ahoy :-)

[Janner]

Hello all! My name is Eliott, I am 19 and have been accepted onto the FdSc Marine Studies course at Plymouth University starting in September, my main job now is to find a sponsor! Up until February I was training in the Royal Navy to be a Warfare Officer (kind of like deck but with guns!) but had to leave due to personal reasons. I am now looking forward to embarking on a university education and a career in the merchant navy :-) This forum looks fun and helpful and I look forward to meeting anyone who is also going to Plym in September!
Cheers,
Eliott

[RNR]

Re: ahoy :-)

Can I ask mate, why did you not apply to sponsors directly rather than applying to university then having the hassel of finding a sponsor? I don't know anyone thats done it this way :S

[Ash]

Re: ahoy :-)

Can I ask mate, why did you not apply to sponsors directly rather than applying to university then having the hassel of finding a sponsor? I don't know anyone thats done it this way :S

As far as I know the done thing is to find a sponsor and then stick a UCAS application in as I believe sponsorship is one of the main entry requirements

[Janner]

Re: ahoy :-)

Well as I am living in Plymouth I went into the Science Faculty admissions office to enquire about it all and they said you had a greater chance of finding a sponsor if you had gotten a place on the FdSc course. If its a main entry requirement then why have they given me an offer? From what I gathered from talking to the uni the way I am doing it seemed to be the done thing, albeit that I am doing it a little late in the year due to me not anticipating to be unemployed. A lot of companies I have been looking at have not started interviewing people for the September intake yet also.
Thanks
Eliott

[RNR]

Re: ahoy :-)

The way I did it, and the same everyone I know has done it, is to apply directly to the sponsor/training company and then through them they sort out the nautical college/all your training and sea phases as well as a training allowance and general support. Applying to a uni and then trying to find a sponsor seems a bit of a backwards way to do things? Won't this incur student loans and things to pay? If you do everything through a sponsor you come out debt free and with full qualifications :S

[Ash]

Re: ahoy :-)

hey mate, get hold off sstg as soon as possible

I would write out more but I'm about to go on gangway duty (in Damietta, Egypt). I'm on the FdSc in Plymouth too (Also from Plymouth ha) and got sponsored by CMA-CGM.

SSTG are full for deck. They posted it on their website about a month ago. I'm with CMA too and hopefully headed to Plymouth in September

To original poster I got a email off the faculty at Plymouth the other day suggesting that anyone trying to find sponsorship should look up Carisbrooke shipping. Hope that helps.

As far as i'm aware sponsorship for Plymouth is REALLY thin on the ground this year. Spoke to the admissions tutor last Wednesday at their open day and apparently only about 3 or 4 people have sponsorship offers at the minute.

[Tony]

So there is atleast three people with CMA then I'm being sponsored by them too. I've been trying to find out who else is going on the course at Plymouth.

[Lewisscott22]

Why must the important threads start when I go away on holiday!

Both the offer from Plymouth and the confirmation of sponsorship I would say are equally as important as the other. Personally, I do not think it matters which way you do it, however sponsoring companies prefer to get everything set up nice and early. Janner, I wish you the very best of luck with finding a sponsor.

As Turnbats suggested, SSTG may be able to help you - by providing you with some sources as they are full.

I got the same email as Ash, have a look at the company and just go for it. This is what I would do, but it is up to you.

Janner, if you don't mind me asking, who have you contacted about organising something?

Tony, as far as I know Yourself, Ash and me are the only CMA CGM cadets that are planning on going to Plymouth. There are other cadets sponsored by CMA CGM that are going to Warsash.