As an outsider I am reminded of something I've heard, more than once, while visiting our two children at the TAMU Corps. "From the outside you can't understand it and from the inside you can't explain it." I'm an outsider, didn't serve in the military, didn't attend an SMC, so I'm willing to acknowledge that I don't understand all of the attachment to a particular school. That said, one of things that I've most admired about the forum is the civility and professional demeanor of most of the commentators. I hope that will continue.
Our son's best friend is a Rat at VMI, following in his father's footsteps as a VMI graduate and a career Naval officer. One of our former Scouts is a senior at VMI, following in his father's tradition of service - the father is a graduate of the Naval Academy. Another Scout just started nuke school after graduating from the Naval Academy, his father is a Citadel graduate and was a career Naval officer. One of the former Scoutmasters was a West Point graduate, and one of this sons followed him there. A contemporary Scout of my son and his friend at VMI is now a Rook at Norwich. I'm impressed and proud of 'em all. Their lives have simularities and differences but I'm proud of 'em all - whether I know 'em or not.
What I told each of our children as they were making their choices about where to go is that at the end of the day what they'd really like to have is what they can't have. They'd like a bit of one school, some of another, the campus of a third school, some of the professors of a fourth school, and so on. What they had to do was make an adult choice and understand that they could only attend one school at a time, that no place was perfect, and to decide on the school that they felt would offer them the most of what they wanted and which would prepare them for adult life. As it turned out we went from no Aggies to two Aggies. They understood that VMI, the Citadel, Norwich would offer them much smaller classes, and real interaction with faculty, from day one as freshman. They made the choice to forgo some of that for some of the things A&M had to offer. I have a hard time with the concept that one route is substantially better for all individuals than another route. I've come to understand, or at least believe, that there is a bell curve in just about everything and that you'll meet some great folks from most institutions and some less wonderful people from most institutions.
I've learned a great deal from so many of the posters here, I'm glad that the emphasis here will remain on providing service to potential and current students at all of these institutions. Thanks for posting this Bruno.