<p>Both I hear have really great Engineering programs but which school is harder to get into?</p>
<p>UVA's e-school is more difficult to get into than VT's.</p>
<p>But VT's E-School is the more renowned.</p>
<p>Tech has the better equipped E school, but you are choosing a different peer group entirely and a different atmosphere if you attend UVa. Visit both and ask yourself things about class size and how that would affect your ability to learn or whether or not you can thrive and learn best in a smaller school with more of a liberal arts talent pool.</p>
<p>I think the school is more important than the program even if you're doing engineering, as long as the program isn't too bad. UVA engineering may not be the most renown, but I still think it is decent.</p>
<p>As for which school to go to, neither is one of the top engineering schools in the country. Tech is perhaps marginally better ranked, but neither are Top 15 material in engineering. </p>
<p>However, nearly 50% of engineering freshman at both schools end up transferring to a different school of each university by the time they are through. Tech has poor programs across most of the rest of the school, whereas UVa has top programs in nearly everything. While the difference in engineering rankings is small, the difference in overall rankings is relatively large.
UVA has smaller classes, better options in non-engineering courses (not ALL your classes will be in the engineering school), and a better reputation nationally.
Think about this: Next August, 500 kids will enter the e-school at UVA, and over 2000 will enter the tech college of engineering. What do they all have in common? They all got into tech.
I really don't think that UVa/VT is a "rivalry" per se in academics though... you're confusing this stuff with the sports teams. UVa is generally much more often a rival with Michigan,Berkeley, UPenn and William & Mary than VT in academics.
Tech may be a rival at their best thing: engineering (UVa e-school grads still make more starting salary). But overall, the schools couldn't be further apart. UVa is the #2 public university in the country and Tech is something like #32 or #36... I can't remember. (That should tell you something right there -- I know what UNC and William & Mary are ranked because they are much more serious competitors to UVa academically.) Even among schools that are "public and local and PhD-level", Tech isn't second (U. of North Carolina) or third (William & Mary) or fourth (U. of Maryland) to UVa. At best, it's fifth out of about seven schools in this category and radius (WVU and NC State being the other two).</p>
<p>Actually, wmrocks, you are mistaken. As of August 2005, US News Ranks VT as 14 in the nation in terms of undergraduate engineering.</p>
<p>what rank was UVA for undergraduat engineering??</p>
<p>I have a lot of time to decide actually but I will tour and research both schools before I make a choice. (that is if i even get into both of these schools) </p>
<p>I'm only planning to do undergrad in Vtech or UVA as of now so thats all i need to worry about. </p>
<p>I know Vtech has a lot of oppurtunities for engineering but are there any good reasons for why UVA's eschool is better besides the fact that UVA is a better overall school?</p>
<p>UVA Engineering was ranked 31st. </p>
<p>But really, you have to ask yourself, "what exactly does the USNWR ranking mean?" What it actually means is how distingiushed the program is. Distinguished does not mean actual quality or personal fit. It certainly does not mean starting salary upon graduation. Tech's, I think, is very distinguished because of its pure size. But I think it is for this reason that it might not be the best for some. </p>
<p>Go with the school you like better, not by rankings. In my case, I chose Penn Engineering over Cornell which is ranked "significantly higher" in Engineering.</p>
<p>haha my counsler told me about UPENN engineering.. even though I would goto Cornell anyday. but thats besides the point :)</p>
<p>what about the myth that companies dont like engineers with a UVA engineering degree?</p>
<p>It's bull. Remember, Harvard and Yale's engineering programs are poorly ranked in USNews. Do you think those guys have a hard time finding jobs? VT's engineering program is simply bigger and better relative to VT's other programs. UVA's SEAS is smaller and somewhat overshadowed by relatively stronger programs in other areas.</p>
<p>This question comes up all the time on this board. You can check the archives for the many times it's been answered (by me and by others). We're even recycing some of the same stories and jokes. </p>
<p>Years ago, somebody posted that "his father's company" refused to recruit among UVa engineers. That's probably the source of the myth.</p>
<p>Since you're all budding rocket scientists, you can do the research yourself. The e-school career center publishes the results of the annual survey of graduating students. It's a downloadable pdf, and will answer all your questions about who gets jobs, what salaries are paid to what majors (undergrad and up), what grad schools people went to, etc. Clearly many companies pay good money for UVa engineers. </p>
<p>Tech does not seem to make the same data available (I have not looked in a while, so post a link if they've changed). We always suspected this was because tech wanted to avoid comparisons.</p>
<p>In reality, you'll get a good engineering education in either school. At tech, classes will be larger, you will deal more with TAs and less with professors, profs will not know you as an individual, and there doesn't seem to be as much of a safety net. At UVa, there is not as much equipment, not as wide a variety of engineering majors, and the "sequences" can be very restrictive. (This means that certain courses are offered only in the spring or the fall, so you are locked in to eight semesters on campus.)</p>
<p>In the end, however, differential equations will be solved (or not) using the same methods in Charlottesville and Blacksburg. </p>
<p>I have a son who is a 3rd year at UVa's e-school, and a son in law in graduate school at VT.</p>
<p>redbeard: that's so cool that you have a son in each school! What does your UVA son think of the UVA e-school so far? How are the professors? campus? etc</p>
<p>Mr. UVa could not be happier. He's double majoring in systems engineering (UVa's most popular engineering major) and economics. He likes his econ profs most of all. As for the e-school, he's had profs that were good, profs that were hard to understand because of accents, profs who were rude and uncaring ("OK, you got the idea. Now, get out of my office!") and profs that were tough but fair. </p>
<p>He loves the "grounds", and many of the other things that set UVa apart. E-school students have a well-earned reputation for working harder than those in the "college", usually for lower grades. But, they have their own career center and it's very, very busy. Academically, I'd guess he's above average but not in top 10%. Going in, his qualifications were almost right on the average for in-state students.</p>
<p>I hope this helps!</p>
<p>In overall aspect, UVA is ahead, but if your talking about engineering then VT always gets its position between 70-80 (in engineering only)in the world university rankings. While UVA is no where. For more information, search “worlduniversity qs ranking” on google</p>
<p>Hi orehan, this thread is from 2005 and should be locked for editing. Feel free to start a new thread.</p>
<p>Again - I see the constant snob factor at work here and obsession with UVA’s rankings. Tech is an excellent school, and quite frankly, the type of kid there is MUCH different (in TECH’s favor). I think that should be the deciding factor in picking between engineering at both schools. </p>
<p>Hi ltjenkins, this thread is from 2005. Please start a new thread if you want to continue this discussion.</p>
<p>For a Grad degree, which should be easier to get into (Assuming both take in similar number of students/ class)?</p>