VMI vs Citadel

M

MNRC2018

Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2019
Messages
94
My son has been accepted to both the Citadel and VMI. We just heard from VMI this week, Citadel we have known for about a month. He did the overnight open house at VMI last winter and we visited the campus and took a tour of the Citadel while we were on vacation in Hilton Head this summer. The tour of the Citadel did convince him to apply there as he was unsure before he visited. He loved VMI right off the bat. He is also applying to USMA. I feel he will get an appointment, but that in no way guarantees admission. He is also applying for the ROTC scholarship. He has passed fitness tests and is taking having his physical this week.
I have many questions but here are a few
1. ROTC scholarship, when do you find out about these?This will factor into the decision as we are out of state for both schools and they are very expensive. I hate to say this but I do not want to pay that kind of tuition for my son to then commission into the service. That seems unwise financially. I will not allow my kids to take out loans because we can swing college without that, but there are limits. I feel he will get some scholarship from the Citadel as they told him the offered money to those with an ACT of 30 and he currently has that. He is taking it again this weekend to get the score higher for the SA application And potential scholarships. I do not think he will get any academic scholarship from VMI unless he gets a higher ACT ( fingers crossed )
2. He also has been admitted to Ole Miss, U of Arkansas and U of Tennessee. Ole miss has already offered him a nice scholarship not factoring in any ROTC. They do have an impressive ROTC program. Many of his friends are going there and there is an appeal of having a more typical college experience. Speaking with a recent USMA grad a few weeks ago, it seems most of these kids all end up in similar places when the commission. Meaning this young man was in officer training with graduates from ROTC programs from all over, not just military academies and there appeared to be no advantage or disadvantage . I realize that graduating from a SA or military college has prestige, I am just wondering what other advantage there is to justify the extra cost if there is no scholarship. I am in no way demeaning these institutions just taking a pragmatic approach. The alumni connection may be a huge advantage, just wanting feedback.
I have many more questions but I think this will be a great start. I really appreciate any feedback as I know everyone’s time is valuable.
 
One may not hear a positive or negative reply for a ROTC scholarship until late March or even mid-April. One might hear earlier if awarded a scholarship, but a negative reply will not come until then. This is still plenty of time to accept by the May 1 deadline that most colleges (all?) have. DS got a negative reply on an NROTC scholarship in mid-April but we were still able to execute on plan B as it was all lined up.

Patience. You have time to wait on any financial aid info from the schools and from ROTC. Don't let the desire to have it resolved drive the decision.
 
MNRC2018 said:
My son has been accepted to both the Citadel and VMI. We just heard from VMI this week, Citadel we have known for about a month. He did the overnight open house at VMI last winter and we visited the campus and took a tour of the Citadel while we were on vacation in Hilton Head this summer. The tour of the Citadel did convince him to apply there as he was unsure before he visited. He loved VMI right off the bat. He is also applying to USMA. I feel he will get an appointment, but that in no way guarantees admission. He is also applying for the ROTC scholarship. He has passed fitness tests and is taking having his physical this week.
I have many questions but here are a few
1. ROTC scholarship, when do you find out about these?This will factor into the decision as we are out of state for both schools and they are very expensive. I hate to say this but I do not want to pay that kind of tuition for my son to then commission into the service. That seems unwise financially. I will not allow my kids to take out loans because we can swing college without that, but there are limits. I feel he will get some scholarship from the Citadel as they told him the offered money to those with an ACT of 30 and he currently has that. He is taking it again this weekend to get the score higher for the SA application And potential scholarships. I do not think he will get any academic scholarship from VMI unless he gets a higher ACT ( fingers crossed )

2. He also has been admitted to Ole Miss, U of Arkansas and U of Tennessee. Ole miss has already offered him a nice scholarship not factoring in any ROTC. They do have an impressive ROTC program. Many of his friends are going there and there is an appeal of having a more typical college experience. Speaking with a recent USMA grad a few weeks ago, it seems most of these kids all end up in similar places when the commission. Meaning this young man was in officer training with graduates from ROTC programs from all over, not just military academies and there appeared to be no advantage or disadvantage . I realize that graduating from a SA or military college has prestige, I am just wondering what other advantage there is to justify the extra cost if there is no scholarship. I am in no way demeaning these institutions just taking a pragmatic approach. The alumni connection may be a huge advantage, just wanting feedback.
I have many more questions but I think this will be a great start. I really appreciate any feedback as I know everyone’s time is valuable.
Click to expand...

