<p>I want to enter the engineering school at either GT and VT(virginia tech). I got into both. I'm smart but I'm not SUPER DUPER SMART... I just work hard but danggg, this year I've had senioritis baddd. So I'm worried because I keep hearing how brutal GT is. I like the location and that the engineering school is great but do the students really have no social life???
I still want to have fun but I also know I'll have to study hard to get my engineering degree.
I heard you can have fun and study hard at VT.. hmmm...
What do you think?</p>
<p>There is plenty of social life at GT. Lots of people having a lot of fun. But who has time to sit on websites complaining? People not having fun. You should visit. Pick a spring day with a baseball game or a Friday evening. Ask people you know there, or just call Admissions and talk to a student.</p>
<p>Social life? Tons of it.</p>
<p>Football games on Saturday, basketball games during the winter, Ferst Performing Arts Center (singers, dancers, concerts, comedians, etc.), tons of clubs ([home</a> > organizations](<a href=“http://www.cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/main/organizations/]home”>http://www.cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/main/organizations/)), baseball games in the spring, tennis matches, professional sports, GT Night at Six Flags & The Aquarium, Olympic Park, movies/shops/restaurants at Atlantic Station, Drama-Tech. Getting involved with the “Connect With Tech” program, assisting with the summer FASET orientations.</p>
<p>The list is as long as you would like it to be.</p>
<p>I got into VT and waitlisted for GT. I’m wondering if I should accept going on the waitlist. </p>
<p>I heard that GT will be increasing tuition and it’s already pretty expensive-around $36-37k for OOS. If this is true I don’t think my parents would be too satisfied. But, it is a great school.</p>
<p>Also, what’s the area of Atlanta that the campus is located on like? My mom thinks it’s a shady area.</p>
<p>GT is located near “mid-town”. A great area with wonderful restaurants, excellent hotels, the Fox theater, High Museum, Piedmont Park and easy to get to. The GT campus is really not intertwined with Atlanta (much like some other city college campuses where you can’t tell the city from the campus). The campus really has it’s own distinct borders and is wonderful (plenty of green space, trees, fountains, interesting architecture, incredible rec facility and much more).</p>
<p>You exercise common sense in the evening if you venture off campus (which the GTPD constantly reminds the students). So, unless your mother has visited the GT campus and spent some time there over a few days, her view that it is a “shady” area is unfair and without merit.</p>
<p>georgia tech isn’t a college, it’s an institution. if you want an “institution experience” go for it.</p>
<p>FWIW, I hear Virginia Tech is no “cup of tea” either. I think I heard this from G.P. on here, and it makes sense, but Georgia Tech gets this bad rap for being the hardest school in America b/c there are no “easy” majors (besides management?). You could go to VT and major in Communications if you want. I’d assume that anywhere you go for engineering will be a lot of work, but will be a fun experience as well. GT is the ultimate study hard, play hard school.</p>
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<p>Last time I checked we were classified as a Tier 1 research university…</p>
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<p>Hm, yes, but that’s not what the OP asked about did he?</p>
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<p>My intention was not to answer to OP’s question. Others have done a decent job of that. I merely intended to invalidate your answer to the OP’s question… =)</p>
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<p>That’s ok, I’m just answering the OP’s question by saying that you won’t get the “traditional college experience” at GT.</p>
<p>You can try to argue with my points but don’t just start saying random things cause that doesn’t invalidate anything.</p>
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<p>I don’t think I said it, but I’ll take credit since it’s a good point :p</p>
<p>Tech has no “easy way out” major. You can’t drop to communications, education, or general studies - if you can’t cut it in engineering, management is the only place to go. So if you’re a student that isn’t interested in management and can’t cut it in engineering, you’re in a very bad situation where you need to transfer. That’s where you find many of the complainers.</p>
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<p>I considered not responding to you, because some part of me said it was petty to continue this, but I apparently lack the self-control to ignore your ignorance so here goes…</p>
<p>I wasn’t aware you had points, as in the plural. Actually, I still don’t see them, so I apologize for not responding to your “points.” Maybe you can explain how your two sentence response to the OP made multiple points requiring an in depth rebuttal? Perhaps I am wrong, but from what I read, you made a brief and snide response to the OP, and I responded with a brief snide remark to you. I would call if fair to say that my argument was just as effective at invalidating your point as your argument was at making your point…</p>
