<p>KandKsmom, shoebox, Gary614: I don’t know many of the details at this point but I would think the Rolls-Royce consortium is going to be big, for BOTH schools- in terms of facilities and equipment upgrades as well as many research opportunities. And I sincerely doubt that one group of undergrads will be “favored” over the others because of the school they attend.</p>
<p>Gary614 or shoe, I probably need to post this on the VT forum board, but if you know, does VT have its engineering majors complete more courses within the College of Engineering and therefore not have enough time to take as many electives outside? What if a student went in high on AP class credits and was ahead of the curve in hours/credits, wouldn’t they then be able to take desirable outside classes like shoebox mentioned to make themselves more “complete”? </p>
<p>One thing is similiar, looks like us parents at both schools are going to be paying some tuition/fundraising toward new engineering facilties! That is OK, just do great things later to make my senior years better! :)</p>
<p>No. I compared these two curriculums a thousand times. VT requires classes outside of the e-school, but they’re in “areas”. Most students end up having to take 3 classes in other departments, but they’re usually restricted. VT also splits up its math courses, so while I took 5 credits of math in one semester, UVA takes 4 and has to take another 3 credit class. My major here requires 137 credits. Tech it was 120.
Also, I tried to use AP credit (mainly english) to take politics classes. I got shoved out of them because I’m an “engineer”. There’s lots of side classes that are usually full of engineers. My friend and I compared courses and I actually take 7.5 credits, in my major, more than him. We didn’t count intro courses because math here is 4 credits/course as is our intro-engineering course. I had to take two intro-eng courses there, however, but I didn’t have to take intro-java, so anything first year got discarded. This doesn’t include my extra 9 hours of required STS.</p>
<p>VT overall has less courses available outside of engineering or technical discipline. Hence why it’s a “polytechnic” institute. But as far as how much engineering-technical stuff is required, we take all the same classes pretty much.</p>
<p>Not sure I agree with you about Tech offering less optional courses than UVA. Yes, some area classes are restricted; we found that out when son was trying to take a few drawing courses to help him with architecture, but that seems to be the case in many larger schools that we looked at (UGA being one), not just VT. It can be frustrating, but with all of the budget cuts, departments have to save space for their majors unfortunately. </p>
<p>One positive thing he has found from being a little higher up the totem pole as a second year student is that with the ability to sign up for classes earlier, he has been able to get into several really great liberal arts ones. Freshmen year it would have never happened- the spots were gone. One big thing to remember for anyone at any big school- get online as soon as the courses open up to add in your classes! Maybe the difficulties shoebox experienced with electives his first year wouldn’t be as bad for someone who is a second, third, fourth year student? I would be interested to hear from others at VT and may crosspost this on their forum. </p>
<p>One last thing and then I am done 
Shoebox, when you mentioned the difference in hours required, are you sure that figure is right? Being interested in EE (my dad was an EE), the 120 hours (VT) vs. 137 (UVA) you mentioned looked weird. I found this on VT’s site </p>
<p>[Requirements</a> for EE degree - Class of 2011](<a href=“http://www.ece.vt.edu/ugrad/curriculum/11/ee11.html]Requirements”>http://www.ece.vt.edu/ugrad/curriculum/11/ee11.html) </p>
<p>It shows 132, not 120 total needed. Maybe they have changed it since you transferred. </p>
<p>Whatever, I am sure they are some grueling hours no matter how many! </p>
<p>P. S. Weldon- I totally agree with you. Big boost to both of Virginia’s schools with that announcement.</p>
<p>I’ve never been denied a class here because I’m in the engineering school. Was, twice, at VT. And sorry about the degree requirements, Class of 2010 was different. Looking at number of credits is dumb anyways, classes vary in credits all the time. UVA still has more though, no?