I'm currently a rat at VMI can answer at least a few questions. VMI has a fantastic ROTC program for each branch and has a lot of unique training opportunities due to its SMC status and the number of cadets enrolled in an ROTC. One secret bonus of VMI is that ALL ARMY CADETS receive a uniform allowance of 600 a semester, regardless if contracted or not. I scored 1220 on my SAT and was awarded a scholarship for both VMI and citadel. I will say the CItadel scholarship was bigger, but not enough to offset out of state costs. You can look up the ROTC board times with the link below,I didn't get mine until the 3rd board.

 
At least when I was a prospect, VMI did tend to be more competitive when it came to admissions and financial aid than El Cid. OOS tuition has only gone up since I matriculated as well, unfortunately. The value really lies in job placement percentages and average earnings of grads compared to other institutions. This ties in to your point about the alumni network.

For example, I was offered an internship while I was a Rat that paid well and lined up with my career goals. I brought no useful skills (other than the soft-skills/work ethic type stuff) to the job. I got this because someone found out I was a Rat. That was it, just VMI. They felt that made it a good bet to hire me. That one internship has subsequently opened up other doors that has vectored my career. The tuition sucks, but I think it would be hard to cap a $ value to having VMI on my transcript.
 
Pololive5 said:
I'm currently a rat at VMI can answer at least a few questions. VMI has a fantastic ROTC program for each branch and has a lot of unique training opportunities due to its SMC status and the number of cadets enrolled in an ROTC. One secret bonus of VMI is that ALL ARMY CADETS receive a uniform allowance of 600 a semester, regardless if contracted or not. I scored 1220 on my SAT and was awarded a scholarship for both VMI and citadel. I will say the CItadel scholarship was bigger, but not enough to offset out of state costs. You can look up the ROTC board times with the link below,I didn't get mine until the 3rd board.

Click to expand...
Thank you for taking time to answer my questions. Much appreciated and I value the insight.
 
VMI2017+3 said:
At least when I was a prospect, VMI did tend to be more competitive when it came to admissions and financial aid than El Cid. OOS tuition has only gone up since I matriculated as well, unfortunately. The value really lies in job placement percentages and average earnings of grads compared to other institutions. This ties in to your point about the alumni network.

For example, I was offered an internship while I was a Rat that paid well and lined up with my career goals. I brought no useful skills (other than the soft-skills/work ethic type stuff) to the job. I got this because someone found out I was a Rat. That was it, just VMI. They felt that made it a good bet to hire me. That one internship has subsequently opened up other doors that has vectored my career. The tuition sucks, but I think it would be hard to cap a $ value to having VMI on my transcript.
Click to expand...
Thank you for sharing your perspective. I appreciate the feedback.
 
kinnem said:
One may not hear a positive or negative reply for a ROTC scholarship until late March or even mid-April. One might hear earlier if awarded a scholarship, but a negative reply will not come until then. This is still plenty of time to accept by the May 1 deadline that most colleges (all?) have. DS got a negative reply on an NROTC scholarship in mid-April but we were still able to execute on plan B as it was all lined up.

