Each spring some 280 students are selected from an applicant pool fifteen times that size to report to the U.S.C.G.A. for a "swab summer" of introductory training. After four years of subsequent study and training, approximately 180 cadets will graduate with a B.S. degree and be commissioned as ensigns in the Coast Guard, to begin serving their five years of obligatory duty. The academic programs stress the sciences and engineering, but a wide variety of courses of study are available. Additional military training and leadership development are interspersed with schoolwork, with a view toward producing young officers of integrity and character with the requisite professional skills to enable them to best fulfill their future roles in the Department of Homeland Security.