The student choosing a career as a licensed deck officer (mate) or a shoreside maritime manager will typically major in Marine Transportation. This major provides a breadth of maritime industry training as consistent with officer licensing requirements.
Marine Transportation graduates have a broad employment field open to them. A wide variety of shoreside management positions await the graduate in maritime sectors like vessel operations, ship’s agency, marine insurance, stevedoring, charter brokering, and federal employment, as well as shipboard employment opportunities.
The MT curriculum includes three practical training experiences: two sea training periods aboard the Training Ship GOLDEN BEAR, and one sea training period aboard a military or commercial vessel. The MT program also requires satisfactory completion of a qualifying examination administered by the U.S. Coast Guard to obtain a Third Mate, Unlimited, Any Ocean license, which is essential to gaining employment as a licensed deck officer on a commercial vessel.
Deck Licenses
Deck licenses issued by the U.S. Coast Guard, in increasing rank, are as follows:
Third Mate, Second Mate, Chief Mate, and Master
An elevation in rank is dependent upon the graduate’s ability to accumulate sea time, typically one year of sea time in each license category, and to pass USCG examinations of increasing complexity and difficulty.