Patience. You have time to wait on any financial aid info from the schools and from ROTC. Don't let the desire to have it resolved drive the decision.
Click to expand...
kinnem said:
One may not hear a positive or negative reply for a ROTC scholarship until late March or even mid-April. One might hear earlier if awarded a scholarship, but a negative reply will not come until then. This is still plenty of time to accept by the May 1 deadline that most colleges (all?) have. DS got a negative reply on an NROTC scholarship in mid-April but we were still able to execute on plan B as it was all lined up.

Patience. You have time to wait on any financial aid info from the schools and from ROTC. Don't let the desire to have it resolved drive the decision.
Click to expand...
You are right about that. The nice thing is that so far he has some nice options lining up. Just have to see how it all plays out.
 
I have another question for some of the parents. How is it getting accommodations in Lexington during parents weekend etc. My daughter graduated from Sewanee, which is also in a small town with limited options. We literally rented professors homes to find a place to stay for family weekend because the hotel situation was almost non existent. Lexington seemed similar to me? Only a few hotels and lots of parents!!! Any thoughts? Citadel seems to have more places simply because it is a larger city. I realize this should in no way factor into his decision and it won't , just wondering what VMI parents do.
Thanks
 
A quick Google search tells me there are at least 19-20 hotels in Lexington or within easy driving distance at the interstate exit. Don't know if that's enough accommodations and it probably depends on what's happening at Washington & Lee at the same time. I'm sure actual parents will chime in.
 
MNRC2018 said:
I have another question for some of the parents. How is it getting accommodations in Lexington during parents weekend etc. My daughter graduated from Sewanee, which is also in a small town with limited options. We literally rented professors homes to find a place to stay for family weekend because the hotel situation was almost non existent. Lexington seemed similar to me? Only a few hotels and lots of parents!!! Any thoughts? Citadel seems to have more places simply because it is a larger city. I realize this should in no way factor into his decision and it won't , just wondering what VMI parents do.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Lexington is a small town, hotels can be hard to come by on big weekends. For parents weekend, book a hotel during matriculation. Air B&B is an option my and BR's parents have used a few times.
 
MNRC2018 said:
Thank you for taking time to answer my questions. Much appreciated and I value the insight.
Click to expand...
Also, local ROTC scholarships are a dime a dozen at VMI. Multiple BRs of mine have talked to our branch chief about scholarships and are likely to pick up 3-year scholarships. Local 4-year scholarships do exist, the army will reimburse you the money, but you gotta HIGH speed for that.

The big reason for this is that ROTC is required for your first 2 years, and army is the default for people who don't want to commission from the start now, so you're competing with a fair amount of people who aren't interested in a commission.
 
So, a lot depends on what your DS intends to study and his expectations during and after college. I am familiar with The Citadel. Small college 2,300 cadets with very well reguarded engineering and business majors. If he studying a hard STEM major, he needs to consider whether he would do well at a university in large classes taught by teaching assistants, or if small classes at schools like VMI and The Citadel would be best. This is a major consideration - and advantage a small college has over universities. So is the graduation rate - at The Citadel, the 4 year graduation rate is twice the national average for public colleges and universities. Consider this in terms of total cost to attend - most univerities give their graduation rates in 6 years not 4.

Commissioning and branch selection are competitive - depending where he ends up on the OML, will determine what branch he receives. Alao, if receiving an ROTC and/or most academic merit scholarships, the student or cadet will need to maintain a certain GPA. At The Citadel this is 3.0 to retain institutional merit awards.

Did I understand you mentioned your DS was likely to receive an appointment to WP? Fantastic opportunity - assuming he is committed to serve 5 years active duty and in the Army. He of course can decide in good faith to leave at the end of his second year and decline a commission, but he has to leave WP. At The Citadel, VMI or another civilian college or university, he can make the same decision in good faith, and stay to complete his degree. This is not just time and money, but it means remaining in the program he started and can finish with the professors and his classmates and not have to start over making these important connections.

