<p>so i got my status today and tech was my number one choice! I got into universal studies instead of engineering though and i was kind of disappointed. This makes my decision a lot harder because both Purdue and Penn state offered me admission into their school of engineering! What do i do now? Can i still get into the school of engineering as a freshman? Like is there a waitlist for the school of engineering itself? Any thoughts, i am very confused :(</p>
<p>vtFann,</p>
<p>My son was in exactly your boat last spring. We were very disappointed that he was not admitted directly to VT Engineering, and our first reaction was to accept Purdue’s offer of admission to their engineering school. However, with a bit of reflection, and a bit of investigation as to what Univ. studies admission really meant, he did accept at VT. He is now in his spring semester of freshman year, is in the College of Engineering and has declared a mechanical engineering major. Here’s the clue: be very careful in choosing your first semester classes and select the classes you’ll need to complete before you’ll be admitted to engineering. There should be some letter in your acceptance packet (thinks that’s where it was) that explains the process. It’s a simple matter of completing certain prerequisites (hopefully your first semester) with a specified GPA (I think it was 2.0), then you just change your major. I think the classes were Linear Algebra, Chemistry, Calculus and maybe the intro to engineering class. My son was able to register for all the classes at VT except the engineering class, which is limited to College of Engineering students. He got around this by taking the class at the local community college (New River Comm. College) along with other kids in his same situation. (He said 80% of the kids in his class were VT students). At the end of the semester, he filled out a change of major form and sent an unofficial transcript from New River to the Engineering school and he was in. He even was able to register for the 2d semester of the engineering class at VT. SO, even though he was technically Univ. Studies for one semester, he isn’t behind other engineering freshmen at all.</p>
<p>A note: at orientation, be very careful to register for what you need to take to satisfy the prerequisite requirements. Don’t necessarily listen to the Univ. Studies “advisors”, who supposedly know what you need to take to transfer to engineering. They had my son register for wrong courses, but we changed it afterwards online.</p>
<p>Good luck to you! My son loves VT and can’t imagine being anywhere else. Maybe you’ll be just as happy there! Feel free to message me directly if you have questions.</p>
<p>My daughter was also applying to Engineering and was admitted into University Studies. We are OOS. She is currently taking community college classes as a senior with her calculus 1 at the high school (which will be college credit) and has completed her Chem 1, Chem Lab, English and an ITS class. This semester she will complete her other english, psychology and sociology so she will be starting off with a some college credits behind her. We are worried if she accepts she won’t get into the engineering college - we are worried about the engineering class - we checked our community college and it is not offered or she would take the summer class. She has an offer to Penn State accepted into their engineering program but liked Tech a lot (has friends there and it is smaller). Anyone in the same situation or have any advice?</p>
<p>The VT freshman engineering class is 2 semesters. It’s pretty easy to do first semester at New River Comm. College in Christiansburg and it transfers to VT. So to do it there is right on track with VT freshmen admitted directly to engineering.</p>
<p>A 600 SAT math is the cutoff point for engineering. What did you get?</p>
<p>twoesses,</p>
<p>thank you for your post!!! at first i was kind of sad about the whole thing but after i investigated my options i found out it was actually not bad at all! im pretty much guaranteed engineering and i think ill end up taking that freshman engineering class at jsarge, my local community college, this summer. is the class hard? i want to get it over with so i can patch everything up. and i got a 700 on the math sat but my reading sat was low, it was 550.</p>
<p>thank you everyone! and thank you vt!! hope to see some of you all there next year</p>
<p>The class itself isn’t difficult. You’re actually probably better off taking it at a community college because EngE 1024 at Virginia Tech is pretty terrible. I won’t go into it here, but I could easily write three pages filled with problems with the course/</p>
