You’re standing in a recruiting office, or maybe you're just staring at a laptop screen late at night, wondering if you actually have what it takes. Most people think of the military and immediately picture the Army or the Marines. The Coast Guard? That’s the "small" branch. People joke about it being the "Kiddie Corps" until they realize that, statistically, it’s actually one of the toughest branches to join. Honestly, is it hard to get into the Coast Guard? Yeah, it kind of is. But probably not for the reasons you think.
It isn't just about how many pushups you can do in a minute. It’s about a weirdly specific mix of academic scores, medical history, and a background check that digs deeper than your average LinkedIn profile. Because the Coast Guard is so small—we’re talking roughly 40,000 active-duty members compared to the Army’s nearly half a million—they can afford to be picky. They have to be picky.
The Numbers Game: ASVAB and Education
Let's talk about the ASVAB. Most people treat the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery like a standard "pass/fail" thing. It’s not. For the Coast Guard, the bar is set significantly higher than some of its sister branches. To even walk through the door as a high school graduate, you typically need a minimum AFQT score of 32, but if you want to be competitive or get the "good" jobs, you're looking at needing something much higher.
If you only have a GED? Good luck. The Coast Guard limits the number of GED holders they take every year to a tiny percentage. They want high school diplomas. They want people who have shown they can stick with a four-year program. It’s a filter. It’s the first way they start weeding out people before they even get to the physical stuff.
The Coast Guard doesn't just want bodies. They want technicians. Since they operate with such small crews—sometimes a handful of people on a small boat—every single person has to be a master of their craft. There’s no room for the "average" performer when you’re the only person on a cutter who knows how to fix the radar in a 10-foot swell.
The Medical Gauntlet at MEPS
Then comes MEPS. The Military Entrance Processing Station is where dreams go to die, or at least where they get delayed for six months because you had asthma when you were seven.
Medical disqualifications are the number one reason people find it hard to get into the Coast Guard. They check everything. Your eyesight, your hearing, that one time you broke your wrist in junior high, and definitely any history of anxiety or ADHD medication. The Coast Guard is notoriously stingy with medical waivers. While the Army might be handing out waivers for certain conditions to meet high recruiting quotas, the Coast Guard often says "no thanks."
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Why? Because if you’re on a ship in the middle of the Bering Sea, you can't just pop over to a CVS or see a specialist. You have to be "deployable." If your health is a question mark, you're a liability to the mission and the crew. It sounds harsh, but when you're 200 miles offshore, "harsh" is just the reality of the job.
Physical Fitness: It's Not Just About Running
You’ve probably seen the videos of Cape May. It’s the only boot camp the Coast Guard has, tucked away in New Jersey. It’s intense. But the physical entry requirements are actually manageable if you aren't a total couch potato.
For men under 30:
- 29 pushups in 60 seconds.
- 38 situps in 60 seconds.
- A 1.5-mile run in under 12:51.
- The "swim circuit."
The swim is what catches people off guard. You have to jump off a 5-foot platform, swim 100 meters, and tread water for five minutes without touching the sides. If you grew up in a landlocked state and never really learned to swim properly, this is where you’ll fail. You’d be surprised how many people think they can "wing it" in the water. You can't. The water always wins.
The Background Check and Moral Character
This is the part that gets "kinda" tricky for a lot of younger applicants. The Coast Guard falls under the Department of Homeland Security, not the Department of Defense (at least during peacetime). This means their security clearance requirements and "moral character" standards are tight.
Got a few speeding tickets? Probably fine. A felony? Almost certainly a deal-breaker. Even certain misdemeanors, especially those involving drugs or domestic issues, will shut the door permanently. They aren't just looking for "not a criminal"; they’re looking for someone who can hold a Secret security clearance. If you’ve spent your teens posting questionable things on social media or hanging out with the wrong crowd, the investigator will find it. They talk to your neighbors. They talk to your high school teachers. It’s a deep dive into who you actually are when nobody is watching.
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The "Waitlist" Reality
Sometimes, even if you’re a perfect candidate—high ASVAB, star athlete, clean record—it’s still hard to get in simply because there are no "slots."
The Coast Guard is a "one-in, one-out" organization. They have a congressionally mandated ceiling on how many people they can have. If nobody retires or leaves, they don't hire. This creates a "waitlist" effect for certain jobs (or "Ratings"). If you want to be a Health Services Technician (HS) or a Public Affairs Specialist (PA), you might be waiting for a year or more just for an opening at A-school.
Misconceptions: "The Shallow Water Sailor"
People think the Coast Guard is easy because they stay "near the coast." That is a massive misconception. Coast Guard cutters deploy worldwide. They’re in the Persian Gulf, the Arctic, and all over the Pacific.
The difficulty isn't just getting in; it's staying in. The training is constant. You aren't just a sailor; you're a law enforcement officer, a federal agent, and a rescue technician all rolled into one. The mental load is heavy. You might be performing a search and rescue for a sinking vessel in the morning and boarding a suspected drug-running "panga" boat at night.
Why Do People Fail?
Most people fail to join the Coast Guard because of preparation. They underestimate the academic side or they assume their medical history won't be a big deal.
I’ve seen guys who could run a 5-minute mile get sent home because they couldn't pass the swimming portion or because they lied about a peanut allergy. I’ve seen geniuses with 99 AFQT scores get rejected because they had too much debt. Yeah, debt. If your financial situation is a mess, the government sees you as a blackmail risk for a security clearance. It’s all connected.
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Practical Steps to Improve Your Odds
If you’re serious about this, don't just walk into the recruiter's office tomorrow. You need a game plan.
1. Own Your Medical History
Get your records now. If you had surgery or a chronic condition, get the "all clear" letters from your doctors. Don't hide it. If the recruiter finds out later, you’re done. If you're upfront, you can at least try for a waiver.
2. Crush the ASVAB
Don't "see how you do." Study. Use apps, buy the "ASVAB for Dummies" book, and focus specifically on the Arithmetic Reasoning and Word Knowledge sections. Your score determines your job. A low score means you'll be chipping paint off a boat for four years. A high score means you're working on jet engines or cyber security.
3. Get in the Pool
If you aren't a strong swimmer, join a gym with a pool. Practice treading water without using your hands. Practice the 100-meter swim using different strokes. Being comfortable in the water is the difference between graduating boot camp and being sent to the "remedial" company where you'll stay for extra weeks.
4. Clean Up Your Finances and Socials
Pay off those small collections accounts. Stop posting anything you wouldn't want a federal agent to see. The Coast Guard is looking for "High Reliability" individuals.
5. Be Patient with the Recruiter
Coast Guard recruiters are notoriously busy and often handle entire states by themselves. If they don't call you back immediately, it's not because they don't want you; it's because they have 500 other people in line. Be persistent but professional.
Ultimately, is it hard to get into the Coast Guard? Yes. It’s a small, elite group of people doing some of the most dangerous work in the world. They don't want everyone. They want the right people. If you can prove you’re one of them, the rewards—the missions, the specialized training, and the actual "doing good" every day—are worth every bit of the struggle it took to get there.
Next Steps for You:
Check your local recruiting office’s availability. Before you go, take a practice AFQT test online to see where your baseline sits. If you're scoring below a 50, spend at least two weeks studying before you schedule the real thing. Also, start a daily habit of doing 30 pushups and 40 situps every morning to build that muscle memory for the physical assessment.