Home / Careers / After the Coast Guard

After the Coast Guard

After serving in the Coast Guard, your academic credentials and experience as a leader in America’s armed forces will make you highly sought after in the civilian economy. Your ability to apply initiative, lead others and successfully address technical challenges will open doors to countless opportunities.

CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING GRADUATES

With one of the highest rates of employment and outstanding transferability of job skills, a civil engineering degree brings great opportunity to solve perplexing human problems.

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING GRADUATES

Knowledgeable and skilled in the latest technologies, Electrical Engineering graduates find opportunities in a wide range of careers.

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING GRADUATES

Coast Guard mechanical engineers are well positioned for a variety of careers – from industrial manufacturing to ship builders to entrepreneurs and aerospace engineers.

NAVAL ARCHITECTURE AND MARINE ENGINEERING GRADUATES

With their vast knowledge and experience, NA&ME graduates bring a solid foundation for professional engineering practice outside the Coast Guard.

OPERATIONS RESEARCH AND COMPUTER ANALYSIS GRADUATES

Opportunities for ORCA graduates are nearly unlimited as operations research analysts are increasingly in demand in nearly every industry.

MARINE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES graduates

A solid technical foundation and officer leadership experience gives highly skilled MES graduates abundant and wide-open career opportunities in science, government, and industry.

MANAGEMENT graduates

Management graduates’ skills in managing people, financial resources and information are directly applicable to nearly any civilian position.

GOVERNMENT graduates

Government majors pursue wide-ranging careers – from law, public policy and public administration to intelligence, security studies and international affairs.

Sponsor Family Application

Thank you for submitting your application to be part of the Sponsor Family Program. Your application will be processed in the upcoming week. Coast Guard Academy’s policy on background screening now requires all adults (everyone 18 and older living in the home) who volunteer to mentor, teach, coach or sponsor cadets, whether on or off Coast Guard Academy grounds, to be screened every 5 years. They are required to provide personal information (name, birth date and social security number) for the purpose of conducting a criminal background check.

The Security Officer at the Coast Guard Academy, CWO2 Gina Polkowski, is overseeing this process. Her email is: Gina.M.Polkowski@uscg.mil.

Sponsor Family designations fall into several different categories. Below are the guidelines to help you determine how best to meet the background screening requirement:

If you are Coast Guard active duty you do not need to apply for an additional Background Check. You will be vetted through the Coast Guard system by CWO2 Polkowski.
If you are a Civilian working for the Coast Guard you do not need to apply for an additional Background Check. You will be vetted through the Coast Guard system by CWO2 Polkowski.
If you are non-Coast Guard Active Duty, you are required to provide proof of your current security clearance or National Agency Check that is to be emailed by your Command Security Officer (CSO)/ Security Office to CWO2 Polkowski at Gina.M.Polkowski@uscg.mil.
If you are non-Coast Guard civilian who has a current security clearance or National Agency check, you are required to provide proof of your current security clearance or National Agency Check that is to be emailed by your Command Security Officer (CSO)/ Security Office to CWO2 Polkowski at Gina.M.Polkowski@uscg.mil.
All civilians in the families who are 18 years or older and do not have a security clearance or a National Agency Check are required to be vetted through Mind Your Business, the third party vendor hired by the Coast Guard Academy for the vetting process.

After you complete your application, please e-mail the Sponsor Family Program Coordinator at CadetFamilySponsorProgram@uscga.edu. In your e-mail, you must include the e-mail address and phone number of every adult living in the home. The Sponsor Family Coordinator will then initiate the background check process and you will receive an email with further instructions.

Important things to note:

There is a Sponsor Family Training that is a one-hour training which we ask sponsors to attend once every four years. This training is designed to give you an overview of the program, what is expected of you as a sponsor, and what you can expect from your cadets. This training will also help familiarize you with the cadet regulations onboard CGA. You will be notified via e-mail once the training is scheduled.

The matching process of swabs to families will occur during July and August. Please bear with us and remain flexible through this process. There will be a meet and greet scheduled on Campus, typically in late August. This will give families an opportunity to formally meet their cadet if they have not already done so. Details on this will also be via email.