I don't know any stats on grad school acceptance rates, but a good percentage of VMI Alums go on to pursue advanced degrees. Several go straight in, right after graduation. I have friends who have gone on to study:
- history at GWU;
- government at American;
- law at UVA;
- special education at George Mason;
- theology at Loyala Marymount; and
- history at Florida State.
Many others return to school after having worked for a few years. Out of this group, I have friends who have gone on to study:
- business at Harvard (MBA);
- interior design at VCU;
- Christian education at Regent (M.Ed);
- physical therapy at the NVCC Medical Education Campus (PTA);
- law at Ohio State (Go Buckeyes!!!!);
- chemistry at University of Kentucky (Go UC!!! Beat Kentucky!!!); and
- English at UVA.
And then, of course, you have people like
Jacob Cox '10, who is currently in Cameroon researching local plants to try to find a cure for a disease as part of his studies at Cambridge University as a Gates Scholar;
Greg Lippiatt '09, who is working on a doctorate at Oxford after having completed his masters degree in medieval history as a Rhodes Scholar; and
Will Flathers '08, whose undergraduate research project went on to be
patented after he graduated and moved on to the University of Sheffield, studying automatic control and systems engineering as a Marshall Scholar.
I knew all three of these guys while I was there. All three of them are down to earth, genuinely nice and happy to help others (I think all three of them served as peer tutors), and ridiculously hard workers. Jake majored in chemistry, Greg double majored in History and English with a minor in Military History, and Will majored in electrical and computer engineering. All of them had cumulative GPA's close to a 4.0.
These are only people I know. Most of them graduated between 2007 and 2010. A few of the people on the list of those who returned to school after working for a few years graduated in 2001 or 2002, and one in 2004. I'm sure there are plenty of engineers who have gone on to grad school; I just don't know who they are off the top of my head. I think a lot of the engineers fall into the category of those who end up returning to grad school after gaining a few years of work experience.
I'd like to return to grad school, at some point. But that's still a few years down the road. My heart is pretty intricately intertwined with where I am right now. But I guess that's one of the hallmarks of the field of education.
Jackie M. Briski '09
First Class PVT (Ret.)