<p>Getting packed for our trip to UVA - 8 hour drive tomorrow, for DOTL on Friday. Hope you all send the storms away - would love to see Grounds in the sun! Will be doing the Engineering session and tours with DS and the Rodman sessions. Hopefully DS will fall in love. Either way, I’m getting a mug and a sweatshirt!.</p>
<p>Safe travels!! Weather in c’ville can change on a dime and you still have over a day so the rain could move to Saturday, or not at all. Sending all good vibes for no rain!! Have a wonderful visit. I can’t get out of the bookstore without something. I’m terrible. Even the dog is decked out, lol!</p>
<p>Save travels, ScienceGuy!</p>
<p>
Doesn’t help that the bookstore now has a pet section! :)</p>
<p>While I’m not ScienceGuy (I believe he visited Tuesday) thanks for the well wishes on travel! 
Not looking forward to the 8 hour drive, but am looking forward to the arrival. Don’t like the thunderstorm forecast, but Oh well…</p>
<p>ScienceGuy, we’re all waiting to hear back on your visit. Hopefully my DS comes away as excited as we think he will. But rain always puts a damper on the mood - although not nearly like snow in Ithaca does!</p>
<p>Hey, maybe give up your spot to this student: Instate, female, 720Msat, 3.8 uw, APPhysicsC,APCalcBC,APChem, Pres. Science Honor Society, 2 sport Varsity Athlete. Yes, I’m a little bitter.</p>
<p>Oops! Sorry, grp2013. :)</p>
<p>Snugapug: What, only 2 varsity sports? You need to be captain of at least 3 to be accepted. </p>
<p>(Hopefully, you will make in on the wait list).</p>
<p>WOW! I got back from my trip late last night and I must say I was a little blown off my feet. For starters - it was 85 degrees and sunny out the entire day. The campus was beautiful and well organized - I loved the combination of older buildings with character and new facilities. It was just all around gorgeous. In general, the student body seemed upbeat and friendly. Both our tour guide for the general grounds and the one for the engineering school were extremely helpful and passionate. I can definitely see myself spending four years at the University of Virginia.</p>
<p>Two things from the trip that I did not know about before: #1) The fact that it is possible to switch out of the engineering school after the first two semesters and still be able to meet the pre-reqs for the School of Commerce which calmed my nerves about a possible major switch. #2) The cool concept of all 4th year engineering students being required to write a senior thesis (the only other school that does this is Princeton). </p>
<p>I would say at the moment I am 70/30 between UVA and Notre Dame. The only thing holding me back from committing this moment is the aura/brand name that surrounds ND. There are some people I have talked to that called me crazy for passing up the opportunity to attend ND, but I feel that my future employers will know UVA carries just as much prestige. Anyone have any thoughts on this concern?</p>
<p>There is more to college than brand name… Like warm weather… You visited ND already?</p>
<p>Yes. I liked ND - especially the dorm system and overall level of school spirit. I feel as if the community is a bit more tight knit than UVA’s, but most likely because there isn’t much to do off campus. It is kind of a different experience whereas UVA is more of a traditional college experience.</p>
<p>@scienceguy12 “calmed my nerves about a possible major switch. #2) The cool concept of all 4th year engineering students being required to write a senior thesis (the only other school that does this is Princeton).”</p>
<p>ND, and most other engineering colleges, will require a senior capstone project. If you prefer to write a thesis over participating in a design project then that would be a plus for UVA. Personally, I don’t understand the comments that you would be crazy to pass up ND for UVA. What is the basis for this position? Are they at all familiar with UVA?</p>
<p>It sounds as if either university would be a good fit for you. Don’t second guess your decision. Congratulations BTW.</p>
<p>@snugapug “Yes, I’m a little bitter.”</p>
<p>Yes, it’s disappointing but there are many paths to success. If you can let the bitterness go I think you’ll find that you will thrive at whichever university you attend.</p>
<p>FYI, every fourth year writes both an individual thesis and participates in a capstone design project with a team. Alongside the actual project, you+team wrote a technical thesis documenting the engineer process, then complemented it with your individual thesis. Those two items were the most challenging, cumulative, and rewarding part of my undergrad career. You had to work with a team to think of, design, conduct, and conclude a technical project using all of your educational experience, as well as write a personal engineering thesis that not only used fundamental engineering and critical thinking skills, but also apply root socio/economic thought to it. </p>
