<p>How is UVa's Engineering School as far as ranking go? I know VATech supposedly has the best engineering school in the Commonwelth, but there surely must be some advantages to UVa's program. What would make me chose UVa over Tech and vice-versa?</p>
<p>My friend goes to Virginia Tech for engineering, and he told me something that may influence your decision: UVa engineering is harder to get INTO, but "easier" (as far as engineering goes) your first year. Virginia Tech engineering, on the other hand, is easier to get into, but they work very hard to weed out students who might not be fit for engineering.</p>
<p>Personally, I would choose UVa, because of it's location, size, and reputation. Virginia Tech is absolultely ginormous, it's in the middle of nowhere (Blacksburg), and doesn't have the same reputation for academic excellencet that UVa has. Charlottesville is beautiful, and there are actually things to do there.</p>
<p>I think the only reason my friend chose Tech over UVa (he got into both) was because Tech offered him some money towards tuition, so that always comes into play too.</p>
<p>Tech's Engineering Program is #14 in the nation. UVA's Engineering Program is #32.</p>
<p>Thanks, where did you find those rankings?</p>
<p>UVa gives you a much better educational experience. enough said.</p>
<p>hokies SUCK.</p>
<p>U.S. News and World Report ranks Tech as having the 14th best engineering school in the nation. UVA is a very good school, but if you want to major in engineering, why settle for 32nd?</p>
<p>Well, keep in mind that many people change their majors once they matriculate to a school. I have several friends who decided against engineering after a couple of semesters. Personally, I would choose the school that gives you the best academic and social experience overall. I feel bad for those who dropped out of engineering at VA Tech and ended up majoring in some liberal arts major, which Tech is not well known for. </p>
<p>Though VA Tech may be higher ranked than UVa in engineering, UVa engineers still graduate and get the same jobs as Tech grads. </p>
<p>Also, here's snippet from an old post by Wahoo2007 who transferred from Tech to UVa. I find Tech's Math Emporium scary.</p>
<p>"My experiences at VT were much different. I went there last year and found it to be one of the most boring places that I have ever lived. I transferred and am much happier. Curiouser, you are right Blacksburg is not much of a college town. There are some food joints and bars thats about it. My experience was the on weekends when there is not a football game (which are awesome by the way) there really is not much to do but go to parties. </p>
<p>Many of the students at Tech (outside of engineers) are not very focused academically. A lot of the math courses at Tech require you to take a bus to the "Math Emporium" where you learn on a computer because Tech can't afford to hire enough teachers. Here is one student's humorous take on the math emporium:
<a href="http://filebox.vt.edu/users/ajayne/emporium.html%5B/url%5D">http://filebox.vt.edu/users/ajayne/emporium.html</a> </p>
<p>I was in the honors program but I know that outside of that many students have a problem getting into the courses that they want."</p>
<p>"Tech's Engineering Program is #14 in the nation. UVA's Engineering Program is #32."</p>
<p>thats not true. *** are you talking about. press refresh on your damn browser</p>
<p>gandhiji is right check out the link dude
<a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/eng/brief/engrank_brief.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/eng/brief/engrank_brief.php</a></p>
<p>These rankings are worthless. They correspond with the size of the engineering program and the number of faculty members voting. </p>
<p>I have a son at the engineering school at UVa and a son in law who just graduated from tech (engineering). The two schools have different strengths and weaknesses, and it depends on your personality. UVa is harder to get into, but tech does weed out people more aggressively during the freshman year. </p>
<p>UVa has a great systems engineering major, and would be better in the (new for UVa) field of biomedical engineering. Tech would be just as good if you were planning to be a traditional (mech, civ, elec or chem) engineer. </p>
<p>Tech is better in football. UVa has more tradition. My UVa son enjoys courses he takes in the "college" (of arts & sciences). I don't think that tech's non-engineering departments can claim to be top-notch. </p>
<p>But, for somebody making a decision about colleges, the rankings in individual fields like engineering are just gibberish. I can't think of a worse thing to base your decision on.</p>
<p>absolutely aggree wit u redbeard</p>
<p>Thrills4ever is an idiot...those are Graduate school rankings.</p>
<p>VT's undergraduate program ranks #14 in the nation. If you want, you can find the rankings on <a href="http://www.vt.edu%5B/url%5D">www.vt.edu</a> ...Virginia Tech wrote an article on the mainpage about our undergraduate engineering program being ranked #14th last semester.</p>
<p>Oh I forgot to post this...</p>
<p>VT does weed out its students from the Engineering program very quickly. Last semester, my second semester Engineering professor failed 52% of the original class. Failing = C- or lower. Its very stressful and very hard.</p>
<p>I honestly and truly believe that VT has a far better Engineering program than UVA. However, I have a LOT of respect for UVAs academic programs. Both of my parents went there.</p>
<p>I'm not trying to diss VA Tech Engineering because I know it's a good program. Plus, I'm not a big proponent of rankings anyway, but usually a school's graduate program tends to be stronger than its undergrad program because of research, etc. So, why does VT ranking drop from #14 to #31 when comparing undergrad and grad programs? </p>
<p>(By the way, US News ranks undergrad departments based on ratings from college presidents)...which leads me to also ask, "How is a college president from Montana and Mississippi able to rank a school and its programs in Virginia, Ohio, and Oregon? How well does he/she know another school's program especially since there are hundreds of schools in the US alone?"</p>
