Due to its origins as an engineering school, the West Point curriculum emphasized mathematics and other technical subjects of relevance to that specialty rather than education in military topics. Much of the military training that was provided concerned close order drill and equitation. Of the top 25 graduates of the class of 1915, 24 were commissioned into the Corps of Engineers. The exception, James A. Lester, who was ranked 23rd, chose to go into the field artillery instead. He would become a major general.