Did I understand your DS has received word from The Citadel that he will receive a financial merit award? Based on the student's academic credentials tuition discounts can be awarded, in addition to awards for Honors Program and Scholars Program based on major (STEM, Intel & Security, Business, Finance, Accounting, etc., Nursing), These all can be stacked with an Army ROTC scholarship (which covers tuition, fees and a monthly stipend), up to cost of attendance. If DS receives a national ROTC award and meets certain academic minimums, the Armed Forces Supplement (currently $3,500/yr) is available to reduce Room & Board costs during the years the ROTC award is received, again not to exceed cost of attendance. When you consider merit and ROTC scholarship awards plus whatever need based aid is available based on family income, the return on investment at a small college almost always is greater than at a large university. You check ROI on this searchable data base researched by Georgetown University at: https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/collegeroi/
 
glen said:
So, a lot depends on what your DS intends to study and his expectations during and after college. I am familiar with The Citadel. Small college 2,300 cadets with very well reguarded engineering and business majors. If he studying a hard STEM major, he needs to consider whether he would do well at a university in large classes taught by teaching assistants, or if small classes at schools like VMI and The Citadel would be best. This is a major consideration - and advantage a small college has over universities. So is the graduation rate - at The Citadel, the 4 year graduation rate is twice the national average for public colleges and universities. Consider this in terms of total cost to attend - most univerities give their graduation rates in 6 years not 4.

Commissioning and branch selection are competitive - depending where he ends up on the OML, will determine what branch he receives. Alao, if receiving an ROTC and/or most academic merit scholarships, the student or cadet will need to maintain a certain GPA. At The Citadel this is 3.0 to retain institutional merit awards.

Did I understand you mentioned your DS was likely to receive an appointment to WP? Fantastic opportunity - assuming he is committed to serve 5 years active duty and in the Army. He of course can decide in good faith to leave at the end of his second year and decline a commission, but he has to leave WP. At The Citadel, VMI or another civilian college or university, he can make the same decision in good faith, and stay to complete his degree. This is not just time and money, but it means remaining in the program he started and can finish with the professors and his classmates and not have to start over making these important connections.

Did I understand your DS has received word from The Citadel that he will receive a financial merit award? Based on the student's academic credentials tuition discounts can be awarded, in addition to awards for Honors Program and Scholars Program based on major (STEM, Intel & Security, Business, Finance, Accounting, etc., Nursing), These all can be stacked with an Army ROTC scholarship (which covers tuition, fees and a monthly stipend), up to cost of attendance. If DS receives a national ROTC award and meets certain academic minimums, the Armed Forces Supplement (currently $3,500/yr) is available to reduce Room & Board costs during the years the ROTC award is received, again not to exceed cost of attendance. When you consider merit and ROTC scholarship awards plus whatever need based aid is available based on family income, the return on investment at a small college almost always is greater than at a large university. You check ROI on this searchable data base researched by Georgetown University at: https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/collegeroi/
Click to expand...
Dear Glen,
Thank you for your thoughtful response. Yes my son is likely to get a nomination. He has worked/ interned for our congressman for a year and a half and that topped with decent grades 3.4 and ACT ( 30 currently ) score should help. He will be taking the ACT again tomorrow. His school is academically challenging with only honors/AP classes offered. His class of 100 currently has 7 national merit semi and 7 commended. They do not do class rank and they do not inflate/ over weight GPAs. He was told his interview went well and he would likely get nominated, however they can nominate 10 kids for 1-2 spots so it not at all a sure bet he will be admitted to USMA or USFA. He is a 4 letter cross country runner and distance track runner being the team captain the last two years. He just ran his first marathon and took 3rd in his age group and finished with a time of 3:19. I just had to add that because that was AMAZING lol!! He is an Eagle Scout who stayed involved past rank of Eagle and has received palms and has been a JR. Scoutmaster. He has worked as a lifeguard for two years in the summer as well in addition to being a congressional intern. He has also traveled to Costa Rica for spanish immersion and is an Ambassador for his school. Plays guitar some for our praise band at church when the schedule allows. If he were blessed enough to get into either one of the service academies he would take it. I realize any service academy is a long shot.
When we interviewed at the Citadel he was told that with an ACT of a 30 they look at awarding money. So we will have to see about that. His current GPA may hurt him, but I do think when the schools look at the school/ class profile and how they weight GPAs it may not be so bad. Currently a 3.4 would not qualify him for an honors college. Not sure if he can get that to a 3.5, but maybe this semester he can he seems to be doing well.
I don't know if he would be awarded any money at VMI with his current stats.
We will not qualify for any financial aid, we own our home and are not in debt so the reward for being finically disciplined is typically you pay the full sticker price minus any merit based awards.
I do appreciate the difference between a large state school vs smaller school. My daughter just graduated from Sewanee, The University of the South. You are preaching to the choir about the benefits of s smaller school and she was awarded some nice scholarship so it made that school doable for us. We also have said daughter in grad school for another 2 years so we have this to consider.
He is not a STEM guy but a liberal arts guy. Loves history and is looking at a degree in International Studies or something along that line. Criminal Justice may be another consideration.
He is very excited about both admissions to Citadel and VMI
He has just finished his application for the ROTC scholarship, completed the physical and has passed the fitness test for both the USMA as well as ROTC. His doc appointments were this week so it may take a bit to get all that info in but there hopefully won't be any problems there, the doc said he was fine. Would love a 3 or 4 year ROTC, that would make choosing VMI or Citadel a no brainer if he does not get into USMA/ USFA
All of these kids work so hard and everyone on this board I have been reading about is so impressive. Nice to know there are kids out there working so hard and wanting to serve.
 
