<p>I can't wait to move to Blacksburg this August...
Any advice for this soon-to-be Freshman engineering student? .....
thanks and Go HOKIES!</p>
<p>I think people could better help you if you specified some of the things you wanted to know</p>
<p>Yeah, if there’s anything specific, or even general, then we can probably help a lot more. FYI I’m an engineering grad from, oh my god, 3 years ago.</p>
<p>But in general, try to be involved with stuff going on on campus, groups you find interesting, intramural sports, stuff like that. If you do a frat or sorority that’ll kind of take care of that for you but if you don’t (and you don’t have to to have a fantastic social life) you should try and get out quite a bit.</p>
<p>Somewhat related, try to be in your dorm as little as possible. Do homework in the library, study in the library or wherever you find relaxing, just get out and be out as much as you can. Especially while the weather is nice.</p>
<p>Partying is fun. I did it a lot, even in engineering. Sometimes you won’t have time to, and then don’t. I’d go a couple weeks, especially during finals and midterms, where I just didn’t have time to hang out with my friends much. I did study with friends though, so that helped. Sometimes I would be able to go out 2-3 nights a week. It just depends on your workload at any given time and how you manage your time.</p>
<p>Explore! Explore campus, downtown (walkable off campus,) and the local area. Take a day trip to Roanoke. Walk around Blacksburg. Just walk around downtown sometimes; it’s about 10-15 minutes to do a lap of it and you stay a little connected with whats going on in town. I loved campus, but I felt a lot more at home in Blacksburg once I started getting more connected with the town.</p>
<p>Engineering is hard, but a lot of people have done it before, so it is possible. Freshman year actually isn’t too bad. Sophomore year usually has a big ramp up in terms of difficulty; from talking with friends I experienced this a bit more than most people but most people agreed with me to one degree or another. So be ready for it, and try and really hone your study and time management skills Freshman year so it doesn’t hit you as hard.</p>
<p>Related, it’s really not highschool anymore. Your professors would like you to pass but most aren’t going to lose any sleep if you don’t, and a good number of people won’t. If you make an effort to get to know them it’ll be better. You’re also not going to be able to coast along on intelligence anymore like many people, myself included, did in highschool. There’s going to be a lot of work, a lot of studying, and you’re the only person you really have to answer to, and most of the time you’re the only person that’s going to be reminding you to study, to do homework, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks so much. All this helps. I want to be one of those people who sticks with engineering, even if it is hard, and even if others may seem to be having more fun (with less workload) in other majors. I’ve heard a lot of people change out of engineering after the first year. So a few other questions…
Is it easy to find a study group for engineering classes?
Plus I was thinking of taking at least one fun class, in either a language or something like sociology, just to give me a class with non engineers too. Is it hard to get scheduled for a non-required course?</p>
<p>Plenty of study groups available. Yes, given you will need to fill your CLE electives, you will take a few “non-engineering / science / math” classes your freshman year. These CLE’s are not difficult to enroll in, just some are more popular and therefore in more demand.</p>
<p>Yeah, real easy. Just talk to people. It gets even easier after you get into you actual engineering major.</p>
<p>You’ll be required to take some non-engineering classes. There are several groups of classes (I don’t know what they call them now, they were Core Classes then CLE or something) and you pick one or two out of each. I took 20th Century American History, Urban Planning, Art Appreciation, and a couple others. But there are lots of options.</p>
<p>Consider joining Hypatia - the freshmen women’s engineering living learning community. My daughter is a rising junior and gained a lot from Hypatia. Great friends, academic support, career support. Became a mentor her second year - nice to have on resume. </p>
<p>Contacts within Hypatia were directly responsible for her landing a fantastic internship. She never would have known about this particular company except for a fellow Hypatia member telling her about them and thinking my daughter would be a great fit. Daughter may never have found this company at job fair but her friend was right - it was a perfect fit and she is having a great experience this summer. Lots of Hypatia women landed internships after sophomore year. Don’t know if experience is same for non-Hypatis women engineers. </p>
<p>Some of Hypatia is “lame” according to daughter but the good far outweighs the limitations.</p>
<p>Congratulations and I hope you have a wonderful experience.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the advice. I didn’t apply for Hypatia, although now I wish I had, because I would have access to others in the same classes. </p>
<p>How do you find study groups? just talking to people in classess? or are they officially set up by the professors? Thanks</p>
<p>It may not be too late to join Hypatia - I’d suggest contacting VT to see if it’s still possible to join the waiting list. My guess is that Tech will do everything possible to accomodate everyone who wants to be part of the Hypatia community.</p>
<p>Per website "The application process for the 2013-2014 is still open. However, we are currently operating on a wait list status. If you apply for either Hypatia or Galileo you will be put on the wait list. If more spots open, applications will be reviewed in the order they were received.
You may apply to the Galileo and Hypatia communities before you accept your offer of admissions. Go to <a href=“https://systems.housing.vt.edu/[/url]”>https://systems.housing.vt.edu/</a> and log in using the non PID access link at the bottom of the page. You will need your application number to complete the application. If you are offered a spot in the community you will not be able to accept the offer until you accept your admissions offer.</p>
<p>We will begin reviewing applications beginning in January through May 1st and make our decisions on a rolling basis. A team of faculty, upper class Hypatia and Galileo students, and CEED staff will read each application and make decisions for the 2013-2014 communities. The application includes two essay questions. We recommend writing these essays in a Word document and having others review it before you submit. You may then copy and paste the essays into the on-line application.
The essay questions are:</p>
<p>What does community mean to you, why do you want to be part of the Hypatia/Galileo community, and what can you offer the community? Essays must address each of the three components of this question.
Describe for us a challenge that made you who you are today and an achievement you are particularly proud of and why.
For questions or concerns concerning Hypatia/Galileo, send an e-mail to <a href=“mailto:eliving@vt.edu”>eliving@vt.edu</a></p>
<p>Great. I will look into that and apply. Who knows… space may open up.</p>
<p>Plus even if I dont’ get in, I will try and meet some of the girls who are there just in case they can help find study groups for classes. Some studying I know I will do better on my own, but I know that study groups would be super helpful for me to find too.</p>
<p>For study groups you just talk to people in class. Professors aren’t going to set anything up for you. Just be somewhat personable and you’ll have no problem finding people to get together with in the library or somewhere to study.</p>
<p>The freshman courses you take are so big it would be hard for you not to find people in your hall to study with. There are plenty of engineers in the normal dorms that you can study with so that really won’t be an issue.</p>