As for course registration, I was one of the first orientations and had 24 AP credits. I was denied politics courses because I was in the engineering school.</p>
<p>Also, I could care less anymore about this argument. Just don’t tell someone that one school is better than the other until you’ve done your research. </p>
<p>Also, I’m a girl. I know, surprise surprise. At least at UVa I don’t feel intimidated by being female. I walked into a class at VT, being the only girl, to a chorus of “I hope we don’t get the girl in our group”. Here? One of two girls, and these guys are my best friends. People say UVA kids are snotty…</p>
<p>I’m looking for engineering and I got accepted into UVA and Georgia Tech (I’m in-state for UVA)
Is the program at UVA good enough to get me into a good grad school or should I stick to GT?
Thanks for the help</p>
<p>I’m in the same boat as hartachepura.</p>
<p>Hello…Shoebox, just wondering if you were in Honors at VT. We are thinking
being in Honors there might make it easier to take other classes besides engineering
stuff. Our son is entering either VT or UVA with a bunch of engineering credits
already and hoping to take other classes outside the engineering curriculum. It
would be frustrating to find out he is not “allowed” just because of his major. That
is one of the reasons that UVA is very appealing. He is going to Hokie Focus as
well as the Day on the Lawn at UVA but still confused over the two schools. I
plan to post this as a new thread but one negative on UVA is the reputation of the
alcohol/frat scene there and whether or not a quiet non-partying young man would find
himself feeling a bit out of his comfort zone there…Any thoughts?</p>
<p>I think you got confused and meant to say that “one negative on VTECH is the reputation of the alcohol/frat scene” You are aware that Tech is always being ranked as a huge party school right along with it’s academic peers (West Virginia University, James Madison, etc) right? Binge drinking is a notorious problem at Tech, have you read the news lately? It has gotten to the point that Tech is considering notifying parents if students commit alcohol violations (something unheard of at UVA…could it be perhaps that most of us in Cville know how to control ourselves around alcohol?) Make sure that if your son is uncomfortable with drinking he take a look twice at Tech, from my own visits on two different weekends, alcohol is a central part of Tech’s culture.</p>
<p>Look at this and tell me you don’t find these figures shocking (this comes from Tech’s own website)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.collegiatetimes.com/pdf/alcoholTask.pdf[/url]”>http://www.collegiatetimes.com/pdf/alcoholTask.pdf</a></p>
<p>WOW…</p>
<p>tnalf- my son is a freshman engineering student at UVa. He’s pretty quiet, not a partier and does not drink. He really enjoys the school. Of course he has been exposed to some drinking there-he mentions 1 (out of 10) of his suitemates seems to party hard regularly on weekends but my son maintains his own way of doing things and has fun in his own way. I think your son would have the same experience.
heartachepura - of course UVa is “good enough” to “get you into” a good grad school - are you kidding?. From some of the posts you read on CC you would think UVa Engineering is like some kind of community college. In point of fact, UVa SEAS matriculates graduates to many excellent grad schools, as well as being a target school for leading engineering companies. But the ultimate answer is, there is no substitute for beng good yourself.</p>
<p>Out of my UVA engineer friends, five are working at Booz Allen in the D.C. area making tons of money (plus they’re getting their masters from UVA subsidized by Booz), one is doing Teach for America and then going to Yale Med, one is going to Columbia Law, one is getting her PhD in civil engineering at Stanford, and another one is getting her PhD in biomedical engineering at UVA. From my small sample of (not-over-the-top academic-oriented friends) I think they’re doing pretty well for themselves…</p>
<p>I realize UVA doesn’t have a bad program or anything and I know that the person determines whether or not you get a good education… nonetheless GT has an accelerated Masters Program with excellent Co-ops and I’m still not convinced that UVA can compete with that. I want to get into the working world without wasting too much time. And just wondering if anyone has any ideas on whether a better program or a more prestigious name is more advantageous.</p>
<p>“…I’m still not convinced that UVA can compete with that.”</p>
<p>It looks like you’ve already made your decision. What is it that you want to hear? Off you go then, good luck with the 600-people classes, the lopsided student body (what is it, 70% male?) and one of the least happy and most stressed student bodies of the nation.</p>
<p>KandKsmom:</p>
<p>It is possible that a student may be not be able to sign up for classes from another school.
