kewebbjr, if you've decided to attend VMI, you and my DS will be BR's this coming Fall. He'll be in Alfa or Foxtrot because of his size we're told. We've sent in everything (except his final HS transcript) and bought all his required gear for Rat year already. We received his financial aid award letter two days ago. I was very surprised (and happy) by the amount of scholarship money VMI has offered DS. As an out of state student his/our portion of his tuition will be less than any public university state tuition DS would have paid here in Texas. If he receives an Army ROTC scholarship or decides to pursue football at VMI, his future student debt could be even less. He told me the other day he's anxious to see how he does during rat year. He's a beast physically, and will do very well in ROTC, but he's nervous about the academics because of stories some of the current 4th class men told him during his overnight visit. I just tell him to be prepared to put 10x more time into his studies that he's done in HS. It's college first & foremost, and making good grades is how you graduate in four years, no matter how well you do at the other stuff. I know he'll do his best at everything though. It's part of his competitive character to do as well or better than his peers, probably like most of the young men and women who choose to pursue a college experience as challenging as VMI. It's been a long ride over the past year and a half just to get to this point, and we've got the next four years on this roller coaster ride to look forward to. Lucky for me, I've got two more teenage sons to go through this with again in the near future. I hope the younger two will follow their older brothers footsteps and look for ways to serve their country and pursue becoming principled leaders of character in whatever path the choose in life as well. Thanks again to everyone on this site for your valuable advice.