How are the dorms at the Coast Guard Academy?

I'm curious about living on campus at the Coast Guard Academy. If anyone has experience or information about the dorm rooms there, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Are they comfortable? Do they have everything needed?

Sure, let's talk about the dorms at the United States Coast Guard Academy. Students at the academy like to call the dorm rooms "racks". This is a bit of an old tradition since, in the fleet, sailors sleep in beds that we call "racks."

At the USCGA, all of the students (or cadets, as they're referred to at the academy) live in Chase Hall, which is the barracks. It's designed with a boiler system for heat, which can often make rooms extra toasty in the winter, and there's limited air conditioning, so the summer months can be quite warm. Bringing a fan is highly recommended!

Cadets live in a range of double, triple, or quadruple rooms. As you might expect, it's not spacious, but it's clean and efficient, and includes a wardrobe, desk space, and plenty of shelving. One thing worth noting is that they have community bathrooms, and cleaning duties are shared among cadets.

Dorm life is collectively known as "squad bay" living because all of the cadets on a hall live and work together closely and everything is done as a team. It's not unusual to see doors open and cadets hanging out in each other's rooms. The close quarters mean that cadets form very strong, close bonds with their classmates.

There is required room inspection daily from Monday through Saturday-morning, where cadets are expected to have a clean, orderly room, so that's something to keep in mind! Also, first-year cadets (swabs) have to go through a stricter protocol with less freedom than the seniors, which is typical for a military academy.

So, while it might not have the typical luxuries of some college dorms, most cadets find the living situation comfortable and appreciate the camaraderie that comes with living so closely with their classmates.