<p>looking to major is German at a VA state school...</p>
<p>The German section (it is not its own department) at Virginia Tech has changed A LOT over the past 8 years. They have more faculty now than they used to:</p>
<p>[German</a> Section](<a href=“http://www.fll.vt.edu/German/fac.html]German”>http://www.fll.vt.edu/German/fac.html)</p>
<p>Way back in the day, it used to be only three teachers. German was great because of two of the teachers (Noob and Witthoeft), but unfortunately these extraordinary teachers were forced out of the department for unjust reasons that I won’t get into, and the other guy (Mellen) retired. So, the section began again from scratch around '06 with all new faculty (adjuncts). One of these teachers was killed in the 4/16/07 massacre, and his wife (another teacher) subsequently left. So the section had to begin all over again. My point here is that German at Virginia Tech is by no means an established program with long-standing tenured faculty. It is about as far from that as you can get.</p>
<p>Upper level course offerings (some classes once every other year) were sparse due to few students going beyond 2000 level and obtaining a degree in German. </p>
<p>From their website it looks like an effort has been made to expand the program, but perhaps someone in it currently can comment.</p>
<p>I would not hesitate to recommend VT if Noob and Witthoeft were still on the faculty. Unfortunately, they are not, so I suggest you look at William and Mary or UVa.</p>