Virginia Military Institute - Academic Programs

Academic Programs

VMI's academic programs are grouped into four areas: engineering, liberal arts, humanities, and the sciences. The engineering department has concentrations in three areas: civil and environmental engineering, electrical and computer engineering, and mechanical engineering. Two recent Chiefs of Engineers of the Army Corps of Engineers, Lieutenant Generals Carl A. Strock and Robert B. Flowers, were VMI engineering graduates. VMI offers 14 major and 23 minor areas of study, with the majority of classes taught by full-time professors, 99 percent of whom hold terminal degrees. Within four months of graduation, an average of 97 percent of VMI graduates are either serving in the military, employed, or admitted to graduate or professional schools.

A large number of VMI graduates go on to attend graduate and professional schools. VMI has graduated 11 Rhodes Scholars since 1921 and two in the last six years. Per capita, VMI has graduated more Rhodes Scholars than any public college or university in the United States and more than all the other senior military colleges combined. By comparison, Texas A&M has graduated seven Virginia Tech has graduated two and Norwich one. The most recent VMI Rhodes Scholar (as of 2009), Gregory Lippiatt of York, Pa., was named in 2009. In 2007, VMI had two Rhodes Scholarship finalists and one Marshall Scholarship finalist.