MNRC2018 said:
Dear Glen,
Thank you for your thoughtful response. Yes my son is likely to get a nomination. He has worked/ interned for our congressman for a year and a half and that topped with decent grades 3.4 and ACT ( 30 currently ) score should help. He will be taking the ACT again tomorrow. His school is academically challenging with only honors/AP classes offered. His class of 100 currently has 7 national merit semi and 7 commended. They do not do class rank and they do not inflate/ over weight GPAs. He was told his interview went well and he would likely get nominated, however they can nominate 10 kids for 1-2 spots so it not at all a sure bet he will be admitted to USMA or USFA. He is a 4 letter cross country runner and distance track runner being the team captain the last two years. He just ran his first marathon and took 3rd in his age group and finished with a time of 3:19. I just had to add that because that was AMAZING lol!! He is an Eagle Scout who stayed involved past rank of Eagle and has received palms and has been a JR. Scoutmaster. He has worked as a lifeguard for two years in the summer as well in addition to being a congressional intern. He has also traveled to Costa Rica for spanish immersion and is an Ambassador for his school. Plays guitar some for our praise band at church when the schedule allows. If he were blessed enough to get into either one of the service academies he would take it. I realize any service academy is a long shot.
When we interviewed at the Citadel he was told that with an ACT of a 30 they look at awarding money. So we will have to see about that. His current GPA may hurt him, but I do think when the schools look at the school/ class profile and how they weight GPAs it may not be so bad. Currently a 3.4 would not qualify him for an honors college. Not sure if he can get that to a 3.5, but maybe this semester he can he seems to be doing well.
I don't know if he would be awarded any money at VMI with his current stats.
We will not qualify for any financial aid, we own our home and are not in debt so the reward for being finically disciplined is typically you pay the full sticker price minus any merit based awards.
I do appreciate the difference between a large state school vs smaller school. My daughter just graduated from Sewanee, The University of the South. You are preaching to the choir about the benefits of s smaller school and she was awarded some nice scholarship so it made that school doable for us. We also have said daughter in grad school for another 2 years so we have this to consider.
He is not a STEM guy but a liberal arts guy. Loves history and is looking at a degree in International Studies or something along that line. Criminal Justice may be another consideration.
He is very excited about both admissions to Citadel and VMI
He has just finished his application for the ROTC scholarship, completed the physical and has passed the fitness test for both the USMA as well as ROTC. His doc appointments were this week so it may take a bit to get all that info in but there hopefully won't be any problems there, the doc said he was fine. Would love a 3 or 4 year ROTC, that would make choosing VMI or Citadel a no brainer if he does not get into USMA/ USFA
All of these kids work so hard and everyone on this board I have been reading about is so impressive. Nice to know there are kids out there working so hard and wanting to serve.
Click to expand...

