Need honest truth about wentworth military academy

T

thelastpatriot1

5-Year Member
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Feb 6, 2013
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Recently I had received a email from Wentworth asking me to apply for their 4 or two year scholarships. While I would love to go to a military college upon further review I've heard horror stories about the college and I was wondering if a third party can get me the truth. Basically here's my questions.

1.)A few people have stated that this college doesn't prepare you for a university and has some good but a lot of bad professors. Is this true?

2.) Is their a growing contention between the civillian athletes and ROTC cadets.

3.)is their facilities outdated?
4.) Is the ROTC bad due to incompetent leaders who don't do their job, and promote favorites to leadership positions instead of the deserving cadets.
5.) Is the college generally a bad place to go?

6.) Also is there any other colleges like the citadel that can reward still reward me with a 4 or 2 year scholarship like Wentworth has said that they could give to me.
 
I truly have no idea what college you are talking about- are you sure that you are not talking about a military High School /Junior college? As such I don't really understand how they could offer you a 4 year scholarship unless you are perhaps still a sophomore in HS? If that is the case, then yes you can "still" get Academic or Athletic scholarships to any of the Senior Military Colleges as well as ROTC scholarships. Since it does not sound like you have applied to the Citadel or any other SMC yet, I hope that I am reading that correctly, as at this point I don't believe that you can still apply to any of the SMCs for admissions for the next academic year. If, however, you are a senior and still have not applied to one of these SMCs, then the answer to your question is no, there is probably not much if any chance of you getting a better offer from an SMC at this point.
 
Funny you mention this thelastpatriot,

Youngest son just received the same email from the LTC at Wentworth Military College (Bruno, you are right it's a High School + 2 year Junior College located outside of Kansas City, Mo) offering either a 2 year scholarship/ Associate degree and commission or a 2+2 scholarship, associate degree from Wentworth and then 2 years at a local participating 4 year college, bachelor degree and commission. I believe that both of these scholarships according to the email are campus based and given out at the discretion of the LTC. As too your concerns, I too read the same reviews about the various problems and have concerns as well about the institution. If anyone has any information about Wentworth to pass along, please do.
 
Wentworth Military College is one of the JMC's that offer the ECP. Cadets are commissioned after 2 years and then are required to complete their degree at a participating 4 year university.
 
DD received call and info from this very same college last year PRIOR to her being notified by cadet command she was not offered a scholarship... NOT COOL:thumbdown:
Brief interaction with them on phone was unimpressive and DD was not interested. For what it's worth.
 
Wentworth

I will give you the info I know.

Wentworth Military academy and Junior College is located in Lexington, MO about 1 hr east of Kansas City. You can google it to find the history of it. It is one of the 5 junior military colleges in the US.

The school fell into financial trouble in the late 80's and early 90's (I was told it was partially because they tried to run a football program as a junior college and it about bankrupted them) but in the past 10yrs has really turned around. They quit athletics for a few years but have started their programs back 3 yrs ago (except football).

It is a small, old campus, with about 250 students in the corps of cedets and about 150 in the rotc program.

We have visited the campus either 3 or 4 times in the past 1 1/2 yrs and have seen some of the improvements just in that time.

They offer a 2+2 scholarship which covers your 2 yrs at Wentworth (which they cover the room and board) and then it covers 2 yrs at a follow up college. It used to transfer to either University of central Missouri or to Missouri Valley College, but recently the Army re-aligned the brigades and Central Missouri and Wentworth are no longer in the same brigade so the scholarship will only transfer to Missouri Valley College.

My DS did his ROTC National Scholarship interview with the PMS there. Everyone we talked to and visited with were extremely helpful and professional.

DS received the 2+2 scholarship and was going to transfer to Central Missouri. We were just informed of the brigade alignment a few weeks ago so the ROO from Wentworth met us at Missouri Valley and arranged for tours and meetings at that campus (we did this yesterday). He also spent 2 hrs just talking to us and answering questions about the 2+2 and the ECP scholarships. In the end he put it plain and simple, do whatever is going to make DS happy. The Army will be their after he commisions, so get the education that he wants.

