Marion Military Institute

Best Community Colleges: Marion Military Institute (AL)

Marion Military Institute (MMI), located in Marion, Alabama, is a two-year junior college and regarded as the official state military college of Alabama. Founded in 1842, MMI is the oldest military junior college in the U.S. The junior college focuses on intellectual, moral-ethical, physical-athletic, and leadership development experiences in a military environment. In recent years, MMI has produced more than 206 admirals and generals; the school has a number of renowned military alumni.

MMI offers various military training programs including the Army’s Early Commissioning Program (ECP) in which qualified students can get commissioned as a Second Lieutenant after two years of college.

The Service Academy Preparation Program (SAP) provides freshmen a year of solid academic and physical preparation for students who wish to attend one of the Service Academies (West Point, Air Force Academy, Naval Academy, Merchant Marine Academy or Coast Guard Academy). Marion also offers the first two years of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps.

MMI recently introduced a new program: An extracurricular flight-training program using a local partner in aviation. Enrollees learn to fly through a combination of online ground school instruction, computer-based and in-flight training.

Providing a private pilot’s certificate, the program is designed to preclude U.S. Air Force and Navy Initial Flight Screening (IFS) requirements.

Annual enrollment of degree- and non-degree-seeking students is ~400.

The junior college offers Associate of Science and Associate of Arts degree programs, based on a rigorous General Studies curriculum. Within these programs, students may select study options based on their interests; they can choose the General Studies curriculum or, focus on specific disciplines e.g. Natural Science, Pre-nursing, Elementary Education or Criminal Justice.

Cadet life at Marion is rich with extracurricular options such as Choir, Sports, Drama, Band, Drill Team, etc.

The college ranked #12 in the CNN Money list of top community colleges in 2012.