The Citadel

baseball343

5-Year Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2014
Messages
17
Hello all,

I just received my acceptance letter to the Citadel a few days ago and I have a few questions. I posted a thread a few weeks ago after being accepted to norwich because i wanted to learn about daily life from current or former students. I would love to know the same thing from a current or former student at the Citadel. What is is like going to the citadel? I know norwich has certain programs like ranger company and mountain cold weather company, does the citadel have anything like that. Also, what made you choose the citadel over the other SMCs. Any responses would be incredibly helpful in my decision process.

Thanks
 
Bob12550 - congrats on acceptance at these two fine schools. As a Citadel grad, I encourage you to sign up for a weekend stay in the barracks with a 4th Class Cadet. This is the absolute best way to understand what the college is like and has to offer you. If you can't visit for whatever reason, PM me and I will try to connect you with a current Cadet to ask questions.

Before considering ROTC programs and allied clubs - the most important questions you may have concern the academic program(s) you wish to study at these schools. The Citadel web site is an excellent place to start for almost any question on academic majors. Armed with this info - you can then call the Department you are interested in to see how they respond. This will tell you a lot about responsiveness of faculty and staff.

As for ROTC programs - (Army, Air Force, Navy (Marine Corps Option)) all of them have allied specialty clubs from the Cordell Airborne Ranger club (Army), Marine Raiders (NROTC) to the Navy sailing and Air Force Flying and Sky diving clubs - these voluntary club activities are additive to the ROTC experience and the development of life long friends and connections. Best of Luck!
 
Congrats!
I am currently a senior at El Cid so I can answer any specific questions you may have (feel free to PM me).
As the above poster stated, the website and a stay with a freshman in the barracks are both very useful in determining if The Citadel is the right place for you.
Good luck in your decision making process and Merry Christmas!
 
Morning to all. I was up early here on the west coast and was casually looking around on Youtube....came across this video from the Citadel about graduates who made the ultimate sacrifice. It was very moving and hard to keep my eyes dry. To all those who have and will serve, be it enlistee, officer, or other, thank you and our prayers are always with you. Here's the link if interested -
 
I was browsing around and saw that the other day. I think it is a new add ..... Thanks for posting and Thanks to all who have served and those that are in the process of preparing to serve!!!
 
Thanks for sharing. That's a very moving tribute.
 
Had me teary eyed from the get go. Bravo Zulu cadets.
 
Bob12550,
Congrats on getting into both schools. Although the Citadel and Norwich are very similar (in terms of student body size, cadet/non-cadet students, graduate/undergraduate degrees, and online degree programs) I definitely recommend an overnight or two at each school. You are doing the right thing by getting input from graduates on this forum--but I would also recommend talking with alumni from both schools in your area.
 
Similar, hardly. Charleston is a large metropolitan area in a semi tropical climate, Norwich is a small town in New England with a much colder climate and lots of snow in the winter. The Citadel has a significantly larger Corps of Cadets and the only non cadet full time students are a few veterans and some active duty Marine and Navy enlisted, while the Norwich undergraduate student body is about 50/50 cadet/civilian mix. Norwich has a more diverse academic program and offers more majors, The Citadel does have some of the countries top programs in Business and Engineering. The Citadel commissions significantly more military officers and has a Division I sports program, Norwich is in Division III. But definitely visit both schools and experience them up close before deciding.
 
Correction the civilian to cadet ratio is not 50/50 theres about 1500 cadets to about 700ish civilians
 
Adesa1996, thanks for your clarification to Bob80q. Please note the Citadel and Norwich both have robust non-cadet programs and both offer online degree programs which are well regarded. In fact, The Citadel will graduate more non cadets in 2016 than cadets). And to further clarify, percentage wise, the Citadel and Norwich are on par in terms of the numbers of commissions from the Corps of Cadets. Both are great schools and similar in many regards: one up north and one down south.
 
According to Norwich's web site- it is about 60/40 Cadet vs Civilian at Norwich. http://www.norwich.edu/undergraduate-admissions/studentdata/
I believe that they had about 2300 undergrads last year so that would be around 1380/920.

Norwich has some very unique offerings. My neighbor graduated last year from Norwich with a degree in "Computer Security and Information Assurance". The school has a very close relationship with the NSA- she in fact was one of several students who received a full scholarship funded by NSA for the last 2 years of school because of her major, and had multiple job offers on graduation. one of many Excellent programs with excellent placement and connections around the country. And though it may occasionally feel like you are a long way from "the middle of no where", in fact you are only about 4 hrs from Boston and less than 2 from Montreal, in the heart of some of the best skiing and hiking in New England.

Like all SMCs- Norwich will either appeal to you or not- but the way to really know if you will fit in better there, or at The Citadel is by visiting and talking to Cadets as well as to recently graduated alums. Good luck!
 
I'm not sure where NAS got the information that more civilians will graduate in 2016 than cadets. Right off of the website the Corp of cadets at The Citadel has 2,352 enrolled. The graduate college and evening studies only has 1,039 students combined.
 
Visiting the Citadel and VMI with DS #3 this spring. Looking forward to the trip but wondering if he should check out Norwich as well. He will need the ROTC scholarship to attend any of the three. Older brother is currently at USAFA. #3 will find a way to commission.....very driven to serve his country....wants to write an essay on why any future Commander-In-Chief should have served.....

Thanks for posting the video....very moving. Can't wait for the visits.
 
Visiting the Citadel and VMI with DS #3 this spring. Looking forward to the trip but wondering if he should check out Norwich as well. He will need the ROTC scholarship to attend any of the three. Older brother is currently at USAFA. #3 will find a way to commission.....very driven to serve his country....wants to write an essay on why any future Commander-In-Chief should have served.....

Thanks for posting the video....very moving. Can't wait for the visits.

He should check them all out in my humble opinion. They are all great schools- all with a different feel, and all do a good job at their core mission of producing well educated leaders. Norwich is the daddy of them all at almost 200 years old- That's a lot of history that they are proudly carrying on with today and during all that time they have graduated an awful lot of good leaders who benefited from their time in the Green Mountains. So take a look at all of thme- you may find that one of them fits your needs more than the other and it certainly gives you some different data points before you settle - not to mention it gives you more potential locations to win an Army scholarship!
 
I'm not sure where NAS got the information that more civilians will graduate in 2016 than cadets. Right off of the website the Corp of cadets at The Citadel has 2,352 enrolled. The graduate college and evening studies only has 1,039 students combined.

usarmystrong,
1,039 students does not account for the Citadel's online program which currently has over 500 enrolled and is rapidly expanding. Also consider that while cadets typically graduate in 4 years, the civilian and online Citadel students graduate and get a diploma in 2 years.
However, as I've always said, the best way to determine the right fit for each potential student between these two schools is to do an overnight visit (maybe 2) and keep communicating with alumni.
Good luck!
 
Last edited:
Can anyone tell me what the service requirement is for Cadets that decide to accept a commission in the Army? Both with and without a scholarship? I can't seem to find it on their website.

Thanks
 
The term service requirement is a bit vague. Anyone entering service for the first time incurs an 8 year statutory service obligation. However, your status determines how it is served. This is different than the Active Duty Service Obligation (ADSO).


Sent using the Service Academy Forums® mobile app
 
by service requirement I mean amount of time required to be spent in the army, both active and reserve. For example, on the VMI website it states that for a non-scholarship cadet that accepts the commission, the requirement is 8 years, 3 years active and 5 years additional of Active Duty, Reserve Forces duty or a combination of both. Is this the same for the Citadel?
 
Back
Top