So I got accepted to my second choice major- Environmental Policy and Planning. Denied from Engineering.
Have any of you guys been accepted to this major?
Should I stick to engineering (accepted to engineering at a few schools), or go for this major? I found this major really interesting when I applied (I still do), but didn’t really give it much of a thought because I was pretty confident I would get into Engineering.
Thinking in terms of job prospects and grad school, will I be making a mistake if I go for this major? I’m an international student.
My son was in the same boat a few years ago… accepted to 2nd choice major at VT (1st choice COE), but accepted to every other good engineering school he applied to. You really have to go with your gut about which school you want to go to and how important the major is to you. My son had his heart set on his 1st choice school and got in easily, but it was OOS and expensive, with no financial aid. In the end we all just couldn’t justify the cost. And he was never wild about his other engineering choices, even though they were very good programs and he would have had no problem getting a job with an engineering degree from those schools. This is definitely a YMMV situation…
In the end he went to VT and eventually was able to transfer into COE. BUT it wasn’t easy - and it’s getting more difficult. It is not a sure thing and it was very stressful couple of semesters while he put the pieces together to make the transfer. The transfer requirements a well laid out in the website but essentially to transfer into COE youhave to take specific engr prereqs at VT and get a specific GPA - I think it’s a 3.2 now. That is not as easy as you’d think, many of these are pretty tough to get through with an A/B. And just getting into the classes can be a challenge, there aren’t a lot of open seats available in some and you have to be ready to grab empty seats as soon as add/change day starts - often at 1am. It wouldn’t be surprising if you needed an extra semester or so to finish. But it’s not impossible, you just have to understand the risk of taking this route. It’s also quite possible that you’d start out in your “new” major and find you enjoy it. If you’re close enough to VT to make another trip down, it might be worth it dto make an appt with your accepted major and see what you can learn about it. Does this major have a regular presentation day for perspective students?
Hope this helps a bit and best of luck to you!
Coincidentally, I met an Ivy EPP professor yesterday and what he knew about urban, suburban, and rural areas, business, local and fed govt policy and trending, populations, the people’s needs and the psych, plus finance, was fascinating. He couldn’t engineer a bridge, but he could help make that bridge happen. No idea how this is handled at VT, but take a look at courses, try to find out what kids do with the degree. Many times, the professional organizations include job openings on their web sites. This doesn’t answer your question directly, but is, as I said, a coincidence.
@JustGraduate Yes, I have read about the transfer requirements on the website and I agree that its a bit risky to start off with a different major and intend to transfer to Engineering eventually which is why I wanted to know more about what all options will be open to me if I graduate with Environmental Policy and Planning as my major.
If I may ask, what major was your son admitted to in the beginning? Was he able to take any Engineering classes?
@lookingforward Thanks for the input. I’m feeling a bit more optimistic abut pursuing this major now!
I went through their website, but there isn’t much information there regarding this particular major. I guess I’ll email them and get more information.
@elysium305 You always have the option of transferring into the college of engineering at Tech. It’s not a very hard process. You just take similar classes as those already in the engineering program and maintain a 3.0 GPA. Then you can take the beginning engineering classes over your first college summer at tech or at a vccs and apply to the engineering your sophomore year. You also won’t be a semester late either. Depends how well you do on the pre requisite classes (Chem classes, physics classes, english etc.) many people at tech do this. My girlfriend as of recently got into the COE during her Sophomore year spring semester. (She can still graduate on time) I am transferring from another college into VT’s COE where we have a similar program as I just explained to you. Also many colleges have a VT dual degree program with VT COE. I am in one of them. Hope this helps and if you have any other questions just let me know.
People often stress too much about not getting into COE at tech and too many people are dissuaded not to attend tech because of it. However, this option is always there.
@elysium305 and @RVAphysics - the process for transferring into COE is changing for this summer forward and becoming more difficult. Check COE website for specifics but essentially you need 3.2 min in the specific prereqs not just your overall GPA, those classes must be done at VT - cannot transfer from a CC (that was done a lot before and really helped GPA’s). And you are no longer guaranteed a spot in engineering just by meeting the requirements… before if you had a 3.0 and the appropriate classes you were assured of getting into one of the engineering programs, although not necessarily your first choice. Bottom line - it’s still possible to transfer into COE but no longer as easy and no longer guaranteed even if you meet the requirements.
IMHO I would want to be comfortable enough with my initial major choice (i.e. non COE) to graduate with it at this point… if you are able to transfer to COE fine, but wouldn’t count on it
@JustGraduate That’s seems about right according to
http://www.enge.vt.edu/_files/undergraduate/com_requirements/COM_NonGE_Admitted_2016_After.pdf
However, I cannot find confirmation on the VCCS credit situation. I really can’t see VT restricting students from taking requirement courses at a VCCS. That would kind of be degrading the quality of the VCCS credit system. Those classes are just as hard as they would be at Tech. Also many VCCS students transferring into the COE are granted their requisite courses from VCCS so I do not see why they would not allow their students to take some courses at VCCS. Besides you will not be able to complete many course during the summer at VCCS anyway. For an example, this past summer I had to take an intro to engineering course (my schools did not offer) and Calc 2 course to catch up.
