<p>I've always really liked UVa, and I was extremely excited to hear about my acceptance. I've already registered for a visit, and I've started researching the school a little bit. I've recently started to worry about the engineering school not being so great (for reference, I've also gotten into Penn State Schreyer and Lehigh). Specifically, the Fiske Guide spoke somewhat poorly about the engineering program at Virginia. Could anyone, preferably someone from within the engineering school, shed some light on it? I'm interested in civil & environmental.</p>
<p>do not believe much of what others say about the engineering school here. People like to hammer about it because of how VTech is regarded for engineering, but in honesty, you can only critique the university if you have attended it. this is my first year at UVA, and the program is sensational. Of course, you have to apply for your engineering major (im looking forward to doing ChemE) but the professors are awesome, resources are adequate, and you shouldn’t really have too many complaints.</p>
<p>I came to Virginia from a highly selective engineering school. I feel pretty strongly about there not being a right or wrong way to teach or learn engineering. I think you need to find the environment that best matches your style of learning.</p>
<p>The polytechnic universities are obviously excellent and have many successful graduates. There are also programs that are a bit more rounded in scope that have successful graduates as well (UVa’s curriculum is more rounded). </p>
<p>There are students who would flourish at either kind of schools, but many feel drawn to one over the other. </p>
<p>College guides are interesting and helpful, but in the end, I think you should visit each option and trust your instinct about the one that feels right. After all, you’ll be more engaged and learn more where you are happy and comfortable. :)</p>
<p>Good luck, Dotty!</p>
<p>Thank you both for the responses. I have many different interests so, as you said, Dean J, I’m thinking a more rounded curriculum would be better. Either way, I’m looking forward to visiting next month. Thanks again!</p>
<p>Doty: Select UVA : Prestigious - excellent environment - competitive</p>
<p>Select only 30% best OOS. Well rounded - will prep to get along and</p>
<p>work with other people.</p>
<p>dotty – do you have an idea of which kind of engineering you’re hoping to do? that’ll also make a difference in your decision</p>
<p>UVASystems2012</p>
<p>How is the Systems Engineering Program at UVA? Pls give insight.</p>
<p>It’s a tremendous program – I’m really glad I did it. The curriculum covers a broad set of tools that’s applicable to a lot of different situations, so once you graduate you can go into a lot of different areas. They’re essentially all tools that support various forms of decision-making. The curriculum is separated into two types of classes: lecture-style classes where you learn tools and concepts, and case- or project-based classes where you apply those concepts. The lectures classes are mostly pretty good, and you learn a lot, but the case/project classes are where the major really shines. You get a ton of experience working in teams on realistic problems and presenting your results (sometimes to professors, sometimes to people from industry). And if you want to look at results… I don’t know of anyone in the program who hasn’t gotten a job yet (I know three people who decided they wanted to go to grad school, and all the rest have gotten jobs in industry).</p>
<p>If you have any more specific questions about the program, please feel free to ask</p>
<p>If you are concerned about the quality of the faculty or the peer group, you will be surprised to find they are as good as the other engineering school in Virginia. In terms of infrastructure and facilities, I am afraid, UVa is not as good! The major problem is the ‘perception’ and the graduating students find the placement as far from satisfactory! It is a call you will have to take based on other options available with you.</p>
<p>Rintu, I’m not sure that I agree with you that perception is poor. There are tons of top-tier companies that recruit at UVA – the Engineering career fair in the fall has something like 150 companies that come down. I have friends going to work at Deloitte, Microsoft, Lockheed, Accenture, McKinsey, Google, and the list goes on… it’s hard to say that companies have a bad perception of the school.</p>