Dorm Situation: Engineering Honors or Regular???

Colleges and Universities A-Z Virginia Tech
1

So it would mean a lot to me if you guys could give me any advice on what to do about my dorm situation for next year. So without further ado here is all the information:

  1. I’m an engineering major.
  2. pretty academically inclined and place out of most of freshmen courses (Chemistry, English, Math, hopefully physics)
  3. despite my academic inclination I really like to have fun and plan on having some type of social life. However I do understand that being in engineering may limit the time I am free to do social events ( i am not much of a partier though)
  4. I’m not that much of a stereotypical engineer where I dont play video games too much and am fairly athletic.
  5. I really like outdoorsy type of things
  6. I am going to do random roommate

So here are the dorm room options. I got into Galileo today and will hear back from honors in the next month or so. Can people who have knowledge of the engineering, honors, and regular dorms that would be amazing.
option:
A) engineering dorm and honors/non-honors classes
B) honors dorms and honors classes
C) regular freshmen dorms and honors/non-honors classes

2

the smiley face is supposed to be a “B)”

3

Congrats on your admission! I will tell you my DS’s experience with Galileo, just as one data point; YMMV, because everyone is different. DS is a current freshman engineer living in Galileo. He lamented in the fall that he wished, in hindsight, that he had not chosen to do Galileo. His main reason was that he felt being in the program levied additional requirements for which he was graded that made it harder for him to have time to do the stuff he really wanted to do on his own (or, conversely, he went on and did the stuff he really wanted to do, and found it hard/annoying to have to also fulfill the extra Galileo requirements). He specifically didn’t want to just hang out with engineers, and he was/is far more interested in socializing with the friends from his clubs than with people within the Galipatia community. Don’t get me wrong – he has found many people he enjoys within Galileo; he and his room-mate get along fine, and he regularly hangs out/goes weightlifting with a couple of guys from Galileo, and he doesn’t seem to actively dislike anyone there. But he has said that there are a lot of people who at least at first pretty much stuck to themselves/kept their doors closed/etc. … and there are a lot of people with whom he just doesn’t click. He was hesitant about Galileo because he didn’t just want to know other engineers, but decided it might be worth it as a “safety net” in the transition to college. He admits there are benefits, but he’s just felt like they didn’t outweigh what he has felt were the drawbacks.

For example, I don’t know all the ins and outs of it, but apparently there are a certain number of service hours you have to log each semester … and he says if you don’t respond to the email signups almost immediately, they fill up quickly; so he had a hard time his fall semester getting his service hours done (and he was not successful). Now, did he really make it a priority early in the semester? Probably not, because he was off busying himself with other things, sampling all that VT had to offer (he joined a couple of outdoorsy clubs, etc.); by the time he realized he was behind, the number of available opportunities had dwindled, and he didn’t get it done. So, if you choose Galileo, just a word to the wise – get the service requirement done early. He did that this semester; live and learn. There are apparently other requirements as well … like, having to go to a certain number of academic hours (e.g., homework help), and participating in a certain number of community social events (many of which were also limited in the number that could be accommodated, so again, sign up early or miss out). I think he felt a bit like he was being micromanaged, and he chafed against that; certainly his attitude about it could have been better and he would have likely gotten a lot more out of it, but I’m just telling you what he has said to us about the experience. Also, the Galileo seminar that comes with being in the community is a 2 hour class (this is where you are graded on fulfilling hours requirements, etc.), and while he said some of the assignments were useful, others just felt like annoying busywork when he had so much other heavy-duty academic work to get done (e.g., making a grade tracking spreadsheet in Excel … when the system used by the university, Scholar, does that all for you anyway; having to make a creative “ad” for Galileo at the end of the fall semester that might be used for recruiting purposes, etc.). Again, attitude can make a huge difference – he could have chosen to look at this stuff as easy fluff assignments that gave him a break from the hard core stuff, but I think when crunch time comes for all the classes that “matter”, having the additional Galileo stuff to do just felt like too much.

