VMI overnight questions

OK, so I received my packet in the mail containing the things for the overnight visit to VMI. Looking through it some questions have come up.

-It said in my letter that getting to sleep in the barracks is not guaranteed. Is that just a case by case basis because I didnt reserve my spot in time, or is everyone not guaranteed sleeping in the barracks.
-It says to bring a towel and things such as soap in case I do stay in the barracks, does that mean I will be showering with other people or do you shower by yourself.
-Another question is about the weather and what to wear. I am assuming its going to be cold, so should I just wear a jacket with what I am wearing and then take it off. When they say casual dress they do mean slacks, long sleeve shirts with buttons, and stuff like that right?

I think that they will try very hard to make sure that you sleep in the barracks- the Admissions office is the main proponent of this program and they understand that you will get the most out of your visit if you stay in a Rat room. However, I suppose that there is always a possibility that all of the Rat rooms are filled past capacity at which point i assume they would put you up in the Alumni building which has dorm rooms in it.
Yes- you will be showering in a shared Latrine- but it will be your own shower head You can of course not shower at all and since you are only gonna be there for a day and a night, you probably can get by- but get used to it as that will be the norm for your next 4 years if you go to VMI. (It's way better than it used to be- when I was a cadet- we had one main "sinks" for the corps. there were about a hundred heads - no stalls and about a hundred shower heads lined up next to each other. It certainly took your sense of modesty and threw it right out the window! Now you get a stall- seriously cushy!)
Casual: khaki pants, Polo shirt would be fine.

Check your email. I got an email from the Admissions office today that said..

"Recently, you were sent a letter confirming your registration for the December 3-4, 2010 Open House on the VMI Post. That correspondence incorrectly indicated that you would not be guaranteed sleeping accommodations in Barracks. Please disregard that portion of the letter. You will be provided accommodations as part of your participation".

Im not sure if that goes for everyone but just check in case

Thanks that really helps and I did receive that e-mail. And I guess I will just suck it up and shower with other people. Cant be that bad unless the guys there are actually trying to look at you. (I hope they wouldnt)

SMCHopefull said:

Thanks that really helps and I did receive that e-mail. And I guess I will just suck it up and shower with other people. Cant be that bad unless the guys there are actually trying to look at you. (I hope they wouldnt)

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SMC- one last thing- I'm not sure if you are male or female, but just to be sure you know : men and women have separate latrines.

I am a male, and I knew that they separated the males and females. And also I am really excited, I cannot wait.

Same thing with our DS. We got the email (yesterday) before we checked the snail mail, so no stress involved. This will be DS' 2nd visit. He went last February, but the Rat Line had ended, so he wanted to go during the Rat Line this year. Also, if you know a Rat, you can have them request to host you. DS did that last time with a good HS friend and is doing so again with another HS friend (all were on swim team together and are good buddies). See you all in December!

bruno said:

I think that they will try very hard to make sure that you sleep in the barracks- the Admissions office is the main proponent of this program and they understand that you will get the most out of your visit if you stay in a Rat room. However, I suppose that there is always a possibility that all of the Rat rooms are filled past capacity at which point i assume they would put you up in the Alumni building which has dorm rooms in it.
Yes- you will be showering in a shared Latrine- but it will be your own shower head You can of course not shower at all and since you are only gonna be there for a day and a night, you probably can get by- but get used to it as that will be the norm for your next 4 years if you go to VMI. (It's way better than it used to be- when I was a cadet- we had one main "sinks" for the corps. there were about a hundred heads - no stalls and about a hundred shower heads lined up next to each other. It certainly took your sense of modesty and threw it right out the window! Now you get a stall- seriously cushy!)
Casual: khaki pants, Polo shirt would be fine.

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Do all the showers have stalls now? When I was there, I had two years of single-sex and two of coeducation, and they were just constructing the new bathrooms. The "stall" bathrooms, I thought, were eventually going to be for the exclusive use of women cadets. My class got to use them on the second and first stoops, since women were Rats and Thirds while I was there, but my understanding was those bathrooms would eventually be for the sole use of women cadets. When I was a Rat and a Third, we only had the big gang showers (like in prison), so getting to use private stalls was a huge improvement the last two years.

The biggest change was the installation of stall doors on the toilets in Barracks when they started to make improvements for coeducation. I'm sure Bruno remembers, as I do, the two rows of toilets in the Sally Port bathrooms that faced each other (with no stall doors). Thus, you could end up looking right at your BR while having a BM (hehe.."privacy" wasn't a huge concern in those days) One of the reasons I always fancied a trip to an academic building when nature called. Now, all the stalls have doors. Progress!!