[Hanyes]

Long story short: I've decided uni life isn't for me and come the end of my first term I'm probably going to be packing it all in. (Fed up with flatmates and I've only made three people I could really call friends. As much as I love the social life I always have to invite myself to things and its really getting to me.)

I was just wondering whether anybody has any experience of looking for or even of apprenticeships in the Merchant Navy (Or civilian roles in the Royal Navy) and if so where should I be looking (a college/university/shipping company?) for paths into a career as a deck officer as a preference. I've not talked to anybody I know about this because it's still in very early stages, but by January I want to be more certain about what I'm doing. I've done a bit of googling but I'm really not sure where I should be looking for this kind of thing.

This was something I was strongly considering before I got swept up in all the UCAS hype of my YOU-MUST-GO-TO-UNI Sixth Form and I never really considered it after that point.

The thing is I don't want to drop out of uni unless I find something concrete, mainly because I love the course and the few friends I have made, but I'm just finding the time I have outside lectures (only 6 hours of lectures per week so quite a lot of time!) is a horrible slog and despite my best efforts to get myself in the library I can't spend more than about 2 hours a day there.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[NotGoingToUni]

Hi Hanyes

Best bet is to approach the merchant navy training companies - try searching for MNTB / Careers at Sea (Merchant Navy Training Board).

This is a consortium of of the training companies that help you get a sponsored course and represent about 20-30 shipping companies each. e.g. SSTG - Ship Safe Training Group represent 30 shipping companies like P&O and Saga.

Best place to start...

[Hanyes]

Thanks a lot, the careers at sea website was very useful and I've contacted a number of companies to find out how competitive places are now, so hopefully by mid January I should have a better idea of what I'm doing. Thanks again

[ConfusedYoungMan]

I'm quite keen on looking for jobs at sea, thanks for the post NGTU