<p>I'm an HNFE major at VT next year and I come from a pretty small, rural town in western VA. I'm sure I'll get advice from college friends on getting ready before fall semester starts, but i'd like to be prepped as possible for life in Blacksburg. Any suggestions? I need all the advice I can get!</p>
<p>What kind of advice are you wanting? I’m a sophomore at VT and would be happy to answer any questions you might have. I’m a Biology major, so I guess that is somewhat related to HNFE. You can PM me or ask on this post.</p>
<p>I spent 4 years in Blacksburg and I know the area pretty well. What do you want to know?</p>
<p>thanks 
i appriciate it- just general things to know- the difficulty of classes like freshman biology/chemistry, how many credits to take first semester, best places to find quick but healthy food, anything you can think of that helped you or you wished you knew your freshman year!</p>
<p>Difficulty of Classes:</p>
<p>Difficulty of classes can be determined by two things:
- How often you attend class
- The instructor you get</p>
<p>Courses can be completely different based on the teacher you get. For instance: I had a really good teacher for Freshman English. I only had to do my required writing and that was it. One of my friends had a more difficult class where they had to read novels and do in-class assignments. Same exact class; different teacher.</p>
<p>Class become more difficult if you skip them often. You will miss material. Most teachers don’t do a recap. They just don’t have time in 50 minute courses. If you miss a days class, make sure to find notes somehow or you will more than likely miss a section or two per chapter.</p>
<p>I haven’t taken Freshman Biology, but I am in the Fall since I transferred into the Biological Science major from Engineering. From what I’ve seen, everyone says to take Simmons if you can. As for General Chemistry, it is easy if you go to class. Most of the material is fairly straight forward and if you study at least an hour or two a day, you will be fine in that class. If you can get Amateis or Trivedi for your instructor, do that. Trivedi doesn’t teach from the book and uses his own personalized DVD. I haven’t really heard anything bad about Amateis. Everything I have heard has been good and most people recommend her.</p>
<p>Credits Per Semester:</p>
<p>Most students take around 15 credits per semester. Some take more, some take less. As long as you have 12 credits, you are a full time student. The reason most people take 15 is because VT has a 30 CR per year class rank. For instance, if you take 15 credits both semesters your first year, you will end up with 30 credits at the end of your freshman year and will have sophomore class standing. Same for junior class standing and 60 credits. If you take 12 both semesters, you only get 24 credits and won’t get sophomore status your 2nd year until you reach 30 credits. Taking 15 is probably your best bet to keep on track for a 4 year graduation.</p>
<p>Food:</p>
<p>VT has A LOT of dining halls on campus. You can find just about anything you want to eat at them. Some places may have different things, but you always view the online menu and see which place you would like to eat. Quickness kind of depends on the time of day. If you go during dinner time, be prepared to wait at least 20+ minutes for your food. Other times, you can usually order and get your food within 5 minutes. You can eat in or dine out in your room or in one of the outside areas. You really aren’t restricted when it comes to food except maybe for the amount of money you spend on food per day.</p>
<p>Things I Wish I Had Known:
- The amount of studying required for a typical 3 credit course.
