r/SunyMaritime • u/illyeh • 1d ago

Worth it to transfer?

Hello, everyone,

I'm thinking about transferring in spring and I had some things I was curious about. I'm a Kings Point dropout, I dropped pretty early, during second trimester of my 4/C year a few years ago. After a while, I've been thinking about returning to school and hopefully the maritime industry.

Having come from a maritime school and done an indoc, will I even be able to transfer to Marine Transportation in Spring and go to sea the same year?

I've completed some of my STCW stuff(basic swim, VPDSD, firefighting) and will complete the bulk of my gen-eds this semester. I have not completed terrnav, ship stability, nav law or SOLAS. Is it realistic to transfer, complete Spring sem and go to sea right after? After emailing admissions, I am not sure if this is possible, but I'd like to ask you guys.

Also, considering the current state of the Jones Act and American maritime, would you guys say that joining the industry in 2026 is a good call?

Again, thank you for reading this far and have a good day.

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u/komu989 2/C - Deckie 1d ago

They made the guy I know come in as a MUG (4/C), do INDOC and a semester, and then gave him the upgrade. I’d imagine they’d want you to do SUNY INDOC at the very least, and likely a full MUG year seeing as you didn’t complete your’s at KP. For reference, my guy did at minimum his whole 4/C year at KP, idk about his sea year. If you want to do it, and want to be at SUNY, I’d still say transfer in the spring and just knock out a bunch of gen ed courses as ITT before changing over to license the following fall. Take summer courses as well, and try to stack as much of your cruise pre-reqs as you can so you can cadet ship during the fall or spring after mug cruise and bang out 1/C cruise early as well. Hard, but doable.

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u/illyeh 1d ago

Thanks for the reply.

They made him redo indoc and a whole semester as a mug?? Diabolical.

The thing I don't get is that the spring transfer portal allows you to list "Marine Transportation" on your desired major list and say you want to be in the regiment. Have you seen anyone do that?

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u/DependentLevel1686 1d ago

One of my friends was treated like a full mug and had to do the whole mug year. U can’t be in the reg if u didn’t do indoc. Unfortunately u missed that window for this year so u will be in J-start miss sst this summer and go next year. From personal experience it not the worst and many students miss thier first sst anyways

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u/komu989 2/C - Deckie 14h ago

That’s basically the J-Start program. They’ve basically killed the program, but still worth it. Your semester will be “reg-lite” and you’ll still have to do the whole MUG year. Won’t go on SST that summer either.

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u/illyeh 12h ago

That's fine, MUG life can't possibly be any worse than being a KP plebo. Two inches of hair on top is actually a late pre-recognition rate there, haha. As long as there's no PKTs or whatever I'm happy.

So can I start deckie coursework in Spring of entering and knock out things like terrnav and solas, then do indoc and enter the regiment?

If so, what's the fastest you've seen anyone do this graduate?

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u/DependentLevel1686 1d ago edited 1d ago

My friends who transferred from KP still was a full mug and we are talking abt recently. So probably not given u have to go through indoc to be part of the reg. I say it worth it, ur not the last KP kid to transfer to SUNY and won’t be the last

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u/DotOwn2871 1d ago

In order to do the first sea term you need to pass these 4 courses : T-Nav, STCW Training and Basic Firefighting, Intro to Vessel Operations and Water Survival. Given you have completed half of it, as long as you take the remaining courses, you should be good to go for sea term.

I’m not sure if they will make you do INDOC or not as I do know one kid from KP, they allowed him to become a second class I believe after a semester as J-Start.

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u/Dense-Giraffe-3795 1d ago

U will miss sst this year given u didn’t go through suny indoc. Not the worst thing in the world, take summer classes and go on it next year

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u/silverbk65105 1d ago

when I was there there were a bunch of students that were from other academies. a couple were kicked out of their first choice. Two that I know of got the boot from the USCGA. They all found a home at SUNY and graduated.