Their are some mis-conceptions and incorrect information floating around about the ECP (early Commission Program).

With the ECP DS will go to LTC at Fort Knox this summer for 28 days. This basically covers your first 2 yrs of ROTC classes. It is accelerated and not for everyone. The when you start college (only at a MJC) you do the MSIII classes your freshman year and MSIV classes your sophomore year. You go to LDAC btwn your freshman and sophomore year. Again, maybe not for everyone. Under scholarship you also get enrolled in the national guard your freshman year and drill each month with a unit (under the SMP program).

Under the ECP, when you graduate from Wentworth after your sophomore year you commission as a 2nd LT and you can choose to compete for active
duty upon completion of your BS degree at a follow up university. Since you are a ROTC Scholarship recipient the US Army has rights to you over the national guard, you cannot be denied active duty because you are in the guard unless you utilize the GRFD scholarship. You are on the OML with every other graduating 2nd LT.

Your follow up schooling is paid for with the Ike Skelton scholarship (tuition or room and board up to $10,000 per year for 2 yrs). You will also be in the guard and drill with a unit those 2 yrs. This is where you get your platoon leadership.

If you stay in Missouri you can go to any in-state college you want to that has a ROTC program for your final 2 yrs.

Since the schooling options were changed by the Army after my DS was offered his 2+2 scholarship, they have given him the option of the ECP scholarship. This is probably what he will accept since he feels it will be more challenging to him and he can then trannsfer to the in-state university he wants to the major he wants for his BS degree. It also allows him to do the harder MSIII classes while he is doing his general ed studies and then he can concentrate on his major studies more his 3rd and 4th year and not be loaded down with the more time consuming MSIII and IV classes and activities. Again, I want to stress it is not for everyone.

The rotc program gets it's fair share of slots for army schools and programs. This year they have 13 cadets doing CULP and I believe they get 2 or more slots for Airborne and Air Assault each.

We like Wentworth, but DS comes from a small high school. Their athletic programs are developing, their basketball team made it to the national tournament in only it's 2nd year back. Ds will run cross country (points on your OML score).

Lexington is a small farming community town with not much to do, but the school has field trips to KC and other activities they go off campus for. It is a military school so you have some restrictions, it is not a school for everyone.

I believe the 2+2 is unique to Wentworth (it does go thru Cadet Command). The ECP is available at all Military Junior Colleges. I had some mi-conceptions about it until we sat down face to face and talked thru everything.

I know I have left something off
 
Wentworth

I forgot to mention that Wentworth also has the Falcon program that has 100% acceptance to the Air Force Academy.
 
Well thanks for the info Wentworth do sent seem the fit for me. I would like to enjoy a few perks of the college life without the military restrictions and also one of the biggest jerks in my highschool is going there and while I can deal with jerks I rather not see this one.

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Wentworth

There is a thread under Off-Topic about school reviews and rankings, interesting comments from a lot of posters. I tend to think that usually the people who are not satisfied of have issues are the ones that post reviews, and that is usually a very small percentage.

As far as the concerns about conflicts between civilian athletes and ROTC members, I have not heard of any such thing.

ALL full time students at Wentworth live on campus and are members of the corps of cadets. Same uniforms, same restrictions, same rules. Some ROTC cadets are athletes.

Not all corps of cadets participate in ROTC. Not all ROTC participants are scholarship or contracted. You can particpate in ROTC your 2 yrs at Wentworth and not have any military obligations the same as any other school with a ROTC program.

The lifestyle at Wentworth is based upon VMI. As I have been told it is not as strict or rigorous. It is a Military style school.

I cannot personally deny any of the negative reports, we just have not witnessed or heard any of them, especially from the recent years.

Again, as we were told, you have to choose a school that is the best fit for you.
 
All right thanks for responding. Nice to get some clarity about wentworth I'm actually trying to get onto the new mexico military institute. They seem to fit me the most and hopefully I can get awarded a scholarship there. Also they will allow me to go to Texas a&m and I always wanted to go to Texas mainly because of its great colleges.

