So we all know about the Naval Academy, West Point, AF Academy, Coast Guard Academy… hard to get into, tuition is free, commission as officers, required to serve a certain number of years after… but what about non government schools such as Virginia Military Academy, Norwich, Citadel… and errrrr… I am sure there are others.
Did anyone go to schools like this? Why did you choose to go to one of these schools vs ROTC vs an academy? They still commission out of these schools as officers? What was your experience like that?
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My college (Texas A&M) has a big ROTC program that’s basically the same deal, my buddy went through. He got college covered, a stipend and was an officer as soon as he finished boot after graduation.
Graduated from the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, though did not commission. It’s one of the 6 Senior Military Colleges like you are describing. Went after getting wait listed by the USNA and was originally chasing an NROTC scholarship and picked VT over a more traditional experience at Penn State. After a year and a major change the navy wasn’t happening but I liked the VTCC enough to not transfer and join the 1/3 or so of each class not seeking a commission.
Don’t regret it at all. The buds I met and lived with for 4 years remain some of my best friends. And it definitely gave me some of the discipline to adjust to college.
Also got me hooked on college football since we went to every home game!
For reference the SMCs are VT, Texas A&M, The Citadel, VMI, Norwich, and North Georgia.
And functionally the services treat you like any other ROTC commission, though the SMCs tend to get a bit of preference for certain assignments and training schools. But the school run cadet experience is a separate deal from the DoD run ROTC pipeline. One neat thing is that unlike the federal service academies you are exposed to each branch much more since each campus at the SMCs has all 3 types of ROTC present and the staff overseeing cadet life can be pretty diverse. While at Tech we hired a guy to the commandants staff that was career a NOAA officer!
After the military, I went to a non-service academy military college (The Citadel)
I went because they had an engineering program in my hometown
I had no interest in commissioning and was not treated as a cadet (Vets are allowed to take classes with the cadets but don’t have to do cadet stuff at The Citadel).
Plenty of people commission coming out of these places.
Having asked these questions to a number of cadets we can generally lump the people who go there into a couple different categories
-their dad, granddad, great grandad, etc… went to the school. They may or may not have any interest at all in the military. They are simply going where their family wants them to (often for financial reasons).
-they couldn’t get into an academy. They intend to join the military, and this seems like the best way to ensure a commission.
-this was the best school they could get into. I can’t speak for all of these places of course but VMI and The Citadel are both good schools for what they are.
My two cents as someone with a BS from Clemson (a large state school) and The Citadel
– Military schools offer a level of faculty and community oversight that you just don’t get at a big state school. While doing the dress up thing has its challenges … the faculty is there for you in a way that is remarkably rare in today’s college environment. You’ll put up with a lot of BS, but you’ll also have people keeping an eye out for you. It’s not a good fit for everyone, but for a certain type of student, it’s a much better deal than a large state school.
>Did anyone go to schools like this?
Yes, but not me.
>Why did you choose to go to one of these schools vs ROTC vs an academy?
It’s functionally ROTC. The networking opportunities are strong too, especially if you plan on staying in the military.
>They still commission out of these schools as officers?
Yes. At least in the Marine Corps, they will get selected to attend and sent to OCS — which will allow them to get commissioned upon graduation. Unlike ROTC though, they will forced to complete the entire thing, not just the last 6 weeks.
>What was your experience like that?
I wouldn’t recommend it. Go ROTC, if you can’t get into a service academy. Otherwise, you’ll surround yourself with overtly conservative motards who don’t **actually** understand the military while you get hazed.
Get exposed to the world outside. You may not agree with it, but it’ll be good for you.
Seen it happen 1000 times. Where someone commissions, realizes its not for them, and leaves after their first tour. Give yourself options. The outside world cares more about UC Berkeley than it does about Norwich. And while attending University of Florida may not give you as many connections, there are plenty of successful military officers who attended regular schools.
I was in NROTC at Maine Maritime. Couldn’t keep my grades up so they dropped me from the program. Years later I came back and graduated without help from the navy.