EE major: Virginia Tech, UVA SEAS or UIUC?

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>I do understand I might be posting a thread on a wrong section..</p>

<p>If anyone of you thinks that I did so, let me know. I'll delete this thread right away. Thanks</p>

<p>Hello everyone.
I’d like to tell you about my concern that I have had for a long time.
This might sound stupid but I just wish to hear some advices from many other people.</p>

<p>I’m currently studying at Northern Virginia Community College and I’ll be transferring to a 4-year University by end of this Spring semester (2011).</p>

<ol>
<li><p>I've spent about 2 years in Northern Virginia Community College and I will be earning Associate Degree in Electrical Engineering by May 2011.</p></li>
<li><p>I’ve completed 46 units and am currently taking rest of the units required for the degree (21 hour)</p></li>
<li><p>My current GPA is 3.19 (For 46 units): I have straight A for all my engineering courses.</p></li>
<li><p>I’ve applied for Virginia Tech and UVA SEAS.</p></li>
<li><p>I’m eligible to transfer to Virginia Tech under the Guaranteed Admission Agreement. (As long as I don’t bomb my last semester)</p></li>
<li><p>I’m NOT eligible to transfer to UVA under agreement. I applied for competitive admission but my chance is slim.</p></li>
<li><p>I expect my cumulative GPA to increase up to 3.4 by the completion of Spring Semester but I don’t think this is going to help me get admitted to UVA because I’ll hear from them BEFORE the grade for Spring semester is posted.</p></li>
<li><p>My younger brother is in UVA SEAS as a freshman and he really wishes I could come UVA SEAS. Also, my parents strongly want me to attend UVA if possoble.</p></li>
<li><p>I absolutely like Virginia Tech and I think Virginia Tech students are so much better than what I am now.</p></li>
<li><p>But I would choose UVA over V-Tech if I ever can (#8 is definitely one of the reasons why)</p></li>
</ol>

<p>And let’s assume that I am admitted to V-Tech but NOT admitted to UVA.</p>

<p>Option1.
1. Transfer to V-Tech and Earn Bachelor’s degree in EE (maybe minor in Computer Engineering)</p>

<ol>
<li> Go straight to work force or start studying for Master’s degree in Engineering.</li>
</ol>

<p>Option2.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Choose to stay in CC for 1 more year and wait for next year’s admission season.</p></li>
<li><p>Boost up my GPA by retaking some low grade courses and some additional math courses like Differential Equation and Linear Algebra.</p></li>
<li><p>Next year, apply for UVA or maybe even better schools like UIUC (My very best friend is in UIUC for Computer Engineering)</p></li>
<li><p>See all my same-aged friends graduating University EVEN BEFORE I first get into University as a junior (this is the killer part)..
They’ll graduate in May 2012 and I’ll be a junior in September 2012…. I’m now 21 years old and I flunked out for a year at high school because I immigrated to U.S. when I was 18….</p></li>
</ol>

<p>How much difference does one make just by going to one of the top undergrad schools?</p>

<p>Is ONE full year going to be worth if I spend that time to choose UVA or UIUC over Virginia Tech?</p>

<p>What would you do if you were in my shoes?</p>

<p>Don’t get me wrong if I ever sound like throwing mud at VT. Virginia Tech’s engineering school rank is actually a little bit higher than UVA but I just have a special circumstance.</p>

<p>And I do understand the difference between V-Tech and UVA because I’ve searched over and over about it. </p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/25193-engineering-uva-vs-virginia-tech.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/25193-engineering-uva-vs-virginia-tech.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Thanks for reading. Any comment would be appreciated.</p>

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<p>I think V-tech is also one of the top schools for EE. And if you’re planning to go to grad school later on. V-tech could prepare you well enough. Why wasting one more year for just an undergrad degree.</p>

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<p>Yeah… you got the main point right.
One year is a half of time that I could use to earn a master’s degree…</p>

<p>Well, I thought UVA would be better choice for grad schools while V-tech is better if I go straight to work force.</p>

<p>Thanks for your post!</p>

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<p>If I were in your shoes I’d go to Virginia Tech. More suited for engineering.
Don’t waste anymore time trying to get into what you perceive to be a “better” college because rankings (esp. for undergrad) are fairly meaningless. </p>

<p>Besides, you can always apply for graduate school in a more “prestigious” university. Just get it done with and move on with your life!</p>

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<p>I agree with the other posts. I would goto Va Tech for the B.S. degree. If you do well at Va Tech, you will be able to attend even bigger name graduate programs (even though a M.S. from Va Tech isn’t shabby at all). Also, VT is represented in a HUGE way if you decide to work in the VA/DC/MD area.</p>

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<p>Hey I am an NVCC student as well. May I ask why you are not considering UMD as well? just curious because I don’t hear many people from NVCC transferring to UMD, even though its engineering is comparable to VT’s.</p>

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<p>ihatemonday is right, UMD also has great engineering programs. Is there any reason you leave it out of your choice?</p>

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<p>Because you would have to pay OOS tuition and wouldn’t receive state grants either.</p>

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<p>UMD is not in Virginia so they are not funded by VA state government.</p>

<p>so there’s no reason they would have an agreement with NVCC.</p>

<p>And of course, you have to pay OOS tuition if you’re a Virginian.</p>

<p>I would definitely consider if UMD offers GAA for engineering program but they don’t</p>

<p>and that also means UMD doesn’t guarantee that all of your credits are gonna transfer. (I haven’t checked their articulation chart though)</p>

<p>That’s probably why you haven’t heard of many people transferring to UMD from NVCC.</p>

<p>BTW, that reminds me of an interesting story…</p>

<p>I remember seeing a student on a news paper who has transfered to Cornell University </p>

<p>from NVCC. What surprised me was that he made it within just 3 years even if he was literally</p>

<p>a F.O.B straight from South Korea. That’s something cuz I’ve seen</p>

<p>students like him usually spends 1.5~2 years just to escape from</p>

<p>ESL courses. </p>

<p>As far as I remember, he got admission from Cornell, UVA, Johns </p>

<p>Hopkins, W&M Univ. and even Georgia Tech but NOT from University of Maryland. </p>

<p>I don’t get why … maybe because </p>

<p>UMD has too many In-State CC students to take I guess.</p>

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<p>VT all the way.</p>

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<p>I know that UMD would mean OOS tuition, but you mentioned UIUC, so I figured you were looking at OOS schools as well.</p>

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<p>Oh I see what you mean now</p>

<p>sorry about the confusion </p>

<p>It’s cuz UIUC was the only school I wanted to go so badly when I was in high school. (my real old friend went there for engineering)</p>

<p>And of course, UIUC is one of the very best engineering schools in U.S. even if it’s not a private school. That’s nice isn’t it?</p>

<p>Well, for me, talking about UIUC is kinda</p>

<p>pointless by this time though</p>