<p>Just an FYI and update re: my son invited for honors but not directly admitted to engineering (and it will take at least a year or more since he may not get the exploration engineering until sophomore year. Until all reqs are met he can't take any engineering courses. Some of the courses just seem like he'd take them as a freshman anyway:
Linear Algebra/Calc
Chem- 2 semesters
Freshman English
Engin Exploration</p>
<p>STATS mentioned at some point on the VT threads:
OOS- NY
3.82 GPA
7 AP's (4 this year) (4.0 in AP Physics with 5 on AP test, took AP BIO- 4 AP score but he did get 710 on the SAT2)
ACT- 31 with 32 in math and science
Math- customary sequence with Intro to Calculus this year.</p>
<p>Nothing seems like it would keep him out of direct admit to Engineering which he did apply for.
As he is OOS with likely little merit aid (and no fin. aid coming our way) the extra year spent at VT along with the 75% 5 year grad rate means that he is looking at likely 6 years to graduate.</p>
<p>75% grad rates? What? No. It doesn't take 75% of engineers 5 academic years to graduate. Maybe when you factor in co-ops and stuff but not 75%. Especially if he is taking academic classes his freshman year theres no way he'll take 6 years unless he's honestly slacking.</p>
<p>Call admissions and make sure he wasn't supposed to be admitted into engineering. I don't see any reason he wouldn't have been.</p>
<p>The 75% grad rate in 5 years for engineers was off the web site.
50% retention rate.</p>
<p>Compared to some other schools, the graduation rate is actually good! Maybe it's due to getting classes you need? Retaking classes? I really don't know. When I was in school it was easy to graduate in 4 years, even switching schools and majors.</p>
<p>I should call the school and see why he was not an auto admit to engineering.
What are the normal first year courses?</p>
<p>I'd still be pretty shocked if that number didn't take into account co-ops. I guess some majors routinely take 5 years but I know that in MSE it's less than a quarter that actually take 5 academic years.</p>
<p>Crazed, your S's stats should have made him a shoo-in. I would definitely call admissions to make sure.
Trying to remember... pretty sure that no matter how well you did on Calc APs, you still have to take Linear Alg and then Geometry. And of course they will be easy As. If you took Chem AP and made 4-5, then you can skip the required chem and go directly into to the physics requirement. Note: if you want a chem enge major, and your chem AP was 3-4, consider taking the chem courses anyway, you really will need that background. </p>
<p>Even if you s can't take some Enge courses until soph year, he can still get a great deal of his core requirement courses out of the way. Every major has to fulfill a list of 7 core sections from English to math, to art, etc. Engineering courses pretty much take care of, I think 4 of those sections, so get the others out of the way if possible. Oh, and try to get the Art appreciation class early. It's one credit pass/fail, and fulfills the art section of the core requirements. I see no reason why your S couldn't finish in the regular 4 years, even if he has to start late. My son just added a double major and will still have to take a couple of extra courses to fill in the spaces (must have 12 credits per semester to be fulltime student).</p>
<p>I'll be a sophomore transfer, should I go ahead and try to live on campus my first year or would it be better to live off campus? And if I do live off campus should I still get a meal plan?</p>
<p>Well, I'm only speaking through my son's experience on campus, but he made a point of trying t stay on campus his soph year. He'll move off next year as a junior, but he says the whole dorm experience was a blast. He will probably do a small meal plan next year just for the ease of eating a meal on campus once a day at the very least.</p>
<p>msc, living on campus would probably be a good idea if you can get a spot in a dorm. It's nice being in the middle of everything when you don't know very many people. If you do live off campus you might not be able to get a meal plan (they may be instituting a meal plan lottery next year for off campus people) but if you can get one and plan on eating at the all-you-can-eat buffet often you should, if you don't plan on eating there much it's actually cheaper to pay cash.</p>
<p>chuy,
How hard is freshman general chemistry? who is the best teacher?! any suggestions how to prepare for next year chemistry? will be freshman next year.</p>
<p>chuy / anyone else-
first off chuy thanks for all the help you've given me and everyone else but i did see that HP sells a tablet series at ~$1000(HP</a> Official Store — Buy an HP Pavilion tx2 and tx2z series notebook PC from HP) and I was wondering whether that would be a decent, cheaper alternative to the ones needed for engineering. I'm really looking for any way to get out of having to pay the money for the tablet pcs bought through the school store if thats at all possible.</p>
<p>As long as it meets the computer specs that the Enge dept specifies, it really is your call. You'll be using your computer all the time so you really should make sure it has the power you'll need and then some. Who wants to have to upgrade in a few years?! It's the tablet part that most don't use, but that's what makes these laptops more expensive than others. The other problem that you will run into is what to do when it breaks/malfunctions as they all do at some point - keep in mind that you may be taking your laptop everywhere so get one of those really sturdy backpack laptop carrier things to protect it. Buying through the bookstore and paying that extra just gives you the ease of mind that you won't be shelling out service/repair fees up the wazoo, plus a loaner is available. Finances will have to be your guide. It's your money.</p>
<p>My s loves the flexibility of having a laptop, but it really is a pain in the neck for other work. He ended up saving his money and buying/building a desktop computer.</p>
<p>I did the same thing as your son, zimmer. And I only use my tablet now once or twice a week. The linked tablet seems decent enough, just make sure it meets specs. If something goes wrong he'll have to ship it off (buy. the. warranty.) but look at the prices between there and the bookstore and decide how much the convenience is worth to you.</p>
<p>I'm actually a big fan of the tablets (except the price), just to throw in another perspective on these things. They seem to get a lot of hate.</p>
<p>Beginning last semester, I started using my tablet frequently, and I feel like it is quite beneficial to how I learn (maybe it's just me). It allows me to easily jot down rough notes in class and easily erase and edit once I have a better understanding of what I've just heard.</p>
<p>My only reservation is that if you misuse the battery (keeping it in while you're connected to an outlet), you're battery life diminishes greatly. I'm about at 5 minutes when charged 1000%. Other than that, I've never had it break or crash, and have never had to bring it to the bookstore. I'm a sophomore, so I've had it for almost 2 years.</p>
<p>My advice is take care of it!
- get one of those sturdy protective backpacks like Zimmer said
- while your using it with an outlet, take out the battery
- learn to utilize inking in powerpoint and word (it'll make you feel like you're really putting it to good use)</p>
<p>I guess one big positive I also really like is the portability of the things...</p>
<p>That was a mouthful and no I feel like a Fujitsu/Gateway salesman. ; )</p>
<p>Hab: Freshman chemistry isn't really that hard, especially first semester. Second semester keep up on the homework and you'll be fine. The professors I had have both retired so I don't really know who that's left is good.</p>
<p>hey hey chuy I actually have a question for you :)</p>
<p>I had applied to Tech and received my pin and on the app status page it always had my application data posted...All info including my admission type and such
I was suppose to find out on March 1st if I got into Tech or not...well on March 2nd my status page changed and the following was added to it:</p>
<p>Current Program
Level: Undergraduate
Catalog Term: Fall Semester 2009
Campus: Blacksburg</p>
<p>it also now talks about evaluation of my transfer credits to be completed.</p>