The Virginia Military Institute’s first class of women will actively recruit more females for next year’s class, talking to them personally and becoming a part of a marketing campaign to attract more women to the formerly all-male school, say admissions officers.
Assistant Director of Admissions Terri Wheaton Reddings said “We’ve got to keep the momentum going. We get on the road and young women ask us, ‘Tell us how the girls are doing.’ They’ll be able to talk to them and find out firsthand what it’s like.”
The school has received over 3,500 admission inquiries from females for the 1998-99 school year, almost 10 times last year’s number. So far this school year, about 10% of both women and men have voluntarily dropped out, leaving 26 women in the freshman class.
At last Friday’s first open house at VMI, eight females of the 100 prospective cadets were women. Lindsey Moran, who attended the open house, said “I’ve heard the women are really hanging in there. Even if I am having trouble, they’ll be there to help me through it.”