My first semester at VT didn’t go well because I was adjusting to a college course load versus a high school course load. I had a 4.0 GPA in high school. I thought college would be no problem, but I was wrong. It takes a lot more work in college than in high school. You will probably realize that right off. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>The BT transit routes
My very first day of class I ended up taking a wrong bus halfway across the campus out to the Greek living area. I was half an hour late for class from having to walk all the way across campus from there. Make sure you know the routes of each bus and if they run every 15 min or every 30. It is necessary for getting around campus without having to walk long distances. </p></li>
<li><p>Scheduling classes
This semester I scheduled a class on one side of campus versus another class on the other side. One class ended and the other started within 15 minutes. It isn’t a good idea to do that. If you can get 30 min+ in between classes, they is the best way to go.</p></li>
<li><p>Length of classes
If you can, take as many M, W, F classes as you can. They are normally only 50 minutes long. Sure you have to go an extra day, but you pay more attention in 50 minutes than you do in an hour and 15. It may not seem like that much of a difference, but trust me it is. I wish I had scheduled my calculus class on M, W, F. Around the 55 minute mark, I start to zone out a little bit and have to refresh myself on the last 20 or so minutes or class.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>That is pretty much all I know. If you have any other questions, just ask.</p>
<p>@james2014 What english teacher did you have? Did you take honors english during high school? English class is one of my worst subjects, I have taken normal english all during high school and personally do not think I write at a 12th grade level? </p>
<p>So a normal schedule would be 5 classes a week?</p>
<p>The teacher I had was a graduate TA who graduated December 2010. It was unfortunate to see him go. I really hoped he would teach the 2nd semester english, but unfortunately he didn’t and I got a terrible teacher. It was so bad that I dropped the course.</p>
<p>No, I didn’t take honors English in high school. I tested into it, but it conflicted with my other classes that I wanted for advanced knowledge for engineering, so I didn’t get to take it. As for writing, it depends on the teacher. Some teachers are more strict, but others will work with you and help you improve your writing throughout the semester. The best thing for you to do is to go onto [Rate</a> VT Teachers](<a href=“http://www.ratevtteachers.com%5DRate”>http://www.ratevtteachers.com) or <a href=“http://www.k%5B/url%5D”>www.k</a> o o f e r s.com and type in your teacher’s name. Then read their review and decide if you want to switch out or not.</p>
<p>Yes, you are right. About 5, 3 credit courses is good for a week. You could also do 4, 3 credits courses, a 2 credit and a one. That might be too much though. I would go with 5, 3 credit courses.</p>
<p>I thought English in college was pretty easy, as long as you put some time into it. You might not get an A, but passing isn’t generally that hard. </p>
<p>I disagree about having to bus to get around campus. I lived on campus for 2 years and never once took the bus to get from point A to B on campus. I used it quite a bit to get off campus, but generally on campus it was going to be faster to walk it than wait for the bus, hope it wasn’t full, pile on, etc. Yes, those winter walks across the drillfield can be brutal, but it builds character. </p>
<p>I agree on MWF classes being better though. Especially for math or science classes, anything where there isn’t going to be a lot of discussion. More discussion heavy classes are easier to get through since they seem to go by faster. That said I would still take a good professor on TR over a bad one on MWF, but all else being equal take the MWF.</p>
<p>For general scheduling yeah, it isn’t really good to stick classes right back to back if they aren’t close to eachother. If they are, though, I suggest it to get through the day faster. Also try to end your day as early as possible; being done with class and free to do whatever by 1 or 2 is a fantastic feeling.</p>
<p>Well when I meant necessary for getting around campus, I was talking about like walking from your dorm to the Math Empo in the middle of December in several inches of snow. haha I guess you kinda covered that with the “builds character” theory. Also to add to that, you should know the bus routes if you plan to live off-campus. I don’t see a lot of students walking to Progress Street or out to South Main. Maybe you should worry about the schedules sophomore year. </p>
<p>Note to Chuy: I saw that Chang is teaching physics in Fall 2011. He is on the timetable of classes for several different CRNs. Hopefully he is teaching it because I’m going to retake physics with him since I want a good physics grade for Pre-Med.</p>
<p>I want to know is virginia tech as good as it is shown in videos online and whatever is written about it is true…or is the reality something diff…i have set up my mind to come to vt bt just want to confirm few things…</p>
<p>I don’t really consider the math empo to be on campus. Its walkable when the weather is nice, but I usually still took the bus since crossing the streets was a pain.</p>
<p>Yourfriend, what videos online are you talking about?</p>
<p>Hi, I am Tunisian. I was accepted in VT and I would like to have some first-hand opinions. How is the campus life like ? Are studies stressful ? Is it fun ? Please Would you give me as many details as you can</p>