<p>For those who were accepted and wanted to know what freshman year would be like. I just finished up my freshman year. I'm an engineering major. Ask me Anything.</p>
<p>I am a transfer who just got accepted as a junior. I want to know how strict is the tablet requirement? I’m am electrical engineering major. Do they allow the laptop to be purchased through financial aid?</p>
<p>Currently I have a Macbook Pro.</p>
<p>How hard is it to do well as an engineering major and still have fun and go out? Obviously there will be times when the work load is a lot, and school takes priority as usual. </p>
<p>Do any engineers join fraternities/sororities and still do well?</p>
<p>vthokies-</p>
<p>I can’t speak from personal experience, but both of my roommates were in a fraternity and managed to do quite well in engineering. Neither ever seemed totally bogged down with work.</p>
<p>To MominHaq: For the introductory engineering courses in the Fall and Spring semester of my freshmen year, the tablet requirement was a joke. The professors never checked them. I saw multiple students in the lecture with Wacom tablet add-ons with normal laptops (even Macs), me being one of them. Its a bit of a joke really. There was a part in workshop where we had to sketch an object, and all the workshop leaders allowed students to draw it on paper and turn it in. That really defeats the purpose of having a tablet. My advice is to avoid getting a tablet PC, but be sure to get a USB add-on. Be sure that your normal laptop meets and exceeds the requirement. I have a couple friends who love their tablet because they can take notes on it. And some who cannot stand it. I personally take notes on pen and paper so I found no use for it anyways. </p>
<p>They do not fund tablets through financial aid, which is a bummer because the tablets are really expensive. </p>
<p>However, if you do decide to get a tablet, get the Lenovo. The Fujitsu tablets are infamously named Fu****su’s by engineering students.</p>
<p>To vthokies: Well freshmen year is the easiest, so we have a lot of time compared to engineering students who are sophomores and juniors. So, its pretty easy to go out and have fun. Just make sure you don’t hang around all engineering, although, it is a bit hard to do, and try to make friends throughout. Tech is no MIT, so the engineering students here are pretty chill. I dont think there was a single weekend were I didnt have time to chill, drink and party with my friends because of school work. All I can speak for is freshmen year, and to that I say live it up, because it goes by way too fast. </p>
<p>For the second part of your question, I cant say anything definitively. The big thing about college is time management. If you can manage it well and have a moderate-strict schedule, you’ll be fine. The only engineering students I know who joined a fraternity had they GPA’s drop to 2.6 and 2.7’s. Pledging a fraternity while being an engineer takes dedication. If you want to maintain a 3.0 or above, all you have time for is Pledging, Schoolwork, eating and sleeping. However, having said that, freshmen year is probably the best time to pledge. Once you get into your major as a sophomore, you probably wont have enough time. Besides, you want to be in a fraternity as long as possible, its a lot of fun. Also, the engineering students who I spoke of above may not be the smartest students either, so dont take that too seriously. I dont know what their grades were like in high school, so I cant really make a comparison. Maybe 2.6 is what they are used to getting. </p>
<p>Hopefully you choose to pledge first semester. Frats and Sororities open you up to so many things. So many connections. But, dont be that person who thinks they are better than non-greek kids just because they are in a frat or sorority, trust me, there are some.</p>
<p>To Hokie11 - other than the drawing with digital ink, how often do you use your laptop in class? DS will probably go the laptop + wacom tablet add-on because as a CS major the only class he’ll likely use the digital ink is in those intro freshman engineering classes. However, he’s bringing a souped up desktop for his room and he’s reluctant to get the full spec (more expensive) laptop. If you have wired or wireless access to the internet in class he might wind up linking to his desktop as well.</p>
<p>I can’t speak for CS specifically but there were classes that I took in engineering where being able to run the programs on your laptop in class was a requirement, and I don’t think they’d look fondly on linking your laptop to your desktop during classes.</p>
<p>That last word should be “tests”</p>
<p>good point!</p>
<p>How’s diversity in VT? I’m an international student and I’d like to have friends including people from my country. Also, how is the dorm life? is there any strict restriction like curfew or other stuff? I’ve been U.S. for three years but I lived with a host family, so I don’t know much about the college life here. I’m really excited to meet new people xD</p>
<p>What country are you from? Most big ones are well represented I think.</p>
<p>The only people with a curfew are those that are in the Corp of cadets. There is technically a time after which you aren’t supposed to have any opposite sex visitors, but I’ve never ever heard of that being enforced unless the roommate complains.</p>
<p>To ChrisTKD - There are in class tests in the freshman intro to engineering courses that require your laptop to run power, and memory demanding programs. You must be able to run Autodesk Inventor, Matlab, Labview as you will have an in-workshop test with each of these programs. So having a powerful laptop will probably be the best way to go.
I have noticed other students have maxed out their laptop customization to full power and have used external monitors, a mouse and a wireless keyboard. I know that isnt the same thing as a desktop, but it mimics the feel pretty well.
Also, transferring files you are currently working on, or accessing previous ones is pretty hard when you have two hard drives (laptop and desktop), but thats up to you. </p>
<p>My opinion is to get a great laptop and hook it up to two separate external monitors, a mouse, and a wireless keyboard.</p>
<p>To kogs92 - Tech is big, but I wouldnt say it is as diverse as some other large colleges. The majority of students here are white. However, if you look for events with the International Cranwell Center (the office that controls international student affairs) and get involved, you are bound to find people that are from your country. With 30,000 students at tech, I’m sure a lot of countries are represented. So don’t worry, just get involved, and stay informed about activities that go on.</p>
<p>Ah, dorm life. I’m typing this response as I’m sitting here, at 6 am on the last day I will be in Pritchard Hall. Personally, I LOVE the dorm life. It’s probably one of the best things about college. My room overlooks the quad, where theres always something going on (sports, tanning, barbeque…etc). My hallmates are awesome, we have done some crazy stuff this year. However, I do live next to the RA, so if we are a bit too loud past 11ish, sometimes, he’ll tell us to quiet down. Your roommate could make or break your experience with dorm life. I was fortunate enough to have an awesome roommate, so I ended up having a great freshman year. You’ll get to know most of your floor pretty well. I suggest walking around on move-in day and meet new people, help them move in, and just make friends. There are no restrictions on curfews so its pretty chill. Members of the opposite sex have certain hours they are allowed to visit, but as long as youre not being loud, no one should say anything about it (unless youre roommate complains–again, your roommate could make or break your dorm experience). No drinking in the dorms, but people do it anyways. Just make sure youre not being loud and drawing attention to your room (people constantly going in a out). I could ramble on for hours about dorm life. It’s one of my favourite things about college, which is why I chose to live on campus next semester as well.</p>