The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina

Founded in 1842, the Citadel is among the six senior military colleges in the United States. It is based in the large city and tourist destination of Charlestown, which is host to the annual Spoleto Festival and was voted ‘most friendly city in the US’ by Condé Nast Traveler in 2014. The Citadel originally had an affiliate Arsenal Academy in Columbia SC, but this was burned by General Sherman’s troops during the American Civil War and permanently closed thereafter.

The Corps of Cadets education programme at the Citadel contains five separate schools of study; business, engineering, humanities & social sciences, science & mathematics, and education. The School of Business is an institution internationally accredited by the AACSB, and combines military values of leadership with practical academic teaching to create a next generation of management and entrepreneurs.

Open to civilian study, the Citadel Graduate College offers 26 graduate courses with 42 concentration options, as well as undergraduate evening programmes in seven subjects. The MA in history can focus any populated continent besides Australasia, and also offers a concentration in African American studies and a focus on the US South. The Baker Fellows Programme is available to all US veterans, and offers ten fellowships annually.

To name but a few of the prestigious figures to have studied here, longtime senator Ernest Hollings, author Pat Conroy, astronaut Randolph Bresnik, and US Army General James Vaught all attended the Citadel. Alumni have served in every American conflict since the Mexican War, and eighteen sacrificed their lives in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.