<p>Suddenly, you were no longer a student…you were an engineer, an engineer that can apply technical and critical thinking skills to real-world problems without ignoring the social, environmental, and economic implications that you can cause or influence. <THAT is why I think UVA’s engineering school is one of the best. As a full-time working engineer, I can promise you that if you can pick up those skills in your engineering studies, you will go farther than you can ever imagine, regardless of what “name brand” you have attached to your name. You will floor older colleagues, be able to work across multiple disciplines, and understand how you can affect the world around you</p>
<p>As a manager who helps hire engineers, I can say that shoebox is absolutely right on target. A “UVa type engineer” is much more sought after in practice. It’s amazing how many students think employers are simply looking for a “pedigree” on a diploma. We’re not. But we do know that some names, like UVa, mean something different.</p>
<p>Now, not to hijack the rest of the thread, but I have to say this: we are currently on Grounds for DOTL and it was so nice to see people in person I’ve been “seeing” here and talking to via email. From meeting Dean J to meeting with those in the FA department, Rodman program, and Marching Band, it was a wonderful day, albeit a bit wet at times.</p>
<p>I’ve visited 10 schools with DS and UVa was by far the friendliest and most honest place we’ve been. No hard sells, or sugar coating, everything was “here are our strengths and here are our weaknesses”. What a great bunch of students and faculty, and programs to back them up. I think I sense a wallet-lightening event coming tomorrow… :)</p>
<p>ScienceGuy 12, our younger son attended both “Days on the Lawn” with me earlier this week and Notre Dame’s admitted-students program with my husband yesterday/today (he is a SEAS/prospective mechanical engineering/aerospace major at UVA, ditto at ND). We are an OOS family (Massachusetts). Oldest son graduated from UVA last spring (foreign affairs/politics major, College of Arts and Science). The entire family has fallen in love with UVA these last four years; older soon quickly landed what he views as his “dream job” in D.C. following his UVA graduation. (He had a paid internship in D.C. during the summer following his third-year, yielding his job offer. That said, in the current economy, this may have been an exception, not the rule, for an Arts/Sciences graduate). For our younger son, this week’s “Days on the Lawn” program & engineering information session/tour were excellent, straightforward, and honest - the professor who ran the engineering info. session/Q & A did an excellent job noting SEAS strengths and limitations, as well as describing study-abroad opportunities. It was interesting to hear that although available, many UVA students hate the thought of missing even a single semester away from Grounds to study abroad, and therefore choose to take advantage of excellent “J term” (between Christmas and spring semester) or summer study abroad programs. Both my son and I were impressed by descriptions of the McIntire School business minor available only for SEAS undergrads, as well as the collaborative engineering senior capstone project/thesis. At today’s Notre Dame admitted-students program, our son spent the day with a ND engineering student, attending engineering and physics classes and labs with him. Mendoza (ND’s business school) doesn’t have an engineering-oriented business minor, but instead offers an integrated two-course business program for engineers (UVA appears stronger in this regard). Son is also a jazz pianist (has won several awards, works part-time as an accompanist for a regional chorale and theater companies), so extracurricular jazz combo/ensemble opportunities are part of his university decision. Purely coincidental timing of UVA’s spring jazz combos’ concerts at Old Cabell Hall last Sunday while we were on Grounds for “DOTL” were a plus - gave him a chance to see/hear UVA undergrad jazz musicians perform. Met today with faculty from ND jazz faculty, attended a “football robotics” tournament tonight featuring robotic football players designed/developed by ND engineering students and Indiana U-Purdue engineering students. He really likes ND’s strong sense of community fostered by their dorm culture (no Greek houses at ND, 80% of ND students remain on campus, and in the same dorm, all four years), but appreciates that his older brother also experienced a strong sense of community at UVA through involvement in honor and Greek fraternities (was president of an academically- and philanthropically-oriented Greek fraternity), Madison House volunteer work, and other UVA extracurricular activities. Overall, our family agrees that Charlottesville is a more attractive and quintessential “college town” than South Bend. UVA’s “Corner” has greater variety and and eclectic charm than Eddy Street Commons, which is ND/South Bend’s attempt to create a “Corner-like” shopping/dining area for the university (looks like something a developer could build/drop down in Anywhere, USA - has apartments, condos, and a hotel, but its retail outlets are mainly national chain restaurants and stores (ex., Chipotle, Five Guys, Urban Outfitters). Charlottesville generally has much better weather (longer autumn and earlier spring), although our older son, as a second-year, was at UVA for the historic “snowpocalypse” of December, 2009 and a few weeks later in January, 2010. All variables considered, our younger son has a difficult decision to make in the next 10 days!</p>
