No Agenda Here/Something Struck Me/What Do You Think of this VMI Ad?

[Capt MJ]

See the screenshot below. Now look at the paragraph near the bottom. I saw this in some random feed on various things I follow online to stay current on military-veteran topics.

As noted in the thread title, I have no agenda, and I have great respect for the SMCs, just wishing I had a magic wand to tweak the language.

Graduates Do Not Have To Serve In The Military

I like precision in language and can often take things too literally. This seems like a negative to me. As a headline, I think it casts a shadow. Why not:

Graduates May Choose Civilian or Military Careers

And, the text in the paragraph notes “More than half the cadets who come to VMI end up serving in the military.”

I admit I don’t like the use of “end up.” To me, I get a tinge of nothing better turned up, and I did not thoughtfully choose to follow a path of service, it just kind of happened. Why not: “Over half our graduates choose to serve their country as military leaders.”

Your thoughts?

 

[WestCoastRefugee]

See the screenshot below. Now look at the paragraph near the bottom. I saw this in some random feed on various things I follow online to stay current on military-veteran topics.

As noted in the thread title, I have no agenda, and I have great respect for the SMCs, just wishing I had a magic wand to tweak the language.

Graduates Do Not Have To Serve In The Military

I like precision in language and can often take things too literally. This seems like a negative to me. As a headline, I think it casts a shadow. Why not:

Graduates May Choose Civilian or Military Careers

And, the text in the paragraph notes “More than half the cadets who come to VMI end up serving in the military.”

I admit I don’t like the use of “end up.” To me, I get a tinge of nothing better turned up, and I did not thoughtfully choose to follow a path of service, it just kind of happened. Why not: “Over half our graduates choose to serve their country as military leaders.”

Your thoughts?

View attachment 14941

Not a VMI grad, but I did attend a military boarding school in Virginia and many of my classmates matriculated there. I am also currently a Virginia resident. With that being said, VMI has had some significant challenges over the last 2-3 years. Namely they had a 25 percent drop in Freshman admissions in 2022 which regardless of the reasons was a financial disaster. They did a full court press this year (probably the reason you are seeing this ad) and got the number back up (maybe higher than usual) but they arrived at that number by accepting 81% of the people that applied. Although happy to see the numbers back up, having to basically admit almost everyone that applied is not a good look for any college. I will also say that my comments are not meant to slight VMI as I hold the school in high regard, just hope they can right the ship a little better.

 

[StPaulDad]

There are far fewer guys going to college than in the past, and schools like VMI that are heavily male are feeling the crunch. My alma mater is an all-male college, and in just the past 6-8 years or so they are falling behind their sister school in rankings and the avg quality of freshman scores/grades, and it's mostly due to being far less picky about who they have to accept to keep the class size up. It's a real challenge that is going to start hurting more than just schools with a difficult gender mix (or armed services looking for lots of 18 year old males of a certain quality.) The elite SAs will always have a good number of applicants, but that middle range of schools could be hurting for a while.

 

[justme]

Not quite the same, but midsib just got a brochure from Ohio State today, highlighting the fact they get snow. I think I understand what they are trying to say, but that ain't winning over most southerners.

 

[LT360]

Not quite the same, but midsib just got a brochure from Ohio State today, highlighting the fact they get snow. I think I understand what they are trying to say, but that ain't winning over most southerners.

The correct name is "THE Ohio State University"...

 

[conrack]

be sure to contact their public affairs people and register your complaint, good luck

 

[Allectus]

See the screenshot below. Now look at the paragraph near the bottom. I saw this in some random feed on various things I follow online to stay current on military-veteran topics.

As noted in the thread title, I have no agenda, and I have great respect for the SMCs, just wishing I had a magic wand to tweak the language.

Graduates Do Not Have To Serve In The Military

I like precision in language and can often take things too literally. This seems like a negative to me. As a headline, I think it casts a shadow. Why not:

Graduates May Choose Civilian or Military Careers

And, the text in the paragraph notes “More than half the cadets who come to VMI end up serving in the military.”

I admit I don’t like the use of “end up.” To me, I get a tinge of nothing better turned up, and I did not thoughtfully choose to follow a path of service, it just kind of happened. Why not: “Over half our graduates choose to serve their country as military leaders.”

Your thoughts?

View attachment 14941

I agree with your points. My son applied to VMI and I was really impressed with the school. My son was appointed to a Service Academy, but VMI still has a special place in my heart for what they do. Would not be a bad idea to contact VMI with your impressions and suggestions.

 

[greenfield1]

I'm in the Corps Only track at VT so I can speak more to the second point - I think the way you worded it sounds better for recruiting purposes for sure. But in my (cadet) opinion the angle they might have been taking with their original wording to me isn't as much as a "nothing better turned up" as it is "some of our cadets who did not originally come here intending to serve discovered here that that was a path they wanted to follow." I think VMI's original wording gives more of the idea that you can switch to (end up in) a commissioning track even if that wasn't maybe your original intention.

I can absolutely see though how it reads the other way. I think it's a interesting debate and I believe the recruiting office & cadets here at VT are currently working on changing and refining the verbiage we use to discuss the Citizen-Leader Track in our recruiting materials.

 

[RBI90VMI]

VMI class of '90 here with a son in the Corps as well '26. The verbiage in this add has been a hot topic among alums in the various social media spaces. I agree that it was poorly worded and could have stressed serving in the military as a good thing if you want it rather than something you don't have to do or end up doing.