Regardless the 3.2 GPA requirement is doable for the requirement courses. If you are really serious about going into engineering, getting a B+ average on those courses should be easy. Here were my stats on the prerequisite classes.
CHEM 1035 A
CHEM 1045 A
ENGE 1215 A (VCCS)
ENGL 1105 A
MATH 1225 A
ENGE 1216 B+
ENGL 1106 A (VCCS)
MATH 1226 C (VCCS)
PHYS 2305 C (Lol and I’m a Physics double major)
Which equates to around a 3.5 roughly (My actual is 3.42 including upper level calc courses and physics)
IMHO I say go for it, and while trying to complete these requirements you will also be taking intro classes for Environmental. Who knows, you might actually stick with environmental and find that you like it a lot.
@RVAphysics it makes since if tech truly wants to limit the number of students getting into engineering that way. once you are a student at a university they can make specific graduation requirements.
whoever wants to pursue this route better do so with the guidance from the college of engineering, because if it doesn’t work out you can’t tell them “but i heard this works on the internet”
I have done a lot of research on this. And I am currently going through the program and will be attending VT next year in the COE. I was just letting the OP know that it is possible. I went through this whole process with very little guidance as it is not rocket science to figure out. I also provided a link above from the COE itself for OP to follow. Good luck guys! 
@RVAphysics There are two situations for VCCS courses. One will be for students enrolled in a CC then transferring to Tech - they should be fine in terms of taking classes at their CC. The other would be for students who start their freshman year at Tech, then try to take courses at CC to transfer back.
Tech can absolutely restrict students from taking certain classes at a CC or other university, and other schools do this as well. With engineering going through changes, they might make the graduation requirements outlined so that you cannot take certain classes outside of Tech. There are already procedures in place for engineering students who want to take classes elsewhere (https://www.eng.vt.edu/students/transferring-credits) and they can also just deny those requests. Even if you do end up taking it at a CC, the university can still deny credit toward your major or toward the required number of credits for graduation.
There are many reasons for this at Tech and other universities. Tech students have the opportunity to take their courses at Tech; VCCS students do not. So it makes sense for those transferring in to get credit for what they take as part of their VCCS requirements and to require Tech students to take certain classes on campus.
Yes all that you are presenting to me is old news. You are not able to get credit for engineering courses above the 3000 level. I was strictly referring to prerequisites such as chemistry, physics and blah blah blah. They have not restricted these courses as of yet. Everyone knows that at tech you cannot receive vccs credit, unless under the circumstance you are already attending a CC, for a 3000 level and beyond course. @financiallylost .
The program I am in is listed as follows and follows closely to those that wish to transfer into the COE at tech
https://www.radford.edu/content/csat/home/physics/engineering.html
I was just presenting OP with a possible option one could take into getting the COE
@RVAphysics , @financiallylost , @JustGraduate Thank you for the info. I thought about what you all have written and I even spoke to a current student in the college of engineering, and I’ve decided that I will most probably not be attending Virginia Tech. I’m not very comfortable with the major I’ve been accepted to, and from what I’ve understood, transferring to engineering is not very easy and is not guaranteed. Being an international student, I don’t want to take any chances. Engineering is my first choice, and I’ll be going with that. I guess I’m not going to be a Hokie after all 
Thanks again for helping me out
@elysium305 - sorry you won’t be attending VT but totally understand your decision. There isn’t just one school that you will be happy at and I’m glad you have other good options. It was stressful for my son during the semesters he was working towards trying to transfer into engineering (not that it’s that much better once you get into it :)). But he knew that if he got the classes and the GPA he would get in. Now that they’ve upped the GPA and added the caveat that there’s no guarantee you will get in even taking the prereqs and making the grades, it’s more of a gamble. My guess is they’re watching their enrollment numbers in COE closely so as not to over load it, and admitting transfers into the program is one way they will manage that. Anyhow, best of luck to you and hope you enjoy your time in college wherever you go!
@RVAphysics Sorry, we were definitely not on the same page.
Most of the posts on this board and redd-it that discuss transferring to engineering suggest taking the pre-req intro engineering courses at community college. Those were the classes I was referring to in my post, such as Enge 1024/1114. I believe that is what will be restricted moving forward, as those are part of the more important classes needed to get into engineering and stay on track and they’re restricted to engineering students during fall semester, so the CC option appealed to students wanting to transfer ASAP.
Chem, physics, and math classes aren’t restricted to many students so even undeclared students can take them during freshman year, which is why I didn’t think of those classes as the ones you were talking about. Most students don’t have to take them at a CC.
@elysium305 good luck wherever you do end up! I have heard from my international students that the college process is more difficult than domestic students for reasons like yours.