MNRC2018 - thanks for the update. Encourage DS to stay on top of the ROTC scholarship process, because even if he is not awarded a National scholarship out of high school, comments from the ROTC forum by officers in detachments have mentioned that he will have a leg up in applying for a campus based 3.5 and 3 as he will be in the data base. I would also encourage him to consider Intelligence & Security and a minor in cyber operations if he is not interested or does not feel a STEM major is good for him. The Citadel Scholars Program scholarships include cadets studying Intel & Security. Both are now hot employmennt areas and Homeland Security agencies hire a bunch of grads with these backgrounds. Today all the alphabet agencies recruit college students with majors in the computer science/cyber operations areas (not like old days when they only recruited law, CPA, or prior service). Question - with varsity athletics - has he filled out his profile on the Athletic Department's web page for Track & Field? The Citadel awards as many $ for athletic scholarships as academic. Best of luck to him.
 
Glenn, my DD graduated from W&L in 2017...…. hotel reservations on MANY weekends during the school term in and around Lexington can be very challenging . BUT, if you book your hotel at least 3 months prior to a special function you'll usually be successful . Graduation weekends are 10 to 12 months prior( at least)...… the several most popular main-street restaurants in town get booked up quickly on those special "parents invited weekends" also...….BUT , What a GREAT TOWN and the amazing schools that actually touch each others' campuses !

GO NAVY beat ARMY ...and then on DEC31st..... beat KANSAS STATE
 
glen said:
MNRC2018 - thanks for the update. Encourage DS to stay on top of the ROTC scholarship process, because even if he is not awarded a National scholarship out of high school, comments from the ROTC forum by officers in detachments have mentioned that he will have a leg up in applying for a campus based 3.5 and 3 as he will be in the data base. I would also encourage him to consider Intelligence & Security and a minor in cyber operations if he is not interested or does not feel a STEM major is good for him. The Citadel Scholars Program scholarships include cadets studying Intel & Security. Both are now hot employmennt areas and Homeland Security agencies hire a bunch of grads with these backgrounds. Today all the alphabet agencies recruit college students with majors in the computer science/cyber operations areas (not like old days when they only recruited law, CPA, or prior service). Question - with varsity athletics - has he filled out his profile on the Athletic Department's web page for Track & Field? The Citadel awards as many $ for athletic scholarships as academic. Best of luck to him.
Click to expand...
I was thinking he needs to contact the Citadel coach. He spoke with the VMI coach when he toured. He unfortunately got mono the last 4 weeks of track season JR year so he doesn’t have track times for last year and his CC season this fall suffered as well. He ran ok but not as fast as his JR season. The mono kept him out of running over 6 weeks and when he started back it took a while for him to build back. I do think he is back to pre mono running and I think if he spoke with the coaches they could look at his other years and see if he would be a good fit. That mono was horrible timing. Affected his final exams, had to put off spring ACT testing..it was gross! Only positive is that I won’t have to worry about him getting it in college.
 
