She was the first to leave.

Moore left VMI her third day there, just hours into the shouting and push-ups.

"It was nothing against the school; I think it's a wonderful institution," she said recently. "It just wasn't for me."

Moore quickly regrouped after returning to her rural community, and that spring enrolled at Millersville University, a small liberal arts school in Pennsylvania. She's majoring in biology and expects to graduate in a year, with hopes of becoming a veterinarian.

All this time, her brief life as a rat has been a secret part of her past.

Her roommates learned of it when a reporter left a message seeking an interview. She showed them pictures of her shaved head and other mementos of VMI. "It's all packed away in a trunk."

She still checks the VMI Web site from time to time, and tries to keep up with the women who would have been her classmates. "I think they're just amazing for what they've done," she said.

For her part, she has wondered whether she made the right decision. "But now I know I made the right choice, because I'm very happy where I am."