Just wondering if anyone knows how the W&L and VMI students get along. Do they interact in town and at parties/bars? Are there any conflicts, or does everyone get along just fine?
I’ve never heard of any conflicts. There are some interactions and joint activities (e.g. joint Hillel and some campus socials), but not a lot from what I understand. The VMI students have curfews that don’t apply to W&L students. 
My D has a friend who is dating a VMI student so she attends the balls, of course. I haven’t heard of many other W&L girls attending VMI events, but of course I just know about my D’s social group.
There are opportunities for cross registration. My D had a class at W&L with a VMI student last year.
Personally, I find it a striking sight when the cadets are out and about in uniform. I will run your question by my D and report back.
3 Likes
Update from my kid, a sophomore at W&L:
VMI students are not officially welcome at W&L frat parties and campus socials but some show up anyway. Some are alright but some cause problems… so there are some tensions about that.
Most VMI I met seem nice (mainly at Hillel) and some girls attend their dances sometimes.
1 Like
I have no idea if times are different now, they probably are, but back when I went to W&L in the late 90s, we hardly ever saw the VMI cadets. Only the seniors had any real freedom and would occasionally show up at a party or something, the same as the Southern Sem kids (now called SVU it’s an LDS school in Buena Vista) but hardly ever in both cases. Lots of girls from Hollins, Sweet Briar, and Mary Baldwin came to our parties for the boys, they were mostly unpopular with the girls as you can imagine.
I went to hear a few speakers at VMI (George Bush Sr.) and you would see the cadets on the colonnade but no real interaction. Just checked with my husband who is also an alum, he played with their marching band a few times for some reason he can’t remember, they were down a trumpet player or something and needed a stand-in.
1 Like
Their soccer teams scrimmaged a couple of years ago.
My son is in a fraternity and he’s said what @DramaMama2021’s daughter said.
1 Like