Eng Cadet drop-out rate?

[PeterH]

What is the drop-out rate for new Cadets, does it vary much from phase 1 to 5 and Eng v Deck Cadets?

[bobofinga]

I can't talk too much for engineering , but for Deck i would say its approximately 50% from the number who start to the number who gain their CoC.

[Pilot Chris]

Agree with Bobofinga and from what I remember the engine side is roughly the same, it may be different nowadays in a struggling economic climate where people have a few less work choices and hence a bigger motivation to continue.

[GuinnessMan]

The last official figure that I remember seeing was that only 1/3rd will be remaining at the end, however from what I remember we started with about 130-150 odd and had about 50 or 60 at the end. To put in perspective, when we had our first CMT meeting, we took over the exam room at GCNS, not enough desks so a load of folks were standing. At the end, we were able to get into one of the smaller rooms in the Engineering block and everyone had a seat....

[laura]

I think the first sea phase makes or breaks most cadets (though our deck class lost one on our first day, not very encouraging...), there seemed to be an awful lot of mostly younger guys on the course whose hearts weren't really in it, they couldn't really think of what else they would do and it had seemd like a good idea at the time. Started with twentyish, ended with 13. One left right before orals right enough.

[Pilot Chris]

Laura you are spot on, I think the reason we only lost 50% in our year (Deck and Engine) was that a lot of us were over 19 when we started and thus had done a cr*ppy job in between education and cadetship and it focused the mind on the end game!

[chris]

just like to add that the drop out rate for the shields fd ETO course was 0% for the class of 2010-2013. Hope 2011 and 2012 intakes are keeping up the good work.

[GuinnessMan]

I think the first sea phase makes or breaks most cadets (though our deck class lost one on our first day, not very encouraging...), there seemed to be an awful lot of mostly younger guys on the course whose hearts weren't really in it, they couldn't really think of what else they would do and it had seemd like a good idea at the time. Started with twentyish, ended with 13. One left right before orals right enough.

Aye, we had a lad leave on the first day....

To be fair, this is a good comment. The first sea trip does make or break it for most, however I do still think that there are a number of folks who join for the wrong reasons. We had a few lads within the intake who were there because their parents forced/sent them there and as a result had some of the worst attitudes going. We also had a few straight from school who thought the whole thing was just a paid college course and never took it very seriously. As a result, not many of those two groups were there at the end....

Personally, if I was going to do cadet recruitment, I'd avoid school leavers, I'd be going after folks who were in their early 20's as they tend to be a wee bit more mature (not always though). I'd also run an assessment day of sorts, group tasks, leadership stuff, that sort of jazz....

[Martyboy]

Our class of 27 lost 7 I think.

[size4riggerboots]

Out of our original group of 12, one left after the first college phase, one did 2 weeks at sea and was sick as a dog, one decided it wasn't for him at the end of the first sea phase, one was ill for a lot of phase 4 and didn't like it anyway and one left to marry his girlfriend, leaving 7 of us who graduated.

[bobofinga]

I agree with Guinnessman the ideal age would be +21 , somebody who has experienced life outside of school ... however school leavers who are interested and mature enough will still progress just as well as older cadets.

Myself and 4 other guys on my course joined after School at 18 and finished with CoC's . We started with around 40 people and I think 18 are Officers now.

[YoungMariner]

Strange really, I started at 17 and when I look at the guys from my course who made it to Masters Orals almost all of us were fairly young when we started whereas all the older guys had seemed to have more sense and moved into a cushy shore job within a few years of the cadetship.
I'd be interested to see the figures on cadets coming through, but I'd say the ideal age would be 18-24, people over that age would need to be really determined to handle life as a cadet. Bear in mind, it'll take another few years to get through the tickets and build up experience.
The drop out rate really does need to be addressed, but I think one serious advantage to the HND route is the 6 week basic training the straight to sea to find out whether you are going to waste the next few years of your life.

[EH75]

I think one serious advantage to the HND route is the 6 week basic training the straight to sea to find out whether you are going to waste the next few years of your life.

I'm not sure if they still do that. Pretty sure the guys at my college on that route didn't go away until the same time as the rest of us (ie, after 6 months at college). Might be different for different colleges right enough and I'd probably agree that the sooner you get away the better as a lot of people do drop out when they realise what the job actually entails.

My intake (deck) I reckon the drop out rate was somewhere in the region of 50-60%. Its funny though, there are some people who seem to be really enjoying it who drop out, and some folk who are absolutely useless who make it to the end.

[laura]

Definitely agree that one advantage to the HND route is the shorter college phase bedore getting to sea... but on the other hand the advantage of five months in college first is you're a bit more prepared in some of the subjects and it makes sea a bit less shell shocking, especially given some of the ships you're sent to.

[PeterH]

Do many leave due to not achieving the academic standards?