I think like almost anything, Galileo can be great for some people and not so great for others; and certainly, attitude can make a huge difference. Good luck with your decision; despite not being thrilled with Galileo, DS is loving VT, and I’m sure you’ll find your place there too, no matter where you decide to dorm next year.

4

Two sons, both in engineering (CS). Neither did Galileo but have had friends in it who had positive experiences. As noted above Galileo is going to have extra activities that you have to participate in to get the benefits of being in the program. However, the extra activities can feel like extra BS work if things don’t work out perfectly. The same is true in Honors. There is a lot of extra work required in the Honors program. The dorms are nice though and DS#2 definitely got a lot of out being in a group of varied students all of whom were academically inclined. He has a large group of friends who participate in various intra mural sports teams. Academically inclined doesn’t mean that you won’t be with athletes. There are many high school team athletes in the honors program (and also in Galileo), e.g., soccer, baseball, tennis, running, hockey etc. I think DS#2 has gotten more out of the Honors program than he realizes. However, the extra work is a burden when there are many other activities available, and of interest, at VT. He’s on the three year plan and plans on dropping out of honors before he graduates.

5

Thanks. This information is really helpful. We want our son to have a “traditional” college experience and make friends with people on his floor. He stated he didn’t want to live with all engineers. He too will place out of a good portion of first year classes so the study groups in Galileo wouldn’t help much. While he applied for honors, he wasn’t interested in the housing associated with it.

Does anyone have any feedback on any other communities (RLC in PY) or dorms in general? Where is the best place that isn’t party central? Also are freshman placed together in rooms? I attended tech 30 years ago and as an out of state freshman they placed me with an instate junior. HORRIBLE IDEA. I loved Tech–but that showed a total lack of empathy by the housing office. My son will be an out of state student as well and will know no one–so his housing assignment/experience is critical to his happiness. (Older brother attended neighboring state LARGE university and did not click with any of his suite mates. He ended up transferring.)

6

Well, you can’t guarantee that he is going to like his roommate. Even if you room with a high school friend it’s possible that the friendship could be strained under close living arrangements. I don’t see any issue for instate or OOS. It seems that you should cross Galileo off the list of options if he doesn’t want to be with engineers. What did your son not like about the Honors housing? For what it’s worth I think the party central dorm issue was eliminated when VT went to co-end dorms.

7

I read @kooth12’s question as being more concerned with freshmen being placed with freshmen as opposed to upper classmen… Short answer is, I don’t know. I seem to recall DS saying that there wasn’t much info for him to fill out when he went with a random room-mate selection even within Galileo – I think he said the only thing they asked was whether he smokes or not (all dorms are nonsmoking, but the reality is that smoke smell lingers on clothing, etc.). So they don’t ask for a lot of info in making the match. That said, my guess is that if he goes with Galileo, I can’t imagine he wouldn’t be put with another freshman, since the sophomores who stay in the community likely already have chosen room-mates. I would think the same would be true of non-freshmen in the Honors dorm or any other LLC if they are not first year students (e.g., if they’ve been in Honors or the LLC before, they’re likely to already have room-mates assigned/chosen when they went into the housing lottery in the first place). Probably there is a slightly higher chance of getting paired with an upperclassman in the general dorms, but again, most upperclassmen staying in the dorms will likely have already designated desired room-mates when they went into the lottery, so I would think getting paired with an upperclassman would be generally unlikely. I also went to Tech 30 years ago, and wow, you must have drawn the unlucky straw because I think even back then what you describe was pretty rare. But I sympathize – that would be a hard situation, and not one I would have wished on my incoming freshman. Might be worth a call to the housing office to specifically inquire…

8

Recruiters don’t really care if the class says honors or not. That means so many different things at different schools. It’s all about the GPA. Choose whatever will make you most successful.