Unlike the other service academies, admission to the academy is based solely upon merit and does not require a congressional nomination. Students are officers-in-training and are referred to as cadets. Tuition for cadets is fully funded by the Coast Guard in exchange for an active duty service obligation upon graduation. Approximately 250 cadets enter the academy each spring with about 200 cadets graduating. Graduates are commissioned as ensigns. The academic program grants a Bachelor of Science degree in one of eight majors, with a curriculum that grades cadets' performance upon a holistic education of academics, physical fitness, character and leadership. Cadets are required to adhere to the academy's Honor Concept, "Who lives here reveres honor, honors duty," which is emblazoned in the halls of the academy's entrance.

The academy's motto is Scientiæ cedit mare, which is Latin for "the sea yields to knowledge" (the trident, emblem of the Roman god Neptune, represents seapower).

The roots of the academy lie in the School of Instruction of the Revenue Cutter Service, the school of the Revenue Cutter Service. Established near New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1876, the School of Instruction used the USRC Dobbin for its exercises. With changes to new training vessels, the school moved to Curtis Bay, Maryland in 1900 and then again in 1910 to Fort Trumbull, a Revolutionary War-era Army installation near New London, Connecticut.

The modern academy dates to the 1915 merger of the Revenue Cutter Service and the Life Saving Service, which formed the modern Coast Guard. The town of New London donated its current location above the west bank of the Thames River in 1932. In 1947, the academy received as a war reparation from Germany the German barque Horst Wessel, a 295-foot tall ship which was renamed the USCGC Eagle. It remains the main training vessel for cadets at the academy as well as for officer candidates as the Coast Guard's Officer Candidate School, which located on the grounds of the USCGA.

Unlike the other service academies, admission to the USCGA is solely based upon merit and does not require a congressional nomination. This is due to the fervent objections of Captain John A. Henriques, the first Superintendent of the Revenue Cutter School of Instruction (later the Revenue Cutter Academy). His objection stemmed from years of poor political appointments in the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service's Bureaucracy. Since his objections, it has been the policy of the academy to base all appointments solely on the merits of the applicants.

The academy is regularly cited as being one of the most difficult American institutions of higher education in which to gain entrance. Each year more than 2,500 students apply and 400 are selected from an applicant pool about eight times that size for appointments to the academy. About 280 of those 400 selectees are granted the appointment and report to the USCGA in early July for "Swab Summer," a basic military training program designed to prepare them for the rigors of their Fourth Class year. Each cadet takes two semesters of classes during the school year and then spends the majority of the summer in military training. After four years of study and training, approximately 200 cadets will graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree and be commissioned as ensigns in the United States Coast Guard, to begin serving their five years of obligatory duty.

Student are referred to as cadets, and the student body is the Corps of Cadets. Around 30 percent of cadets are women.

While Superintendent of the academy, in 1929 Vice Admiral Harry G. Hamlet composed the academy's mission statement. All entering cadets must memorize the mission during their first few days of Swab Summer, the indoctrination period for new cadets.

The mission of the United States Coast Guard Academy is to graduate young men and women with sound bodies, stout hearts and alert minds, with a liking for the sea and its lore, and with that high sense of Honor, Loyalty and Obedience which goes with trained initiative and leadership; well-grounded in seamanship, the sciences and the amenities, and strong in the resolve to be worthy of the traditions of commissioned officers in the United States Coast Guard, in the service of their country and humanity.

All cadets earn commissions as Coast Guard officers as well as Bachelor of Science degrees. As such the academy maintains a core curriculum of science and professional development courses in addition to major-specific courses. Academic work is interspersed with military training to produce officers of character with the requisite professional skills. Among these are courses in leadership, ethics, organizational behavior, and nautical science. The majority of cadets report to their first units after graduating, as deck watch officers. Nautical science courses help prepare cadets in piloting, voyage planning, deck seamanship, and all aspects of shiphandling.