<p>taffy: none too subtle with the "maybe an alumni could help" seeing as though I think I'm the only one around here, haha. I'll try to answer all the questions for you.</p>
<p>1)Graduation options: Too many to write, but I'll try. 1st choice you have to make: Military Vs. Civilian. Military = any branch of the military including active national guard units and NOAA. Civilian = anything maritime related, if you can relate it strongly to the maritime industry you can probably do it. Sailing, port operations, chartering, brokering, ship building - a short list of what is out there.</p>
<p>2)Could you choose the type of ship: Yes, if you want to work for the cruise line, apply to the cruise line, they don't have any other ships, haha. If you want to work on a tanker apply to a tanker company, etc. You can also join one of the unions. With the unions you usually just take whatever job is out there. You can have a "wish list" though. With tankers specifically you need an additional endorsement that you can get while at KP. If you don't have the Tankerman PIC endorsement on your license you probably won't sail on tankers.</p>
<p>3)KP Help finding job: ABSOLUTELY! Tons of companies come to campus to recruit. During your first class year you can spend pretty much every night interviewing with different companies. For me specificially I interviewed with a company called ADM. After my initial interview at KP they then flew me out to St. Louis all expenses paid for a secondary interview. That is pretty much the usual. The school will let you out of class to go on interviews. The job placement rate at the time of graduation is darn near 100% every year.</p>
<p>4)What was the pay: I sailed for the union American Maritime Officers on oil tankers. This union is usually considered the one that pays the least. My pay was exactly 10,000 dollars a month. I still live off some of that savings 4 years later.</p>
<p>5)Do grades get you more offers: Yes and no. Grades probably matter more for grad school offers or something like that; however, a good GPA is never a bad thing and it probably did help in some cases. Most companies know that if you graduate from KP you've got the goods. Now if two applicants are exactly alike except for GPA they will probably take the higher GPA. For sailing jobs it really doesn't matter at all.</p>
<p>5)Year look like: I hope you're referring to after graduation because that's what I'll give you. If you work for a union it's pretty much up to you how much you want to work. My job was 3-4 months on followed by 3-4 months off. If you work for a company sailing then your schedule is determined by then. Basically each job on the ship is filled by two people and you rotate with that person so you can work things out. If you need more time off and they are willing to stay longer well then you get more time off. If you need to work more for some financial reason or trying to hide from the "authorities" then you can probably work more. Vacation time is vacation time to do whatever the heck you want.</p>
<p>6)Time off: I mostly sat around my parents house doing nothing, haha. Oh well I bought lots of goodies (always a big spending spree the first week off the ship). Most people travel around to visit their friends or just travel the world. Some take classes, basically it's up to your own imagination. If you wake up wanting to go to Brazil that morning well then you buy your ticket and go to Brazil, you got the money so it's no worry.</p>
<p>7)Naval Reserve Obligation: This is seriously one of the best kept secrets of the whole deal. It turns out to be a two-week paid vacation to wherever you want to go in the US. Your first duty after graduation is a required Ensign Indoc course type deal where you go learn about your future in the reserves. This is usually held out in california (San Francisco area) for two weeks. After that year you are free to choose where, when, and what you want to do from a list that is published on the MMR program website. Unfortunately I think it's password protected or I'd link it for you guys. If you are sailing you simply set it up for a time you're on vacation. There are offers throughout the year. Your requirement is two weeks of active training a year. No weekend a month requirement(see below).</p>
<p>8)Reserve Branch Selection: Yes, you can select what branch of the reserves you would like to enter. The only caveat being that only the Navy MMR program has the two weeks a year only option. All of the other services will require you to do a weekend a month and two weeks a year. If you are sailing this would be difficult to do. In the Navy you go into what is called the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), in the other services you would go on what is called the Selective Reserves (SELRES). You do have the option of doing SELRES in the navy if you want. Most from our program would go into Small Boat Unit reserve units; which are basically the people who drive the cool SEAL boats or do Riverine type stuff. </p>
<p>Overall you can do whatever it is you want to do as long as it relates to the Maritime industry. There are a world of options that I couldn't even begin to write out or even imagine. The "Kings Pointer" is a good read and a good way to get an idea of what alumni are doing. Don't worry about the personal injury lawyer ads, I think most of those are directed towards the older generation who had to deal with things like asbestos and the like.</p>
<p>Hope this answered most of your questions.</p>