<p>Galoisien: Yes and no. There is an agreement with the College that came into affect (as in, students began entering as a result) this past Fall07. However, the E/A/Nursing/Education/McIntire were not part of this. Now, SEAS has it's own plan with requirements more geared towards the e-school, but still has the GPA limit of a 3.4. And I agree that VCCS is a good CC system, but CCs in general do not have the same resources, environment, and rigors of a 4-yr like UVa. I've taken classes over the summer at NOVA, which is considered the best system within VCCS, and they really are no where near as challenging as a 4-yr program. I spent maybe 3-4 hours a week/subject for a class, when here, most e-schoolers spend 3-4 hours a day/subject. Sure, not all classes are like that and it may have been different because they were over the summer. But people are naive if they believe CC engineering and a top school's engineering programs are even close to being on the same level. It's not putting down CC, it's just that again, they lack certain features causing the amplitude of the rigor to be hampered.</p>
<p>UVA is not the first college to do this. Berkley, Michigan, and almost every other public tier 1 college does the samething. UVA is doing a good thing. They are increasing the number of high caliber engineers, and this is good for everyone. The U.S. is already way behind in the number of scientists and engineers it produces compared to its peers.</p>