Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
You have no idea about VMI. That is a great school. Excellent network when you graduate. And many do well as officers in the military.

Agree VMI is an excellent school, but by all reasonable measures, it is not as strong as Wesleyan which was used in the example. You can be very successfully having attended VMI, but your odds are greater with a degree from Wesleyan. It is all about probability.

Wesleyan review in Forbes
VMI review in Forbes

If your son is militarily inclined and has an option to do ROTC at VMI or a NESCAC school which would you guide him towards?

If academics were not something you cared about would you advise your son to play at a school that regularly is in the bottom 10% of D1 lacrosse rankings or a participant of last year's D3 Final Four.




Dear Dad, I'm sure your son is going to love Wesleyan as much as you do.
However, there's this thing called "best fit" when it comes to picking colleges. Academics and Lacrosse are certainly important, but I think you have to dig a little deeper. The answers to the following questions bring some intangibles to light that one might consider before heading off to one of the aforementioned schools. Are the kids at that school similar to my son? Will he have much in common with them? Do they share the same beliefs? Were they raised with the same values? Are they people you would seek out to be friend if you weren't at the same school. Will your son enjoy the company of the people at the school other than his teammates? As a parent, are the kids at the school the kind of people I want my kid associating with? Potentially marring and bringing into my family? Do want your son surrounded by these people for four years? The professors at the school, are they the kind of people you want molding and influencing your son? I dare say the answers to these questions are far more important to me than the ranking in Forbes. While Wesleyan maybe ranked higher in that magazine, for me I have to say the answers to the intangibles would be a deal killer. On the other hand, if a military track was your son's desired path, I'd be very comfortable with VMI on the intangibles.