S1 was not able to sign up for a higher level economics class from engineering last year until he declared economics as his second major this year.</p>
<p>davh01, With regard to not being able to sign up for economics due to not declaring it as a minor is that at UVA or Tech? Thanks.</p>
<p>hartachepura, With regard to GT I believe it is very good engineering school based on the national reputation it has (I believe all its degree programs are top 5 listed). Don’t know many graduates but D and I went to visit this summer and she just did not like the campus so it dropped off the list. being from Virginia I sure did not mind:) May want to take a look at the GT CC site and get a vibe from studenst that are there now. Have you visted?</p>
<p>Is it just me or has the UVA board gone on the defensive within the past few weeks. It seems like everyone is trying to talk down UVA or something…</p>
<p>Gary614:</p>
<p>UVA. S is trying to double major eng and econ. A liitle catch-22. He could not sign-up for an upper level econ class becuase he was not an econ major and needed the class to declare econ major. (sometimes not much choices when trying to fit the required courses from both school and graduating on time). He did talked to the professor and got his permission.</p>
<p>tnal, I am glad your son is going to be able to attend both of the open houses given by each of his schools. CC Discussion forums like this one give you a ton of information, but you have to mix in the fact that some of it is from personal observation, could be dated or with given with just a plain ole bias because that particular school is where the poster is a student or where the parent is paying! (We all love our schools it seems- that is a good thing!) </p>
<p>Hopefully you both will be able to ask a lot of questions to the professionals at UVA and VT and be all set. I bet he knows where he wants to go pretty quickly after he visits and spends time at each- seems that most kids who post on here after visiting any school get a better picture of themselves being at their new “home”. </p>
<p>Regarding the party atmosphere at UVA or VT, weldon and my son have experienced about the same thing, except my guy is at VT. There is drinking at any college nationwide. There are non-drinkers and academic types at both schools. </p>
<p>Like you, we worried that our quiet, non-partier may have his eyes opened when he set off to school. He has. But, he has befriended kids who like to party and those who don’t. To think that he could pick a school where he would not experience kids who have different lifestyles than his was not an option. Nor would we would have wanted him to go somewhere that he wouldn’t have had to learn to stay true to who he was, make good choices, make mistakes and grow up. Long story short he is very happy with the social scene at VT and has found his (non-drinking/partying) niche. He would have done the same at UVA. No matter where your son picks, he will be OK!</p>
<p>Good luck with your visits- I hope you have great weather at both schools!</p>
<p>hartachepura- if you are a hard-core engineering person and the GT accelerated program really suits your needs, then possibly you should go for it. Frankly I haven’t looked into what UVa SEAS offers in a similar vein, I would think an accelerated MS would be possible but I don’t know the particulars so I won’t say. However this question is a separate issue from “prestige”, and which school has how much, and what it all means. If you are a top student coming out of GT I am sure you will have excellent marketability. The same is true of UVa though, and it would be hard to quantify the difference.
WolfPack: I have specifically sensed talking down UVa Engineering, or to be fair, we’ve heard from some well-meaning (I think) prospective students who for some strange reason have come to fear that a UVa engineering degree is like a black mark on your career. (Note a similar thread where the individual essentially asks if going to UVa for engineering would ruin any chance of going to a good graduate school!), This can be exasperating to read but mostly, it is the student who potentially suffers from this mistaken viewpoint.</p>
<p>Well said weldon. But oh wait, because I’m a fourth year UVA engineering student, I shouldn’t have a job, right? My five offers from top companies can’t be true, right!!! Gosh…leaving VT was the dumbest thing ever!</p>
<p>I’m glad I’m so content with UVa I can stay away from this whole conversation</p>