MNRC2018 said:
I was thinking he needs to contact the Citadel coach. He spoke with the VMI coach when he toured. He unfortunately got mono the last 4 weeks of track season JR year so he doesn’t have track times for last year and his CC season this fall suffered as well. He ran ok but not as fast as his JR season. The mono kept him out of running over 6 weeks and when he started back it took a while for him to build back. I do think he is back to pre mono running and I think if he spoke with the coaches they could look at his other years and see if he would be a good fit. That mono was horrible timing. Affected his final exams, had to put off spring ACT testing..it was gross! Only positive is that I won’t have to worry about him getting it in college.
Click to expand...
Yea, mono is definitely bad news. The good thing about both Citadel and VMI is they tend to pick up kids who for one reason or other the larger schools pass on - giving these kids a real chance to perform. Even if he does not get a scholarship going in, it pays to walk-on as the team forms a natural community of upperclass mentors. Varsity athletes at The Citadel mostly do very well academically and stay well balanced. He best way to approach The Citadel track coach is to first fill out the web portal on the track page of the Athletic site on the college's web site.
 
glen said:
The good thing about both Citadel and VMI is they tend to pick up kids who for one reason or other the larger schools pass on - giving these kids a real chance to perform.
Click to expand...
Absolutely true, we spoke to the VMI Director of Basketball Op's last year about our youngest (current Sophomore), and he told us that (at least in Hoops), many times VMI is the only Division 1 offer his recruits get.
 
My youngest son is currently a Rat at VMI on a national 4-year Army ROTC Scholarship (Class 2020+3). My oldest son is a Class of 2018 grad of the USMA at West Point, so my wife and I have twice-experienced this application and decision-making process.

Attending VMI was "Plan B" for my youngest son, after not receiving an appointment to West Point (Plan A). In addition to VMI, he also applied and was accepted to Citadel, Norwich, and Texas A&M (TAMU). With regard to your questions above (MNRC2018), my VMI son's experience has been as follows:

1. Army ROTC Scholarship: He completed his online application prior to the 1st Board deadline. He did not receive a scholarship after the 1st Board convened (notified that his status was still "Boarded - Under Consideration"); he received a 3-year scholarship notification after the 2nd Board (on 1/25/19); he was later notified that he had been upgraded to a 4-year scholarship after the 3rd Board (on 3/28/19).

2. West Point: My son received his rejection letter (TWE) from USMA about a week after notification of his 4-year AROTC upgrade, though the rejection letter was dated 3/20/19. He was a very qualified applicant and very similar on paper to his older WP brother (Eagle Scout, Boys State, USMA SLE attendee, varsity athlete, excellent SAT score, 20 hours of dual-credit college classes, etc.) and had received both a Congressional and a Senatorial nomination, but unfortunately did not receive an appointment. We were somewhat surprised and disappointed, but glad we had a good Plan B.

3. ROTC College Choice: We visited both VMI and The Citadel with my son; he had attended the West Point Summer Leaders Experience on his own. He has a fellow Eagle Scout friend (a year older) who is currently attending Norwich on Navy ROTC scholarship (Marine option) who had given him a very good idea of what that college experience is like, such that we felt no need to visit Norwich. After digesting all information from our visits and the discussion with the Norwich friend, my son decided that VMI was the best fit for him. He ranked his choices as follows: VMI, Norwich, Citadel, TAMU.

My son chose VMI in the end because he wanted a military college environment where all students were cadets living the military lifestyle (like at USMA); this easily eliminated Norwich and TAMU from consideration (in addition, TAMU was just way too big for him!). Norwich would have been the best financial choice, in that they offered enough in local scholarships to cover all expenses that were not covered by ROTC! He chose VMI over The Citadel for reasons that were important to him as an individual, so it was a subjective decision rather than objective. Fortunately he has received some outside scholarship money to supplement the ROTC scholarship, so out-of-pocket cost is about $5K per year for us at VMI. It would have been approximately the same cost had he chosen The Citadel.

4. Hotels at VMI are really not a problem at if one plans ahead. We had no problem getting a hotel in Lexington for Matriculation Day, but the demand is definitely greater (and prices higher) for Parent's Weekend. For Parent's weekend in 2019, we chose to stay in a hotel in Raphine over Lexington because it was much cheaper, and only 20 minutes away.

Hope this helps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top