In keeping with its founding principles and unlike any other senior military college in the U.S., VMI enrolls cadets only and awards bachelor's degrees exclusively.

For example, as of 2019 VMI had a total enrollment of 1,722 cadets (as compared to 4,500 at the Academies) making it one of the smallest NCAA Division I schools in the United States.

[14][18] In the years after the War of 1812, the Commonwealth of Virginia built and maintained several arsenals to store weapons intended for use by the state militia in the event of invasion or slave revolt.

[19][22] After a public relations campaign that included Preston meeting in person with influential business, military and political figures and many open letters from prominent supporters, in 1836 the Virginia legislature passed a bill authorizing creation of a school at the Lexington arsenal, and the Governor signed the measure into law.

He was persuaded that West Point graduate and former army officer Francis Henney Smith, then professor of mathematics at Hampden–Sydney College, was the most suitable candidate.

In a letter dated February 27, 1845, addressed to William S. Beale, VMI Class of 1843,[31] Superintendent Smith solicited items to create an Institute museum to inspire and educate cadets.

[35] Just before his famous flank attack at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Jackson looked at his division and brigade commanders, noted the high number of VMI graduates and said, "The Institute will be heard from today.

"[36] Two of Jackson's four division commanders at Chancellorsville, Generals Robert Rodes and Raleigh Colston, were VMI graduates as were more than twenty of his brigadiers and colonels.

"[39] The VMI cadets held the line and eventually pushed forward across an open muddy field, capturing a Union artillery emplacement, and helping to secure victory for the Confederates.

[41] On June 12, 1864, a month after New Market, Union forces, under the command of General David Hunter, shelled and burned the Institute as part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864.

[34] After the war, Matthew Fontaine Maury, the pioneering oceanographer known as the "Pathfinder of the Seas", accepted a teaching position at VMI, holding the physics chair.

In 1903, a statue sculpted by Moses Ezekiel, a VMI cadet who had fought and was wounded at New Market, called Virginia Mourning Her Dead, was dedicated.

The students reported a threat of lynching, attacks on social media, and a staff member promoting "an inaccurate and dangerous 'Lost Cause' version of Virginia's history.

Justin Fairfax, Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, State Senate President Louise Lucas, Attorney General Mark Herring, and Chairman of the Black Caucus Lamont Bagby.

[59][60] Three days later, the VMI Board of Visitors voted unanimously to remove the Jackson statue and create a building and naming committee.

[61] The school reaffirmed the statue's removal in December and began plans to relocated it to a Civil War museum located on a battlefield where a number of VMI cadets and alumni were killed or wounded.

The authors, employed by the law firm Barnes & Thornburg, also accused the institution's leadership, including its governing board, with an "unwillingness to change or even question its practices.

[83] VMI offers ROTC programs for five U.S. military branches (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard).

They must be unmarried, and have no legal dependents, be physically fit for enrollment in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), and be graduates of an accredited secondary school or have completed an approved homeschool curriculum.

As a result of this action by Pang, Congress passed a resolution on November 18, 1997, prohibiting the Department of Defense from withdrawing or diminishing any ROTC program at one of the six senior military colleges, including VMI.

In order to accelerate VMI's matriculation process, several women were allowed to transfer directly from various junior colleges, such as New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI), and forgo the traditional four-year curriculum required of most.

Initially, these 30 women were held to the same strict physical courses and technical training as the male cadets, and even were required to shave their heads.

[96] New cadets, known collectively as the "Rat Mass," walk along a prescribed line in barracks while maintaining an exaggerated form of attention, called "straining".

During Hell Week, Rats receive basic military instruction from select upper classmen ("Cadre"); they learn to march, to clean their M14 rifle, and to wear their uniforms.

After the successful completion of Breakout, Rats are officially fourth class students and no longer have to strain in the barracks or eat "square meals".

The barracks stairs and rails were not able to take the abuse, so the Corps moved the breakout to a muddy hill, where Rats attempt to climb to the top by crawling on their stomachs while the upper classes block them or drag them back down.

In addition to the Ratline, VMI has other traditions that are emblematic of the school and its history including the new cadet oath ceremony, the pageantry of close-order marching, and the nightly playing of "Taps".

VMI is the only military college or academy in the Nation which maintains a single-sanction Honor Code and in recent times, the dismissed cadet is removed from post before the formal announcement is made.

Alpha Tau Omega fraternity was founded by VMI cadets Otis Allan Glazebrook, Alfred Marshall, and Erskine Mayo Ross at Richmond, Virginia on September 11, 1865, while the school was closed for reconstruction.

VMI's alumni include: former governors of Virginia (Ralph Northam, Westmoreland Davis); the 25th secretary of the Army (Ryan D. McCarthy); a five-star general, secretary of state, secretary of defense, and Nobel Peace Prize recipient (George C. Marshall); Pulitzer Prize winners, 13 Rhodes Scholars, Medal of Honor recipients, an Academy Award winner, an Emmy Award and Golden Globe winner, a martyr recognized by the Episcopal Church, senators and representatives, governors, lieutenant governors, a Supreme Court justice, numerous college and university presidents, many business leaders (presidents and CEOs) and over 285 general and flag officers, including service chiefs for three of the four armed services.