Just to add to the conversation from what I have observed since 2014/2015 when my DS applied to VMI . . .
Competition for entering VMI in recent years has been very tight . . . a lot of folks that enter with the 4 yr and 3 ROTC scholarships have "SA-quality" records.
I've seen on-line here and in other places that some folk think VMI is an "easy" school to get into since its "acceptance rate" is around 50%. This perception of an "easy" 50% acceptance rate comes from the historical stats that shows VMI gets 1900-2000 applications each year and then makes ~900-1000 appointment offers to fill their 500 slots. If VMI were to calculate its acceptance rate the way the Service Academies do (10,000 completed applications with 1200 accepted = 12% acceptance rate), then the VMI acceptance rate would be closer to 25% (2000 completed applications with 500 accepted = 25% acceptance rate).
The VMI acceptance rate statistics hides the real difficulty of entry in today's environment. First, there are only 500 slots for entry each year. While VMI may make 1000 offers they don't make them all at once since they can only fill 500 slots. They have to make the appointment offers in a "rolling admissions" fashion so they don't bust their 500 cap. They start by making offers to the applicants with the best all-around records. Many applicants to VMI are also applying to the SAs. Applicants will accept the VMI appointment early (in December through February), and then cancel late in the process (April thru June) when and if a Service Academy appointment comes through. Also keep in mind about 60% of VMI matriculants come from Virginia and about half of those come from Northern Virginia which contains the 2 most competitive congressional districts in the country for admission to USMA and USNA . . . so VMI gets many outstanding SA candidates that don't make the "NoVa cut," but would have been ranked very high in other MOC districts around the country.
