Transfer from Univ Studies to College of Engineering

Is it possible to transfer into the CoE from Univ Studies after one semester? What are the required courses needed for that, and can AP credit help make the process quicker?

bboop42 posted the link below in another thread. The short answer is not likely. You need to have completed 9 required courses before you can even apply to change into the College of Engineering. Those are essentially all the first year courses my son took. A lot of those courses are difficult to get into as a freshman unless you’re in the College of Engineering. So unless you take those equivalents at another university or community college you’ll have a hard time completing them at Tech even by the end of your freshman year.

http://www.enge.vt.edu/_files/undergraduate/com_requirements/COM_NonGE_2018_Application.pdf

You might have a better chance of getting those courses by taking some in the summer before your freshman and sophomore years and trying to transfer into the COE during your sophomore year. Good luck!

It is no longer guaranteed that you will be admitted to CoE if you take the required classes and make the required GPA minimum of 3.2 . It will now be more “space available” - at one point that were a document floating around that said they were expecting to allow no more than 325 transfers in from other VT majors each year, don’t know how legit that number is.

Here’s a quick reference guide
http://www.enge.vt.edu/_files/undergraduate/com_requirements/COM_Quick_Reference_Chart.pdf

Bottom line - they’re trying to really cut down internal transfer into CoE. Transfers from Virginia CC’s is not in this same category as I understand it.

@asixbn I also got into another school for engineering, but really want to go to V-Tech. Would it be easier to go there for a semester and transfer to Tech Engineering or just stay in university studies?

@qazwsx1234 I’m no expert, but I did all this research two years ago when my son was trying to figure out what he’d do if he didn’t get into engineering at Tech. I pulled up the two pages below and I’ll point you there for Tech’s guidance. In summary, it looks like transferring in from another school and/or transferring in from University Studies at Tech will give you similar chances.

However, I don’t know if you’ve looked into the Guaranteed Admissions program from the Virginia Community Colleges system. In short the second link talks about this program and lists the Community Colleges where you can get an associates degree in engineering and then be guaranteed admission into Tech’s engineering program. If you’re okay with doing a CC for 2 years it seems like the surest bet to transfer into Tech’s engineering program.

Good luck!

https://www.eng.vt.edu/transferring
https://www.eng.vt.edu/transferring/virginia

You are not going to be able to transfer to VT from outside after 1 semester either. They will want the same, if not more, requirements as noted in the links provided above and in other threads. If you get stellar grades, complete all the required classes, have a competitive GPA after year 1 and there is space available in the program selected, you may be get accepted to transfer in to Engineering. I know this is not the answer you want to hear, but unfortunately it is the facts. They have closed the gap where a few years ago,the majority of US students could “easily” transfer to Engineering with lower requirements, regardless of space available. Please consider calling admissions or someone in the engineering office and talk directly to them. While the answer will not change, they may have more information on the # of transfers taken (internal/external) over the last few years, etc. Best of luck.

@asixbn

Can AP Credit help make the process easier, since I will have gotten credit for many of the required courses?

Yes, but you can only have 12, I believe, credits outside of VT. Also, I believe there are some classes that for Engineering, AP credits are not accepted. Below is the AP credit guide. Your best bet is to call the Engineering dept directly. They will be able to counsel you specifically based on your situation. Best of luck.

https://registrar.vt.edu/content/dam/registrar_vt_edu/documents/Updates/ap_ib_clep/apequivalency1617.pdf

You need very specific classes for potential admission to CoE. If you have AP credit for those classes that should be ok. But you need 12 hours of credit at VT + the GPA requirement

Many of the classes needed for admission to CoE are blocked for only engineering majors or specific majors 1st semester freshman year. That may include chemistry, math, that type stuff. It definitely includes the 2 basic engineering classes (more on that later). Thus, university studies can actually be more difficult to get the classes you need than some specific majors. For example if your stated major (not CoE) required the math, calc, or physics that CoE requires you’re good to sign up for those 1st semester frosh year, space available. But if your major doesn’t require those classes, they will be closed to you until probably spring semester (they tend to be open then).

The engineering survey course 1215 is not open to non engineering students in the fall, and there are limited spots to get them in spring - you likely will have to stalk drop/add time and grab a spot if/when it becomes available. You also need 1216… so best case you get 1215 in the spring and 1216 over the summer or next fall. Both 1215 and 1216 are available at some CC’s, you would want the course transfer signed off by VT before registering to make sure it counts. if you went that route in the summer for 1216, you have to have the CC send grades and all to VT no later than Aug 13 to be considered for fall application to transfer into CoE. Bottom line - there’s a lot to attempting a transfer into CoE, it’s not a quick and easy thing to do. Add to this that they’re no longer guaranteeing you will be granted a transfer into CoE if you take the appropriate courses and have a 3.2. Since this is a relatively new change, there’s no history to say how this is going to work, how many they will take, etc. So it’s a definite risk to go this way. There’s no doubt VT wants to discourage internal transfer into CoE.

Also, in the past VT has not taken spring transfers from other universities (don’t know about CC’s)

@JustGraduate if I took the summer engineering course at a local CC, got maximum amount of ap credit I needed for the classes, and everything else went right then when would be the earliest I could transfer into the CoE? Beginning of second semester of freshmen year or beginning of sophomore year?

I see no way you can make beginning of 2nd semester freshman year because of needing 1215 and 1216. The earliest you can get 1215 at VT is spring of freshman year.

So taking intro to eng classes at community colleges won’t satisfy the 1215/1216 requirements? @JustGraduate

Some do. But don’t think you can get both in during the summer.

@JustGraduate if 1215 can’t be taken till the spring of my freshmen year, doesn’t that mean I can’t transfer to engineering until the second semester of my sophomore year because I will be taking 1216 in the fall of my second year?

yes unless you could find 1216 to take from a CC during the summer or stay in Blacksburg and take it during the summer (they run 2 summer sessions and I’d guess it’s available one of those)

Look at VT’s list of course equivalencies with CC’s - http://www.tranguide.registrar.vt.edu/2016/vccs.html. Pay particular attention to far right field which defines WHICH CC’s that line applies to. Find out what the course #'s are for the CC you would be taking the courses at. Then go to website of the CC and see if the courses are available during summer session. Both, neither, whatever… and check to see if they offered 1216 equivalent during the summer - just incase you wanted to go that route after freshman year.

Just FYI -

  1. You need approval from the Engineering department to take classes at community colleges in order for them to transfer, even if they are listed in the transfer database. Word document explaining it here: https://www.eng.vt.edu/sites/default/files/2016-10/Fall%2016%20TCR%20Form.doc
  2. 1215 will be offered Spring 2018 and Summer I 2018 for non-engineering students, 1216 offered Spring 2018, Summer I & Summer II 2018. On the second page of this document: http://www.enge.vt.edu/_files/undergraduate/com_requirements/COM_NonGE_2018_Application.pdf

@financiallylost

So hypothetically I could take a community college equivalent of 1215 in the summer or fall of 2017, and take 1216 directly during spring of 2018?

The rules changed. You got to take those classes while at tech if you are a tech student. No more transferring them in from a cc if you are not a regular transfer student.

@undercover007 how do you know this is true?