We have several guys like that in my battalion, mainly that are lacrosse or football players and are in amazing shape but are just really bulky and oftentimes on the shorter side. I don't know the specifics, but they do the tape test after every PFT and are always fine.
I attend VMI so I may be a little biased, but the last month I've spent down at Fort Knox and many of my good friends were guys from other SMCs. We compared freshman year stories pretty often as well as just describing life in general. Here's what I took from it:
VMI and El Cid are pretty darn...
Just graduated CIET two days ago- Letters are fine, but at least for my company no outside food was permitted and all mail had to be opened in front of a group of drill sergeants. It's only 30 days though and half of that is in the field, mail isn't really necessary in my opinion.
Hey 17+3, just a quick response for the post you made on contacts: I wore mine through the whole Ratline, including Hell Week. You won't get in trouble, just be ready to put them in at 0500 with a Corporal yelling in your face haha.
Congrats everyone who is attending in the fall. If you have any questions, I'm a rising 2nd class History major at VMI on Army scholarship and I'll gladly try my best to help!
*VMI rising MS3 here - 1st REG CIET*
From what I understand, it's 0500-2200 officially. You'll wake up around 05 every day although there isn't PT every day. Apparently they'll keep us busy until about 2000 and then we have hygiene/time to clean barracks. In general I hear the month of CIET is...
Call the Registrar's office and explain that you no longer wish to take Chemistry at STP. As long as there are openings in other classes (I suggest taking Writing to get it out of the way before the Ratline) you should be fine.
In regards to changing your major, it's simple. On Matriculation...
*Rising VMI 2nd classman/Army MS3/cadre here*
In regards to your first two questions, being Army I can give you the general answer that Marine scholarships and contracts in general are hard to come by at VMI. You'll be expected to work your tail off for them, but I have a good number of friends...
Institute Honors is a great program if you can keep it. It's extremely competitive to get, and extremely easy to lose. Most kids have a hard time keeping a 3.5+ GPA during Rat Year. Either way, the 4 year Army scholarship is great. I'm a current 4th classman (Class of 2018) and also on 4yr Army...
Let me know if you guys have any questions. I'm a current Rat at VMI and contracted/4 year Army scholarship. Jarhead1775 on here is one of my Brother Rats and we're here to help!
Well good news for you is that both schools give a lot of scholarship aid. I think I got enough in scholarships from both to make attending them around $30K a year. Still not great, but much better than the original $50K ticket price.