<p>Now, everyone is entitled to describe their own experience at Tech, but I would like to think that on this board we should try to give examples that are somewhat average of students at the school, rather than ones that are extreme outliers. Since you are someone who has not done well at Tech (withdrawn from school twice and lost HOPE), and has now posted a thread to determine whether you have a high enough GPA to transfer out, I hardly think your view of what Tech’s college experience is likely representative of the average Tech student. This is not to say that your experience is not useful to illustrate that some people really think this school sucks, but I suspect (at risk of being presumptuous) that there are reasons behind your experience that have a lot more to do with factors outside of Tech than with Tech itself. In most cases those who do poorly here have poor study habits, failed to make friends or get involved, had issues with their family/personal health, and/or just plain found themselves without any passion for anything offered at Tech. I would bet some of these factors, or factors like them, have played a pretty major role in shaping your negative perspective of the school. However, most people have better experiences at Tech, and our 93% retention rate and Tech having the highest retention rate of HOPE scholars in the University System of Georgia certainly give some backbone to that argument. </p>
<p>I have had a great time here, and I definitely do not feel that being at Tech has made me give up a “traditional college experience.” In addition to doing very well in my classes, I have been able to become involved on campus and have a great time. I am a member of the marching band, so I have attended all home football games, numerous away football games including the orange bowl(we got to stop at Universal Studios on the way there), and lots of basketball games and other on campus events. I have also been able to volunteer for 15 hours a week for a non-paid internship for a cause I enjoy, join and be active in two campus organizations (outside of band), and still had plenty of time to spend with friends and sleep(I average ~7 hours a night). You can be involved, have good grades, sleep, and have a fair amount of free time while at Tech. It is all about time management and knowing when to get help. There are so many resources at Tech to help if you think you are struggling in classes, there are tons of ways to get involved, and there are plenty of people for you to find a group of people you can grow close to during your time here. It is true that Tech is harder than many other schools, but it is also true that engineering is hard pretty much anywhere, and it is nowhere near hard enough at Tech to preclude those students who can manage their time well, and get help when needed, from doing quite a bit outside of academics. In fact, I spend more time on my non-academic pursuits than I do on my classes, and my grades couldn’t be much better. No one should fall into the belief that you have to be a super-genius or not have a social life to succeed here. That is simply not true, and many Tech students live lives at Tech that disprove that stereotype everyday!</p>
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<p>I was trying to provoke you, obviously I succeeded,</p>
<p>Thanks for writing a long post about how you had a great time at Tech. Although that really doesn’t do much for me to say about except you must be a nerd or geek.</p>
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<p>OP, I would recommend VT, depending on scholarships. I’ve read some reviews about it and it looks like it has a much better social life compared to GT, plus more girls.</p>
<p>If you want to do engineering, you can do it anywhere. If you come to GT, take it from me, you’re going to be in a living hell and if you decide it’s not for you (and it sounds to me like it’s not), you’ll want to transfer but might not be able to because of a low GPA.</p>
<p>After all, your undergraduate is really just a “branding” for your first couple years in the work force. It’s really not going to make much of a difference down the line, so go to a college where you’ll have a better experience (and looking at some reviews I’m pretty sure VT has a better social life, more girls, more fun etc.).</p>
<p>yeah, i see where some of you are coming from. I guess it is what you make of it but at the same time I should expect tons of work.
Oh and I’m a girl, so the whole dating prospect works for me anymore. sorry schaden about your situation =[</p>
<p>haha sorry for the implication… yea basically there are people who have fun here, I’m just saying it takes a certain mold. It will either make or break you, obviously for me being the latter. Just know what you want if you do decide to go. And by all means visit the place because if you decide you want to leave like I did, you might not be able to and feel trapped.</p>
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<p>Also, I want to point out that while I may be what is described above there are definitely quite a few other cases similar to mine. </p>
<p>I’ve heard about students warning people at the Connect with Tech sessions not to come. Maybe those people want to leave but are forced by their parents, gpa, or financial reasons to stay.</p>
<p>oh wow,
I haven’t heard that perspective InPursuit. You really spend more time on extra-curriculular activities than school work? That’s amazing! I’m guessing you are extremely smart. as you can see by my name I am sortasmart. =]
Maybe time management really is the key to have a life there.</p>
<p>Yea well doing well on schoolwork at tech is more about time management then anything. You could be dumb as a brick and get good grades, it just depends on how much time you put in.</p>
<p>Didn’t you say you wanted to have some fun? You might want to think it through.</p>
<p>No girls in classes like Chemistry…well, no girls in general, lots of engineer majors. Quite difficult, college-wise compared to some colleges that are higher or equivalent in the “U.S. News” rankings (although the rankings don’t indicate much). So getting a 4.0 there is quite a feat; of course, it all depends on what courses you took.</p>