 On returning to the Naval Academy, Jackson passed his final examinations but fell just below the grade cutoff and was second on the list of cadets denied a commission and honorably discharged.In the hopes of becoming a naval surgeon, he and several of his Academy classmates studied medicine at the University of Virginia, where Jackson was a member of Beta Theta Pi and graduated fourth in the medical class of 1890.Meanwhile, word of Jackson's heroics at Apia had reached Congress, which was spurred to act by testimonials from "Trenton"s commanding officer, Captain Norman von Heldreich Farquhar, and Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy.