Wentworth Military Academy & Junior College

Date: Feb 11 2015
Major: History/Histories (art history/etc.) (This Major's Salary over time)
I graduated from Wentworth Military College two years ago, in May 2013. My leaving was accompanied by a lot of bitterness and some genuine, heartfelt sadness. There was mostly "good riddance" to the school itself and yes, many of my classmates. But there were some partings I would've given anything to avoid. Two years have passed both faster and slower than I thought they would've, and my memories of Wentworth remain difficult to process. The passage of time has yet to make any of it easier.

The President of UVA said recently,

There is no greater threat to honor than secrecy and indifference

If that is so, and I believe it is, then Wentworth Military Academy and College is the most dishonorable boarding school, military or civilian, in the United States of America if not the entire world. A favoritism-before-merit MO, and a laughable indifference to enforcing the tenets of the hallowed Honor Code are just two examples. Any sense of unity and discipline there might have been in the 132nd Corps of Cadets (2011-2012) was gone by 2012-2013. Gone. At Wentworth, I saw good people (staff and cadets) go unappreciated while the suck-ups and sleazebags got ahead.

People notice that sort of thing, and the result? Brain drain. Less than half of the cadets (high school and college) who arrived new under the magnificent cadet leaders of 2011-2012 returned for 2012-2013. When I returned, my friends were gone and the idiots were back and had been put in charge. That's the way it goes at WeWo. It sucks, and then it blows. Tradition is never honored, and the timeless cadet Honor Code is stuck up on walls but nobody pays any attention. Why should they? Lying, cheating and stealing is the example the school usually chooses to set, and the cadets and staff who go against that are always the exception to the rule.

So now that I'm out in the field, how has my college helped/hurt me?

It hasn't. That's all I have to say. The fact that it says "military" on my resume has helped with a job once or twice, but given that people think of VMI and West Point when they see "military college", it has actually given some people I've gone to work for unrealistic expectations, thinking I went to a REAL military college.

I didn't, and I thank God that nobody on the East Coast knows that when I go apply for a job. I anybody east of Kentucky knew anything about Wentworth at all, I'd have to leave it off my resume or I'd never get a job. There is no real alumni association, just old men who went to the school in the 1950's. Modern-day graduates, in my experience, want nothing to do with Wentworth after they leave. The older alumni, say 1980's and back, want nothing to do with the newer graduates. They look down on us, and somehow blame us for the state of the school today, which they nonetheless do absolutely nothing about. I have a few former WeWo buddies and staff I keep in touch with, but that's it. Wentworth is not West Point, a school with a vibrant alumni community that you feel honored to join. It is a place where not even the alumni like each other, and where most cadets are just glad to leave. Since leaving Wentworth I have relied on the school and my days there hardly at all. I have an Associate's Degree and that's it.

What do I think I should have known/done?

In short, I should have tried harder back in high school, gotten into West Point or VMI. For a junior military college, I should have gone to Marion Military Institute in Alabama, a state-run school that is still not VMI, but overall much better from what I hear. It could hardly be worse. I would not trade the handful of genuine friends I made at Wentworth for anything, and I do not include them in the negative things I say about the school overall, as some of them were cadets and some were staff. But overall, these days I find myself wishing I had just gone somewhere else.

What do I recommend high school or college students do?

Don't go to WeWo. No matter what they tell you or try to sell you on, do NOT go there. Odds are you will never get what you came for, you most certainly won't get what you paid for, and the historic, honorable image the school projects will turn out to be phony very, very fast.

High school students would be better off looking at Fork Union Military Academy, Fishburne Military School, Valley Forge Military Academy & College or best of all, Hargrave Military Academy. Hargrave in particular will be an excellent choice. While it's still an expensive private school, unlike Wentworth, you will be attending one of the best-connected and best-run military boarding schools in America. Stop by there for an open house sometime.

College students, consider MMI in Marion, Alabama- tuition is reasonable even for out-of-state cadets, and MMI is the official State Military College of Alabama. You'll notice Wentworth has never held this status in Missouri, and probably never will. It doesn't deserve it, either. For those who can afford it, Valley Forge's 2-year military college is worth a look. MMI, or VFMC, but not Wentworth.

What matters most here is not just the fact that you will learn very little about duty, honor, or country here, but you will pay the same cost or more as you would at a vastly better school. You'll be cheating yourself, if nothing else out of time and money you can never get back. If you have aspirations of attending West Point, VMI, or The Citadel, be advised that the slovenly standards of discipline and leadership at Wentworth more than likely leave you ill-prepared for those colleges, legendary as some of the hardest and most challenging in the country.

I am glad to have made the friends I did at Wentworth, among the Corps of Cadets and among the staff. I did make my share of good memories, in particular during my first year in 2011-2012, and I will always remember them. But the negatives of the experience far outweigh the positives. The school is simply too poorly run to justify the financial price you have to pay to go there. Friends and good memories, more of them, could have been made at another, better school, and that is exactly where I should have gone instead.