Our daughter has been accepted to Pamplin as well as the b-schools at Miami of Ohio, Wisconsin, Penn State (Smeal), Purdue and Butler. We are trying to get a sense of the school compared to particularly UW-Madison and Miami/Farmer. We visited Purdue a week ago and ruled it out as the analytics focus was more dominant than she would prefer (although all programs focus on analytics these days). She plans to major in Marketing. We hope to visit in April but are trying to get a handle on the personality of the place. Our son is a UVA McIntire student, so a comparison to McIntire could help us calibrate as well. Thank you.
If you are instate I would recommend VT. If she does well she can always transfer to UVA if that is what she wishes.
I think we have amazing schools instate here in VA. VT Alumni are everywhere and employers love VT graduates. Best thing would be for her to visit the campus in April and talk to the students and professors about all the amazing opportunities the students have access to.
We are out of state and she would stay rather than transfer. We are trying to get a feel for the “personality” of Pamplin. Thank you.
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My sister is a Pamplin graduate and to this day . . . a quarter century later she is a VT fanatic. She always felt that Pamplin prepared her well for her career in accounting (CPA) and then sales. She would say there is depth and breadth to Pamplin. It is a highly regarded business school. Her child is there now!
Thank you so much for your reply. We just visited Purdue - another excellent engineering school with a good business school. Our impression was that the engineering influence made the analytical aspects more prominent than at some other schools. We are wondering if that’s the case at VT? She will be a marketing major.
Going to PM you.
I saw this thread when first posted and wondering how things are shaking out for you. We are similarly situated – son interested in finance accepted to Miami, UW-Madison, Penn State, VT, UVA. We just visited VT for Hokie Focus and loved the school but left with some questions about Pamplin – compared to UVA and Miami, VT did not make as strong a case why a student should chooose Pamplin, even though my sense is that a strong case can be made – e.g., direct admit, energized alumni network. We are visiting UW on 4/21 – clock is ticking. Anyway, as we continue to gather info, thought I’d post here for any epiphanies you’ve had! Good luck with the decision.
I have to say that I could not agree more with your assessment of Virginia Tech and Pamplin. We arrived Saturday evening for Hokie Focus on Sunday. As we drove through the campus and town, my daughter’s comment was that it was love at first sight. We spent time that evening on campus and of course the next day and the students are really the most friendly we have encountered across at least 25 college visits with our two kids. The campus is beautiful, the school spirit is top notch and yes, the food is excellent. The whole place has a happy and friendly vibe. But as you mentioned, Pamplin left us disappointed. Until that session my daughter really felt like she had found the perfect match. We were disappointed that we really did not get any information on internships, job placement numbers, quality of the teaching, etc. In fact we were really surprised that we didn’t hear anybody even mention the quality of the teaching. Nor did we hear from any teachers. One administrator was very proud that the job fair is sold out with 120 companies attending. That sounds great until you realize there are 4000 business students at Virginia Tech. At UVA McIntire the students get 10 interviews for every one interview and arts and sciences student gets. There are literally more jobs and internships and there are students. We met a couple of really dynamic Pamplin students during the end of the Innovate session a little bit later in the day and were very surprised to hear that they had struggled to find internships after their sophomore years. Our plan is to get back to Pamplin with a list of questions, but it might be too late. It really is a shame because Virginia Tech has so much going for it.
One note on Penn State from our visit there on Saturday. Although students are directly admitted to Smeal, they must achieve a 3.5 average GPA in 8 qualifying classes to enter the finance major and 3.2 just to stay in Smeal with any of the other majors. This’s was quite a surprise. Seemed like a classic “bait and switch”. We love Miami Farmer. They really seam to have their act together. If my daughter could love Pamplin 75% as much as Farmer, she would be a Hokie for sure. Not sure where she will end up, but will post again.
It’s not unusual for kids in engineering to not have internships after sophomore year (after junior year is common). Maybe business is different. My son in engineering had a couple of roommates that were in Pamplin- .Business Information Technology , Management. Just anecdotal , but they seem to be doing fine. Finance, accounting are also popular. . I did not have the impression that Pamplin kids have trouble getting jobs. They seem to be well recruited and the big companies have Virginia Tech on their radar. Being admitted directly to Pamplin is a plus for many kids. If you haven’t looked at it already, the Post Graduation Survey will give you an idea of the companies where kids are getting jobs. http://www.career.vt.edu/about/postgrad-survey.html
I’ve have never met a pamplin student that hadn’t had an internship that actually wanted one. Also, I heard or read some where that their job fair is one of largest for business majors on the east coast, so 120+ employers at one place recruiter only business majors is a pretty big deal. remember, all 4000 business students aren’t graduating the same year. the comparison of a business student getting an interview to a liberal arts student isn’t a really good data point -since pamplin doesn’t publish a business to liberal arts interview ratio, but i’d imagine it to be the same regardless given liberal arts statistically/stereotypically aren’t as heavily recruited.
i say this to say, that you should really connect with pamplin. they advertise as having over a 90% employment rating for students seeking employment directly after graduation, and do share a lot of statistics. at hokie focus they usually pass out printed materials stating such.
These recent posts are very useful – thanks for taking the time. I missed the post graduation survey results – that is a helpful link. The anecdotal information is good to learn, and we hope to hear more of that as we talk to friends in the area. And thank you appzilla for the insight on Smeal – we were not aware of those requirements. My son is scheduled to visit on April 17 – should be interesting. Happy to post additional thoughts/information as we learn more.
Can anyone comment on the quality of the Marketing instructors at Pamplin?
Any feedback on quality of professors would be appreciated. Thank you!
I have a feeling there are not many current Pamplin students that would be on this forum that could comment on this. The Pamplin website will have info on their website about faculty-their backgrounds, areas of interest, contact info, etc.
I’m a long time lurker, and I’m finally going to post. Oldest child graduating VT this spring; he is civil engineering and found his job last November at the engineering expo. DC has several friends graduating from Pamplin and they all found jobs through the career fair…Good companies (Deloitte for one).
Welcome @yaychildisdone!
What took you so long?!? 
@STEM2017 thanks!