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Well, Wentworth Military Academy and College is no more, having closed and shuttered its doors in May 2017. The banners are furled and cased. The school was basically a military 7/8th grade to Junior College based institution, originally formulated on a VMI structure. When I attended, smoking was permitted (as influenced from the old Virginia tobacco growing families) IF someone was over 13 years of age, and thus many of the cadets puffed like chimneys ! The school's program had several focuses upon who were in attendance. One group dwelt upon laggard and somewhat troubled high school and college students, and with enforced study programs, a bit of easier grading, moved them to a basic degree. This was absolutely great from an exasperated and worn-out parent point of view. The majority of these students did not have great attitudes, did not give a ****, and they were not an enjoyable social / academic peer crowd. Also there seemed to be a preponderance of these type of persons. If they did gain success, the trend of the parents was to place the student back into the public educational process or local area home colleges. Wentworth did not have supporting group or individual counseling programs to really address or help to resolve many of these student's underlying issues. Another group of students were in attendance to examine or prepare for a commissioned military service option in the active, reserve, or national guard armed forces. Wentworth was a military school. There were various possibilities and paths forward to meet this goal. The school could have done significantly more to support the academics that these students actually needed for their next step in educational programs. Additional students at Wentworth were from the local area and were commuting students who were not part of the uniformed cadet corps. Many of these were "second time around" students who were attempting to effect an upward mobility career change. The institution continually struggled to find high quality students, and the admission standards seemed to be; no past jail time, the price of a postage stamp to mail the application, and someone or someway to pay the tuition fees. For a long time the school's comparative tuition fees were lower than other preps, and the educational quality suffered as a result. Also, in the last decades the average ACT scores for the high school graduates were around 18, and with efforts of some leadership, rose for a short time to about 24. This really was not comparable to other similar tuition cost preps or military schools which were actually preparing qualified students for advanced national educational programs. The school always had a lot of potential, but never seemed to be able to gather or to educate the crowd of students which it was touting that were being specifically prepared for "Harvard, Yale, and similar top tiered schools". To do this goal the institution needed better students and better instructors. The focus on the "no troubled youth here", 'wink, wink, wink', in the end, pulled the place beyond a point of no safe return. An alumnus should ask, how much of a premium did they receive with a degree worth from Wentworth ? It could and should have been much more significant.
 
The OP and other comments prior to yours were made back in 2013. I doubt any of them still participate here.
 
Even though this was an old thread, it was interesting to hear that Wentworth has closed it's doors.
 
