CONTROL YOUR LIQUEUR WILL BE USED AGAINST YOU BY THE REGIMENT.
CRUISE: SUCK IT UP and «Embrace the suck» — if you a 3^rd class, 2ND CLASS CRUISE; CADET-​SHIP like your life depends on it, then jump straight to your 1^st Class… Suck it up!!! …you’re short.
THIS IS A SCHOOL WITH GREAT POTENTIAL, HOWEVER IN ITS CURRENT STATE, I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS SCHOOL TO ANYONE SEEKING TO ATTAIN THEIR 3RD MATES LICENSE, ON THE GROUNDS THAT THE SCHOOL HAS STRAYED EVEN FURTHER AWAY FROM ITS MISSION by bringing in people in the regiment who have no background in education and/​or stepped foot on a ship or have any understanding of the Maritime industry. Including, hiring more over-​paid administrators (you can find some of their Luxury cars parked near the «Sally Port») rather than hiring more USCG license teaching faculty.
The Regiment just knows how to instill fear in cadets, promote brown-nose’s and demand Blind obedience… that unfortunately is what they call leadership. They are more concerned whether or not you are eating in the TIV in a boiler suits or if you didn’t shave this morning.
At the end of the day & AFTER all uniform inspections and other regimental chicaneries are done; …MARITIME remains a University… a place of HIGHER learning… Academics therefore come first, NOT the regiment. Yet the school spends more resources on hiring CLUELESS military staff to bark at cadets and administrators with nice luxury cars rather than focusing resources on improving and increasing the number of license classes, Labs, Simulators and improving the quality & availability of tutors at the learning center.
Every semester students are clamoring just to get into the license classes they need, and only 35% of the seniors pass the USCG license on their first try.
According to the school’s own announcements, about 220 students graduated in 2013– 2014. Maritime has a student body of about 1800. Thus, that means that about one-​eighth actually graduated.
Moreover, according to NYS Education Department figures:
* 21.8% of entering freshmen graduate in 4 years.
* 36.2% graduate in 5 years and
* 44% graduate after 6 years.
No public record are available on license students VS non-​license students graduating. Including stats on Cadets who were just given a degree and no license because they were forced out by the regiment.
SUNY maritime does not make that info public… I am sure the stats are even more dismal in that regard..

Something is very wrong when that few graduate in a given year… You cant JUST blame students with those numbers.
Also, keep this in mind, that YOU will NOT be able to benefit from the STCW classes you already completed because as a policy the school will not give you any certificate unless you completed the WHOLE program. This School policy is a «Restraint of trade»,” Monopolistic” and just plain unlawful in my opinion. It gives the school too much power which I have seen used more then often… quite arbitrary and capriciously by the regiment and puts you the student/​cadet in a very bad situation should anything go wrong for any reason. You cannot just go to another MARITIME school and finish as you would in any other educational endeavor. The Coast guard does not accept YOUR transcript as proof of completion… Its the Class completion certificate they only except. Also keep in Mind that your STCW course work is only good for 5 years after completion of a STCW class.
With all these factors in mind and with the overzealous regimental staff who seems to CONFLATE Maritime with Annapolis; makes for an educational experience that in my opinion is not warranted particularly given that students have to pay or take up loans (only private loans if you’re a grad-​license student) for an ever increasing tuition to attendant this school.
CAVEAT EMPTOR