<p>I agree..Virginia Tech's Graduate program is weaker than its Undergraduate. However, the reputation that Virginia Tech carries amongst recruiters in the Engineering field is more prestigious than that of UVA. My dad graduated from UVA with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Mechanical from Virginia Tech. He recommended that I not go to UVA for Engineering....he is currently an Design Manager for General Electric-Power and says that he values VT students more highly than UVA for Engineering....but at the same time, he says that a lot of the recruiters in the Finance department value UVA Business students very very highly. I understand that he is just 1 person and that every company or employer values the reputations of schools differently...this is just my experience.</p>
<p>vtengineer: did ur dad say uva engineers faired well in the finance department post-graduation.. i was thinking about systems engineering or syseng to commerce at uva..</p>
<p>Since VT is very aggressive at weeding people out of their engineering program, I would choose UVa. If you choose to stay in engineering, you would get a good education at both UVa or VT, but if you choose not to go down the engineering route, then you have top-notch liberal arts, business, education, nursing, and architectural programs to fall back on at UVa, which are all stronger than equivalent programs at VT.</p>
<p>Systems engineering at UVa has a large number of different specializations, including economic engineering and financial engineering. You can double major in econ (as my son is) in the college. I expect he will be able to interview with the Comm school majors, but time will tell. Check out the SIE department's website for all your options.</p>
<p>I just don't buy the "Tech is far better" argument. It has not been my experience, and I know engineers from both schools--having worked in the field in Virginia for 30 years. </p>
<p>Now, there is certainly a different 'tone and feel' to tech's engineering than there is to UVa. It is more oriented to a long-standing career in straightforward engineering. But, alas, I'm not certain that such a career is even possible looking out to 2020 and 2040 (when today's graduates will still be in the work force!).</p>
<p>When deciding between Tech and UVa, I took the advice of an old engineering prof I knew. He insisted that the first few years were all the same, no matter where you went. The most important distinction among engineering schools could be found in the final year--in particular the 'projects' course. This is the final course you take before you become a practicing engineer. He suggested I ask the faculty some questions about the projects course. So I did:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How large were the sections? Some schools had sections too large and not everybody learns from the project. Answers: UVa five to nine. Tech: 29. </p></li>
<li><p>Were the capstone courses taught (that is, guided several days a week) by a professor or a TA? Answers: UVa - professor. Tech - TA. </p></li>
<li><p>What were the characteristics of a project--was it segmented in such a way that students did not have an end-to-end design experience or was it structured in such a way that students worked a project from concept to prototype. Answer: Tech - segmented, UVa (to the best they can arrange it) - end-to-end. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>On the basis of those answers, we chose UVa. We have had no regrets--it's a great school for reasons completely outside the engineering realm.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that I have enough data to refute the hypothesis that 'tech is far better'. I make no claims about whether UVa is 'far better' than tech. I contend that they are about equal.</p>
<p>Redbeard makes me laugh...some of the claims that he made against VT were very accurate, while most were very inaccurate. I trust that hes been in the Engineering field for 30years but he's spiteful against Tech because his boss graduated from there...haha. </p>
<p>Just a little rivalry joke...no hard feelings.</p>
<p>VTEngineer18, making blanket statements isn't helping your argument. Redbeard at least has provided data. </p>
<p>The UVa that your father graduated from is very different from the UVa of today. Back then, Virginia was basically a liberal arts college with professional schools, but now UVa has turned its focus well beyond the liberal arts to aggressively improve all its departments including engineering and science. With its $3.2 billion endowment (actually, I think it's closer to $4 billion if you include the individual endowments of all of UVA's schools), UVa is able to provide a complete education that no other college/university in Virginia can - from academics to financial aid to research (in all areas not just engineering & sciences) to sports (I'm talking well beyond just football & basketball). </p>
<p>Also, no other Virginia school - save U. Richmond - has an endowment over $1 billion.</p>
<p>US News undergraduate department rankings are based more on perception than reality. Its graduate rankings at least use concrete data. Its undergraduate rankings simply use a rating system filled out by college presidents and deans from all parts of the US who are (truth be told) unfamiliar w/ what's going on at other schools across the country. </p>
<p>I believe UVa is poised to be among the best in all fields. </p>
<p>To quote James Hilton (who left his top position at the University of Michigan to become UVA's vice president and chief information officer), Mr. Hilton said he was drawn to UVa due to the breathtaking trajectory of U.Va...I believe that higher education, especially public higher education, will undergo radical changes during the next decade. Only a handful of schools are poised to meet that challenge, and among these the University of Virginia is uniquely positioned to lead the great publics through that transformation...</p>
<p>...I believe the University of Virginia has the potential to best get the use of technology in the service of providing a great residentially based education...</p>
<p>...We will reduce the barriers between research and teaching to better enable the facultys teaching and research mission. And while things will look different, faculty will continue to drive the agenda; technology will serve to facilitate and enhance the directions the faculty set.</p>
<p>I'm sure you can get a good education at Tech, but I don't believe its better than an education gained at UVa.</p>
<p>(BTW, it's far more likely for a UVa grad to be one's boss than a Tech grad. Haven't you heard our cheer? -- "That's all right. That's okay. We will be your boss one day.")</p>