I am a community college freshman in accounting that was just accepted to UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce and VT’s Pamplin school for the coming fall semester. I am undecided about which to attend-- McIntire is more prestigious but also more rigorous, so I would probably get better grades at Pamplin. Furthermore, VT seems to have a really good alumni network, so that would benefit me in the future. Any thoughts/opinions would be greatly appreciated 
hi there! If you’re certain that you want to do accounting/business and you’d be upset if you were forced to major in something else, I’d go with pamplin. mcintire has a super low acceptance rate and I know tons of people who had to major in econ because they didn’t get in. Not saying that you won’t get into the comm school, I just think it’s important to consider. vt is rigorous too, just probably not as rigorous as uva. also, uva definitely has a really strong alumni network, stronger than vt (they def have a strong one too tho).
edited to add: I’m a management major, so I don’t know much about this, but it might me beneficial to look up the CPA pass rates for UVA and VT. That might help show which school has a stronger accounting department. I know JMU has super high CPA pass rates…go dukes!!!
Hi, you say you are a freshman - how did you get accepted to McIntryre which is a Junior year admission?
I thought that they meant that they were accepted to CAS and are on the pre-comm track
@Bizdock I already got my associate’s degree so I was able to apply as a third year transfer student
@noah24nba hi! even though I’m a freshman, i completed my associate’s degree, so I was accepted as a third year in mcintire for fall 2020. therefore, admission to the school isn’t my concern. I’m worried about going to mcintire because it seems very academically challenging and I’m afraid that will hurt my GPA…
Congratulations on your acceptances!
Why do you think McIntyre is more rigorous? If they accepted you, they must feel you can succeed there.
How do the net costs of each school compare?
@accountingmajor1 With my experience with the Big 4 (if that’s what you’re aiming for), if you have a 3.5+ GPA, good extracurriculars, and can articulate your experiences well, you’re set. Not to say that anything below these thresholds wouldn’t get you into the Big 4, but that’s when I would consider you “safe”. Based on that, I would recommend McIntire. If you can get into McIntire as a transfer, I’m confident that you can maintain a 3.5 or higher and can remain active on campus. Good luck!!
@UVAyyy the big 4 is exactly what I’m aiming for–thanks for the info!
@Mwfan1921 thanks! it just seems more rigorous because it is so competitive to get into