<p>How far is it to New River Community College and what about transportation to and from? If D can take it at the Community College what are her chances are getting into engineering for the second semester? (It would have to be at Blacksburg as not offered at our community college this summer.) Worried she won’t get in when her heart is set on engineering…she has been accepted to Penn State engineering and would actually be ahead due to her dual enrollment with her high school and local community college but she really likes Tech…torn between a sure thing and a maybe. She did not have a 600 on Math SAT but a 3.875 GPA weighted with AP classes and dual enrollment at community college. She already has Chem 1, Chem Lab, Freshman Englishes will be completed, Psych, Sociology, and ITS class and her Calc 1 at the high schooll will get college credit that will transfer. Thanks for your input.</p>
<p>vtFann, make sure the course will transfer as the 1024 engineering class at Tech. If you poke around somewhere (can’t remember where but on VT website), you can find course equivalencies at other states’ schools. We’re in Atlanta, but neither Ga. Tech nor Southern Tech here had a course that would transfer to meet that VT requirement. </p>
<p>Anatomypap, with a VT student id the kids can ride Blacksburg transit for free. There is a bus that runs straight from the VT library out to the Christiansburg “mall” where the class is taught. It takes about 30 minutes, which sounds long to me but my son didn’t complain about that at all. Once he got to class, he met some kids who were driving out there and he always got a ride back to campus so he didn’t have to take the bus back.</p>
<p>It’s a sure thing that if you take the prerequisites and make the minimum grades, you can just change your major. It isn’t discretionary. Mind you, the engineering class isn’t a breeze no matter where you take it. My son found the New River class a bit challenging, and is actually doing better in the 2nd semester of it at VT.</p>
<p>I would encourage you to go ahead and “apply” at New River so you can register for the class as soon as it opens up. Can’t remember when that was, but I remember there was a family at orientation last summer who hadn’t even heard you could take the New River class. The sooner you can sign up for it, though, the best chance you have of finding a New River class section that will work with your VT schedule, especially since you have to work in the bus travel time.</p>
<p>Anatomypap, my son was allowed to change his major just after the fall semester ended – literally, the next week or so. At the same time, they put him into the 2d semester engin. class at VT. He had been a bit worried that he wouldn’t get a slot in that class, but it seemed as though when he was approved to change the major, they looked online at his schedule and put him in a class that would fit in.</p>
<p>vtFann et al.,</p>
<p>was Universal Studies your second choice on your application?</p>
<p>I had the opposite happen, I got into VT engineering and wasn’t admitted to purdue engineering but an similar engineering major in the college of agriculture.</p>
<p>clfdwlr,
it just goes to show how crazy college admissions are! but i think the main reason that i didnt get accepted into engineering is because i was compared to applicants from my school. Many people from my school this year applied to engineering and many of these applicants were in the math, science, and technology specialty center like me. But they are also higher ranked and so i probably appeared to be less up to par with them. Oh well, i dont mind and am looking forward to going to tech and schooling some of them in college! 
haha</p>
<p>haha I think that is what happened to me at purdue, all of our MIT and CMU kids applied to purdue as a safety and very few apply to tech for engineering from my class, and maybe I will end up seeing you next year, best of luck</p>
<p>haha ya i guess so. so are u decided on tech? because i was split between purdue and tech as well and i ended up accepting my offer to tech and am now a hokie! with the instate tuition and everything it just seemed perfect. because both arent very far apart as far as rankings
hope to see you at tech man!</p>
<p>I’m in the same situation as VTFann and a freshman entering VT. I would like to know whether taking the Eng1024 before class start or later on is better? how long is the summer class for ENG1024 in a community college?</p>
<p>vtFann, sorry I chose Purdue. If you chose it too PM me. I doubt you did though, so best of luck at Tech.</p>
<p>shenght, from what i read and did research on, it is better and easier to take it before u start college over the summer. When you do this, u will be able to go ahead and get into the engineering program second semester and take the second semester intro to eng course and not be behind at all. Also, the course offered at jsarge that i looked at was only a 4 week course. It starts like may 23 and ends july 15 or so and its only 2 days a week.</p>
<p>clfdelr, thats cool…purdue is a great school! i really liked it for a long time but the reason i chose vt was cuz it was instate and closer to home and i have a lot of friends and stuff going there. but good luck in purdue! im sure u will love it</p>