Wentworth Alumni said:
Well, Wentworth Military Academy and College is no more, having closed and shuttered its doors in May 2017. The banners are furled and cased. The school was basically a military 7/8th grade to Junior College based institution, originally formulated on a VMI structure. When I attended, smoking was permitted (as influenced from the old Virginia tobacco growing families) IF someone was over 13 years of age, and thus many of the cadets puffed like chimneys ! The school's program had several focuses upon who were in attendance. One group dwelt upon laggard and somewhat troubled high school and college students, and with enforced study programs, a bit of easier grading, moved them to a basic degree. This was absolutely great from an exasperated and worn-out parent point of view. The majority of these students did not have great attitudes, did not give a ****, and they were not an enjoyable social / academic peer crowd. Also there seemed to be a preponderance of these type of persons. If they did gain success, the trend of the parents was to place the student back into the public educational process or local area home colleges. Wentworth did not have supporting group or individual counseling programs to really address or help to resolve many of these student's underlying issues. Another group of students were in attendance to examine or prepare for a commissioned military service option in the active, reserve, or national guard armed forces. Wentworth was a military school. There were various possibilities and paths forward to meet this goal. The school could have done significantly more to support the academics that these students actually needed for their next step in educational programs. Additional students at Wentworth were from the local area and were commuting students who were not part of the uniformed cadet corps. Many of these were "second time around" students who were attempting to effect an upward mobility career change. The institution continually struggled to find high quality students, and the admission standards seemed to be; no past jail time, the price of a postage stamp to mail the application, and someone or someway to pay the tuition fees. For a long time the school's comparative tuition fees were lower than other preps, and the educational quality suffered as a result. Also, in the last decades the average ACT scores for the high school graduates were around 18, and with efforts of some leadership, rose for a short time to about 24. This really was not comparable to other similar tuition cost preps or military schools which were actually preparing qualified students for advanced national educational programs. The school always had a lot of potential, but never seemed to be able to gather or to educate the crowd of students which it was touting that were being specifically prepared for "Harvard, Yale, and similar top tiered schools". To do this goal the institution needed better students and better instructors. The focus on the "no troubled youth here", 'wink, wink, wink', in the end, pulled the place beyond a point of no safe return. An alumnus should ask, how much of a premium did they receive with a degree worth from Wentworth ? It could and should have been much more significant.
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Wentworth and its demise can represent an example to a lot of other similar private schools. The institution tried to mix too many diverging customer goals. The parent with the troubled child / student. The local more mature student with desire to learn technical skills for a better career. The student truly interested in the good boarding prep experience. The less motivated college student. The student interested in some type of uniformed commissioned service. Then, the academics and instructors were weak (with some exceptions). The result was a diploma which did not represent any noteworthy premium or leverage. No doors or opportunity opened to any significant place of higher education with a Wentworth Military Academy and College diploma. If anything, it was scrutinized a bit closer. For the longest time the AVERAGE college boards for Wentworth High School graduates were the lowest possible score that a student could have as a requirement for an Army ROTC scholarship. Half of Wentworth's prep graduates could not even make it through the first wicket toward an Army ROTC college scholarship. The school was just not recruiting, on the average, good academic students and then, not educating and training those that it did obtain. The official Wentworth motto translated as: "Strong Minds, Strong Bodies". This was dropped about the same time fewer and fewer graduates were placed into top tier Midwest universities. Unfortunately this was almost a century before the doors closed, and coincided with the increased focus on the student which needed motivation, and the opening of the institution's junior college. Wentworth, instead of attempting to place and prepare its prep graduates into top universities, heavily recruited these into it's own junior college, which had a too fuzzy end. There was no real preparation for higher professional careers (other than military). Nor was their significant acceptance of graduates into any of the claimed top tier schools that the school was touting as its primary and focused preparatory purpose. Too much of the institution's energy, time and programs were being drained working with the basic non-motivated student, or those which had similar social / academic issues. Those students were for much too long its actual customers. In the last 50 years of its existence, Wentworth only really significantly served the lowest common denominator. The school wanted to be great and a major player, but continually needed to lower its standards. There were too many rocks in the box to carry it to high heights. As alumni, most of the rocks did not in turn significantly contribute to their school.
 
The school was in the middle of nowhere. Small private schools in the middle of nowhere should be avoided like the plague. They cost a lot of money for a lot of nothing. A student would be better served at the local public college. They exist because... no one knows.
 
Wentworth Alumni said:
Wentworth and its demise can represent an example to a lot of other similar private schools. The institution tried to mix too many diverging customer goals. The parent with the troubled child / student. The local more mature student with desire to learn technical skills for a better career. The student truly interested in the good boarding prep experience. The less motivated college student. The student interested in some type of uniformed commissioned service. Then, the academics and instructors were weak (with some exceptions). The result was a diploma which did not represent any noteworthy premium or leverage. No doors or opportunity opened to any significant place of higher education with a Wentworth Military Academy and College diploma. If anything, it was scrutinized a bit closer. For the longest time the AVERAGE college boards for Wentworth High School graduates were the lowest possible score that a student could have as a requirement for an Army ROTC scholarship. Half of Wentworth's prep graduates could not even make it through the first wicket toward an Army ROTC college scholarship. The school was just not recruiting, on the average, good academic students and then, not educating and training those that it did obtain. The official Wentworth motto translated as: "Strong Minds, Strong Bodies". This was dropped about the same time fewer and fewer graduates were placed into top tier Midwest universities. Unfortunately this was almost a century before the doors closed, and coincided with the increased focus on the student which needed motivation, and the opening of the institution's junior college. Wentworth, instead of attempting to place and prepare its prep graduates into top universities, heavily recruited these into it's own junior college, which had a too fuzzy end. There was no real preparation for higher professional careers (other than military). Nor was their significant acceptance of graduates into any of the claimed top tier schools that the school was touting as its primary and focused preparatory purpose. Too much of the institution's energy, time and programs were being drained working with the basic non-motivated student, or those which had similar social / academic issues. Those students were for much too long its actual customers. In the last 50 years of its existence, Wentworth only really significantly served the lowest common denominator. The school wanted to be great and a major player, but continually needed to lower its standards. There were too many rocks in the box to carry it to high heights. As alumni, most of the rocks did not in turn significantly contribute to their school.
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I have seen the exact same problems affect the military high schools and MJC's I have learned about and, to a lesser extent, SMC's as well.
 
zamber said:
The school was in the middle of nowhere. Small private schools in the middle of nowhere should be avoided like the plague. They cost a lot of money for a lot of nothing. A student would be better served at the local public college. They exist because... no one knows.
Click to expand...

Point of fact: some of the best small colleges in the country are "small private schools in the middle of nowhere." Truman State University (MO), Oberlin College (OH), Grinnell College (IA), Carleton College (MN), Doane College (NE), College of Wooster (OH), Allegheny College (PA), Wabash College (IN), Dartmouth College (NH) and even USMA (NY) spring to mind with no effort.
 
LongAgoPlebe said:
Point of fact: some of the best small colleges in the country are "small private schools in the middle of nowhere." Truman State University (MO), Oberlin College (OH), Grinnell College (IA), Carleton College (MN), Doane College (NE), College of Wooster (OH), Allegheny College (PA), Wabash College (IN), Dartmouth College (NH) and even USMA (NY) spring to mind with no effort.
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I checked your list, I said "private" schools in the middle of nowhere should be avoided, you have a few public colleges on the list. Also, Dartmouth has a medical school and a good number of graduate schools, I do not know if we can call it small.
Now we can agree that Grinnell College is small. The list of majors is almost all subject like "Peace Studies" and "Theatre." The only marketable degree is Computer Science, is Grinnel the best choice to study something highly technical like computer science? The comprehensive fee: $63,114. There is a page listing many types of student loans. In colleges like these, most students take out student loans.

Being that it is small and in the middle of nowhere, there will be few if any companies sending out recruiters to this school. For example, do the big accounting firms send out recruiters to Grinnell?

In good consciousness, can you recommend a teenager to take out student loans to study "Gender" when the student can go to a more affordable public college?
 
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zamber said:
LongAgoPlebe said:
Point of fact: some of the best small colleges in the country are "small private schools in the middle of nowhere." Truman State University (MO), Oberlin College (OH), Grinnell College (IA), Carleton College (MN), Doane College (NE), College of Wooster (OH), Allegheny College (PA), Wabash College (IN), Dartmouth College (NH) and even USMA (NY) spring to mind with no effort.
Click to expand...
I checked your list, I said "private" schools in the middle of nowhere should be avoided, you have a few public colleges on the list. Also, Dartmouth has a medical school and a good number of graduate schools, I do not know if we can call it small.
Now we can agree that Grinnell College is small. The list of majors is almost all subject like "Peace Studies" and "Theatre." The only marketable degree is Computer Science, is Grinnel the best choice to study something highly technical like computer science? The comprehensive fee: $63,114. There is a page listing many types of student loans. In colleges like these, most students take out student loans.

Being that it is small and in the middle of nowhere, there will be few if any companies sending out recruiters to this school. For example, do the big accounting firms send out recruiters to Grinnell?

In good consciousness, can you recommend a teenager to take out student loans to study "Gender" when the student can go to a more affordable public college?
Click to expand...
Zamber - you lost all credibility with this post though your credibility was waning with the comments in 'Quitting USMMA', 'Am I a competitive candidate/ what else should i do', and 'Academy Odds'. Your exposure to quality educational institutions is likely limited. You are in HS right?
 
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