Ga Tech vs. Uva

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgia Institute of Technology
1

Hey y’all:

My background:

  1. So I am a second year transfer student who has already been admitted to Georgia Tech in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. At the same time I am also admitted to Uva to the same major.

  2. I am also interested in International relations (IR, they call it Foreign Affairs at Uva) and Econ. So I would like to have IR either double major or minor (together with ChemE) and take more of Econ classes (maybe Econ minor?).

My question is, considering my major(ChemE) and other interests (IR and Econ), should I choose Georgia Tech or Uva? I know that Georgia Tech has a better ChemE program, while Uva focus more on liberal arts education in undergraduate, which is what I prefer. Plus, both schools have these majors, but I don’t know how good they are.

PS. I heard that one cannot double major in Ga Tech? Is is true, and how does it work?

Any comments or suggestions on my decision of just about these two schools is very welcomed

2

We did meet double majors when we visited GT. It depends on your IB/AP/college credits coming into GT, as to how long that might take to complete. It also depends on the two majors, so look up the credits of the various majors you want to consider and see if its doable in four years, given the credits you may get from your IB/AP classes. You may want to talk with various departments at GT too to be sure you understand the requirements and how tough this might end up being for you. Engineering majors at GT vary subject to subject on credits needed for a bachelors degree.

I have a positive impression of the International relations major at GT. GT offers a full campus in France and many other international locations to try a junior year abroad, which might interest you. GT’s study abroad programs are major by major, so for instance, CS one can go to Barcelona Spain, the GT campus in Lorraine France, or Denmark,depending on exactly what you want to study. GT also has very good ties to research in Mainland China and many summer programs and biomedical engineering programs in China.

IR at GT should have have many different programs abroad to choose from. Ditto on UVA. Look that over to see which seems more interesting to you.

With that, I have a high impression of UVA’s materials science department and their physics department. Its a really strong public option. More students will be very strong in reading and writing, if you choose UVA.

Visit both campuses and see which environment you like better, if you can.

GT is urban, but beautiful. UVA is more rural and beautiful. Cannot go wrong with either lovely campus.

3

@alecjacobson See first post. I know a double major at GT in Chinese language and Chemical Engineering and he is doing fine. He came in with an IB diploma, and he has time to rock climb every weekend, and still get his double major completed in four years. So again, it all depends on your preparation and how hard you want to work. I think GT is really ranked well for what you want to study. Good luck.