Posted on 02/03/2009 5:41:34 PM PST by Vesbasion
Hello, I made a post awhile back asking for advice about actually joining the military and it sure helped in solidifying my decision to do so. Here's the deal: I'm a 17 year old from Silver Spring, Maryland and have been accepted to both Norwich University in Vermont and the Virginia Military Institute. I have also been awarded a full Army ROTC scholarship. I know the Free Republic has a lot of verterans and military apt people so any positive or negative info about either school would help immensly.
P.S. I did not just join the FR to make a quick post. I have been a member for while and though I do not make many(any) posts I must read everyone of of these forums at least 10 times a day.
I’ve known a lot of great guys who went to VMI. They had some issues back when they went coed, but they seem to have worked through that now.
Good Luck.
wait 4 yrs
VMI is an outstanding institution, but make sure that you get a solid degree in a field that you will enjoy 30 years from now. As hard as it seems at 17, 27, or even 37, a military career doesn’t last long enough.
Congratulations on your scholarship.
What was my post on March 14th, 2003?
>> make sure that you get a solid degree in a field that you will enjoy 30 years from now
Agreed. I can’t overstress the importance of the above.
VMI is a great school with a proud tradition (especially if you are from the South).
Stay away from Vermont and you’ll make a fine patriot. Thank you for your interest in the U.S. Military.
Take whichever school offers the full ride scholarship. The free ride allows you to make money as a butter bar rather than spend years paying off student loans.
Your officer commission will be the same regardless of which school you go to, and the training doesn’t really start until you go to the Officer Basic Course anyway.
Both are fine schools. VMI just has a larger publicity machine than Norwich.
IMO, graduating from a military institution will provide you with more leadership opportunities. However, you only go through undergrad once, and a more casual program (ROTC) might make for a more enjoyable four years. Good officers come from all kinds of school. Good and bad from “Podunk U” and the same for service academies. If you are interested in a math/hard science degree, I’d go for ROTC at a larger research institution. Whatever path you choose, dont’ rack up debt!
It might sound counter-intuitive, but you should take a look at St. John’s College in Annapolis. It’s the third oldest college in the U.S., founded in 1698. It features a Great Books program. You learn Greek, study Plato and Socrates, Euclid and Copernicus. Victor Davis Hanson, who writes on warfare and politics, who wrote the introduction to the most used edition of thucydides’ Peloponnesian War, is a big proponent of military men getting a grounding in the Classics. The school is refreshingly illiberal, focused as it is on the bigger picture that history and scholarship provide. Your parents will be glad to know graduates do well in the sciences and medicine and law — and the military.
My son is a sophomore.
Most of the people in my age bracket got totally disgusted with the military under Clinton and left back in the mid to late 90s, they have all gone on to very successful careers.
VMI instills a sense of honor and discipline that will serve someone throughout their entire life, I don’t think anyone will ever actually learn anything academically in college that is all that important later in life. Character is what people really need to succeed and VMI concentrates on that.
check the average temperature for december for Vt and Va. Chose accordingly.
That said, as a 20 year Army veteran, I have seen graduates of both institutions. VMI evokes George Marshall and Stonewall Jackson. Norwich evokes, well, the stay behind crew in South Boston from “Good Will Hunting”.
Think ahead. The military can be a fine career, but unless you make General, you'll be out on the street just about the time your kids are entering college. You will need a degree in something that has earning potential.
My father was a VMI grad, as was his brother. They both spoke very highly of it. Neither of them made the military their career though. My brother went to Norwich and just retired after 30 years in the Army as a full bird.
If the courses you want at each school are similar, FWIW, if you like winter sports and mountains, you may like Norwich. Being closer to home has it drawbacks and advantages. Good luck!
Congratulations. 4 yr ROTC scholarships are not handed out to just everyone. Much is expected of you. Give more.
Wow. It sounds like your doing so well so far (at your age I was still a liberal and had no GPA like that... /whistles) Although I don’t know of the school I do of military schools and the type of people who go/get scholarships. I would give this advice: don’t miss out on college just doing schoolwork and all the other things necessary at a military college. I will admit I learned more (life) from the other stuff that I’ve done in the classroom, but the lessons that will really follow you through life you might find at the Dining Hall than in a Classroom.
Plus a whole lot of fun :D. (I actually spent the last three hours after a class talking about dystopian future with internet leading off a discussion we had in a class; I know some well, some not at all and we have the beginings of a book we would like to do. )
I have a friend who was in the navy,he worked as a property manager.
Sometimes he overslept (he lived onsite)he would go down sign in and then run back home to make his bed and i am talking about the quarter being able to bounce when he was finished with the bed.
I’d do the bed later i said a couple of times “no man i gotta do the bed now”
He had the cleanest most organised apt for a single guy.
Everthing was in it’s place and boy could he pull the chicks one look at his apt they are in love..
I asked him who taught you all this neatness he said i owe it all to the navy...
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