Largest Corps of Cadets

AF_2018

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I was wondering which SMC has the biggest Corps of Cadets. Norwich's Corps has close to 1600 so I would like to think there in the middle of the list. I would like to think Texas A & M has the largest
 
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From General Ramirez's newsletter last night:

"Its great to kickoff another school year, and what I’m sure will be another great year for the Corps of Cadets! Freshman Orientation Week (FOW) is underway, and this year’s key leaders are on campus and preparing to lead the largest Corps we’ve had since 1970 – over 2,500 cadets! Football season begins this week with the Aggies taking on the South Carolina Gamecocks, and Fish Review is this coming Saturday at 9 AM on Simpson Drill Field. School starts Monday for all Texas A&M students, and we are off and running for another successful school year for our Corps and our University. This is the first weekly e-newsletter of the year, and I am looking forward to providing everyone with the latest news, cadet profiles, and accomplishments of our cadets and our Corps each week this coming school year! Excited about the 2014-2015 school year! Beat the Hell Outta South Carolina! ...."

Biggest may or may not be the best, and I don't know the size of the other Corps, but this year A&M has over 2,500 cadets, including two of ours. That said, there are real reasons to go other SMC's or, indeed, other colleges, maritime academies, etc. We have two friends at VMI, one a senior, the other a Rat. My wife has a co-worker whose daughter is a member of VTCC's Corps and loves it. All that said, ours are happy at A&M.
 
adesa1996 - Largest SMC Corps

If the above post is accurate - TAMU with 2,500 Cadets in uniform, would be the largest Corps of Cadets outside the federal service schools. The Citadel would be next with 2,300 Cadets. Believe VMI would be next with about 1,500?

A little known fact is that even West Point was small until 1965 - about 2,500 in its Corps of Cadets. During the VN War, Congress increased its Corps to 4,500, and it has remained this large ever since. Believe the USNA has same number. You have to wonder with the draw down in Army and Navy/Marine active duty officers, will West Point and the USNA remain this large - and what effect the reduction in 4 and 3 year ROTC scholarships will have on SMCs.
 
The University of North Georgia, an all-Army SMC, has a total of 810 cadets this fall. We're hearing that the spring FROG Class will be the largest spring class ever, which will increase the overall number, possibly close to 1,000. Many of UNG's cadets go to BASIC and AIT in summer and fall before beginning college in the spring semester. Completing FROG Week must be a breeze right after finishing BASIC.
 
Just for a little perspective, some of the SMCs listed have larger corps of cadets than both the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. I know CGA is small compared to the three D-1 service academies, but it never felt small. Those are some large cadet corps at some of the SMCs mentioned earilier in this thread. I had no idea they were THAT big.
 
Not sure if some of the SMCs students can be counted as "cadets," even if they are members of the Corps of Cadet.

A definition of cadet is "a young trainee in the armed services or police force."

I know that some percentage of SMCs cadets don't end up serving in the military
 
Not sure if some of the SMCs students can be counted as "cadets," even if they are members of the Corps of Cadet.

A definition of cadet is "a young trainee in the armed services or police force."

I know that some percentage of SMCs cadets don't end up serving in the military

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/external/images/logo.png?version=2014-09-02-1847
cadet
Syllabification: ca·det
Pronunciation: /kəˈdet 

noun

1A young trainee in the armed services or police force: ‘an air force cadet’
1.1A student in training at a military school.

Without going back and verifying the exact numbers of each- I believe I have read that in round numbers Texas A&M is the largest of the Military/ Maritime College Cadet Corps-with about 2500 at College Station ( not including the 400 Sea Aggies who are Texas Maritime Academy in Galveston) followed by Citadel with about 2300,and I think VMI has just under 1600 this year (which larger than it has ever been). I believe I just read that Norwich has about 1400 Cadets. SUNY Maritime has about 1250 Cadets in the Regiment and Mass Maritime about 1200 Cadets and I think North Georgia is just shy of 1000 as is Va Tech.

Absolute size of the Corps aside: Three of the schools are composed pretty much entirely of Cadets in uniform: the entire undergrad population of The Citadel; VMI and Mass Maritime are Cadets; while NY Maritime is around 75% in the Regiment and Norwich is about 60%. Texas A&M is a large Corp of Cadets in a behemoth of a school so that 2500 Cadets is about 5% of the School, and I think Va Tech is also about 5% of the undergrad student population.
 
UNG's Corps is about 13% of the Dahlonega campus and about 30% of the residential students. Cadets live on campus in the "military village."

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How many officers are typically commissioned each year at these SMCs?

Last year for Norwich, I believe they commisioned around 100-120 Army Officers. Not sure about the other branches but I don't believe they had over 20 per branch.
 
From the 13 June 2014 TAMU Commandant's e-mail:

"The Texas A&M Corps of Cadets is still the number one producer of military officers for our country outside of the service academies. This past year, despite all of the military services downsizing, Texas A&M continued to produce a large number of high caliber young men and women for our military. This May alone we commissioned 103 cadets into the Armed Forces - a record number of our men and women choosing to serve their nation, and the highest single commissioning number at Texas A&M in 14 years. We expect to commission close to 200 of our cadets into the military by the end of the year in December – an indication of the faith and confidence that the Department of Defense has in our Corps to produce some of our country’s finest military officers."
 
According to The Citadel magazine published by The Citadel Alumni Association the Class of 2014 had 158 Military Commissions.

Air Force 13
Army 106 (largest Army class since 1986)
Marines 18
Navy 17
Coast Guard 1
 
At Norwich, if i remember correctly, if you participate in the Corps of Cadets for 4 years you earn a Vermont Military Degree in addition to your Bachelors. You get this whether you commission or not.


Do the other SMCs do the same thing?
 
According to The Citadel magazine published by The Citadel Alumni Association the Class of 2014 had 158 Military Commissions.

Air Force 13
Army 106 (largest Army class since 1986)
Marines 18
Navy 17
Coast Guard 1

158 commissions out of 522 cadets who graduated. This does not take into consideration undergraduates who were not in the Corps of Cadets but graduated with an undergraduate degree. Bottom line: Citadel's commissioning rate was less than 29% for 2014...
 
The whopping 5-10 people you mention are not factored into the normal list of undergraduates. They're listed separately as either evening undergrad or veteran undergrad students.
We also commission MECEPS, STA-21, and Green-to-Gold students that may or may not be added in to the present list of commissionees. When they are, it usually brings our stats far ahead of our competition in percent commissioned.

Honestly though, this whole measuring contest is dumb.
 
The whopping 5-10 people you mention are not factored into the normal list of undergraduates. They're listed separately as either evening undergrad or veteran undergrad students.
Honestly though, this whole measuring contest is dumb.

5-10 is false--the number is actually over 200 undergrad non-cadets. This measuring contest may be dumb... especially for those who don't like the numbers they see... :cool:
 
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At Norwich, if i remember correctly, if you participate in the Corps of Cadets for 4 years you earn a Vermont Military Degree in addition to your Bachelors. You get this whether you commission or not.


Do the other SMCs do the same thing?
I don't know about the others- VMI does not do anything like that. That's interesting- I'm going to have to ask my little brother if they did this back when he graduated from Norwich ( he graduated fom Norwich in 1982). I wonder if this has always been the case or it is something that they started doing when they started having civilian students on Campus as well as Cadets at Norwich?
 
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