<p>So the weirdest thing happened to me today. Like many people, I was recently deferred from General Engineering at Tech. After that happened, I got down on myself and thought that there's no way I'll get in regular either, so I decided to send an email this morning saying that I want to change my first choice major to Business Information Technology. I was at a friend's house when a representative from admissions called me on my cell phone and said that she saw my email and said that she wanted to offer me early decision to Business Info Tech right there on the spot. She said I was deferred from engineering because I haven't taken AP Chem or AP Physics, which is kind of bs to me because they didn't even mention that as a requirement. She also said that 1st semester grades are really important. So anyway, I have until wednesday to tell her whether or not I want to stay deferred to commit to BIT. </p>
<p>What I wanted to ask was... should I try again for General Engineering with BIT as my second choice or should I take it right away? Is a bird in the hand better than two in the bush? I feel like I'm going to get a lot of B+'s or B's as my 1st semester grades. </p>
<p>Also, does anybody know anything about the BIT major? They said I didn't have time to take a tour. </p>
<p>My stats:
Asian
3.97 weighted
ACT: 35 Eng. 33 Math</p>
<p>Virginia Tech’s BIT Program is excellent. You certainly could have a very nice future with a BIT degree. You should review the VT BIT website and watch the videos to learn more about the major. </p>
<p>It is not “bs” about AP Chem or AP Physics. If AP classes are offered at your HS, Tech expects you to take them. The Admissions folks tell you this information when you visit the school for tours. Your competition is taking/took these challenging courses. </p>
<p>The question is did you not take AP Chem or AP Physics because you don’t like them or you thought they would be too difficult. In order to succeed in Engineering at Tech, you will have to take these types of courses. It’s a very difficult major. Based upon your projected first semester grades, it sounds like you are marginal. </p>
<p>It may be that you are a better “fit” for BIT. You need to review the courses of study for both Engineering and BIT and determine which program matches your interests. It takes work to switch from BIT to Engineering so you should give this decision a lot of thought. Good luck.</p>
<p>My son and I attended the “Day in the Life of an Admissions Officer” program a few years ago, which provided a lot of insight into the admissions process. We were told that Tech expects you to take AP classes if they are offered. If they are not offered at your school, they understand. </p>
<p>If you have an opportunity to take a freshman level Chem or Physics course at your local community college, you might be able to get dual credit and impress the Admissions folks with your willingness to go the “extra mile” to take the course(s).</p>
<p>Here is the link for starting salaries for Tech’s graduates. The last reported year is 2011 to 2012. The starting salaries for BIT and Engineering are comparable; however, the employment rate for the BIT graduates is higher. This is another data point to consider in your assessment of the two programs.</p>
<p>Do not just give up on engineering just because you were deferred to regular decision. You could easily get in then and if not you can get in from University Studies. Follow your heart, if you truly want to be an engineer, do it, but don’t give it up just because you didn’t get in ED. If you only want to do engineering or BIT because of the money you should rethink your decision, it won’t be worth it unless you are truly happy doing it.</p>
<p>First you need to ask yourself which is more important: do I want to be an engineer, or do I want to attend VT (and major is secondary issue)?</p>
<p>If the latter, then I would jump at the offer for BIT since you can achieve your goal by selecting that major (guaranteed admission).</p>
<p>If you want to be an engineer, then get back on the waiting list, but in the meantime apply to other colleges with ABET accredited engineering programs. To see which ones are out there, go to [ABET</a> -](<a href=“http://www.abet.org%5DABET”>http://www.abet.org).</p>
<p>As GradandMom noted, they really want to have a challenging schedule if the school provides AP classes etc. You have a great ACT score so like others have said you are likley to be eventually admitted. We are from OH and my son was admitted into engg.</p>
<p>I think you should wait if you want to be an engineer. In my opinion, it isn’t worth switching your major completely if you are pretty sure that you want to do engineering just to attend. You have good stats, and I’m pretty sure you’ll get in anyway.</p>
<p>Hey GradandMom, did they every say something about different levels of APS? I took AP Physics B and AP Calculus AB this year when AP Physics C and AP Calculus BC were available. I wish now, that I had decided to take those courses because, but do you know how they look at that?</p>
<p>No, there was nothing specific said about different levels of AP courses. The message was that Admissions wants to see that a student is taking a challenging schedule and if a student’s school offers AP classes, the student should be enrolled in the AP classes.</p>
<p>Hornet75, when you first applied for ED, did you select BIT as your second major choice? If so, doesn’t that mean that the admissions officer did not even consider your second major before you called in?</p>
<p>Those majors are pretty different, so if you really want engineering,I would wait for RD. BIT is pretty non-technical (your job would probably be meeting with business users to get
their requirements, then meeting with the technical programmers to make sure they
understand the business requirements - basically a go-between). I’m not saying it is
a bad career, just pretty different from engineering.</p>