<p>It’s official. I have made my decision and will be sending my deposit to the University of Virginia tomorrow. Below are the main points that sold me when in comparison to ND. </p>
<p>1) The engineering program is a bit larger at UVA than ND. There are more degree programs offered, more research centers, and the yearly funding for research is 70 million versus 40 million. I also really liked the systems engineering major which was not offered at ND. </p>
<p>2) The grounds, Charlottesville, and overall location outmatched ND in many regards. The weather is nicer and a 6 hour drive is better than having to take a plane. </p>
<p>3) The social scene was more my flavor at UVA. I do like to go out occasionally and I feel like I have that option more at UVA. Although the community/brotherhood at ND was attractive I was turned off by the parietals and smaller scale off campus social scene. Also, I am a bit into the whole preppy culture and I feel like that is more prevalent at UVA. </p>
<p>Obviously there were some other factors, but those were the main ones. It took me a few days to mentally wrestle with the idea of turning away the “ND Experience” but at the end of the day UVA just made more sense. </p>
<p>Thanks for everyone’s opinions. Maybe I see some of you/your children at UVA in the future. </p>
<p>Sent from my HTC One X using CC</p>
<p>Daughter is a third year at Seas (civil) so here is my two cents. When she was looking at schools I had some concern about the STS type courses. We had visited Georgia Tech and VT, both were very well regarded engineering schools more like the one I went to in the day. My major issue with UVA was that these courses would detract from her time in the engineering core classes. I’m an engineer trained old school (which means I took a minimum of non technical courses) and was not used to seeing non-technical courses as mandatory. I felt it would be limiting her choices on technical electives. Well it has been a fantastic experience for my daughter; she loved taking thing like Chinese art and environmental science. In fact she also feels it has made her more competitive on the job market where she has been able to show her communication skills are excellent. She completed one internship last year and was invited back based in part on her writing skills. She has another one lined up this year with another company in Florida. So for her it was the right move and is working out. Good luck!</p>
<p>
That’s Dean Ed Berger. I’m a big fan. He leads a J-term study abroad program in Panama ([here’s</a> a really cool video from a recent trip](<a href=“http://www.semesteratsea.org/2012/06/11/exploring-the-expansion-of-the-panama-canal/]here’s”>http://www.semesteratsea.org/2012/06/11/exploring-the-expansion-of-the-panama-canal/)). </p>
<p><a href=“http://twitter.com/UVaSeasAD[/url]”>http://twitter.com/UVaSeasAD</a>
[U.Va</a>. and Semester at Sea Students Explore an Engineering Icon and Social Touchstone: The Panama Canal | UVA Today](<a href=“http://news.virginia.edu/content/uva-and-semester-sea-students-explore-engineering-icon-and-social-touchstone-panama-canal]U.Va”>U.Va. and Semester at Sea Students Explore an Engineering Icon and Social Touchstone: The Panama Canal | UVA Today)</p>
<p>
Amazing that we’re so close to the National Candidates’ Reply Date. Good luck to your son with the decision. </p>
<p>
Welcome to the Class of 2017! Wahoowa! :)</p>
<p>Congrats ScienceGuy.</p>
<p>My DS just picked “Accept” and payed (with my CC of course) his Deposit a few minutes ago. So, that makes 2 new UVa engineers :)</p>
<p>My thanks again to the people here on this board for your continued information, the people we met Friday at DOTL (including Dean J) and at the Rodman session who were the most forthright of any school we’ve visited, and the Marching band staff for going out of their way for a personal tour and info session. Our visit couldn’t have made it more clear that UVa is a perfect fit. If I had taken all of DS’s criteria and written down a script for each person to say during the day it couldn’t have been any more on point. It certainly made the 8 hour drive home an enjoyable one.</p>
<p>I’m actually glad now we didn’t visit last year because this would have become his 1st choice then - and he probably wouldn’t have been accepted! Now this is his last impression of any college visit and it’s just about perfect. Finally saw some excitement on the boy’s face!</p>
<p>Looking forward to 4 years as a Wahoo parent :)</p>
<p>Congratulations to ScienceGuy12 and grp2013’s son! And… a third new UVA engineer-in-training is now officially joining the Class of 2017! After completing his Notre Dame visit (which followed his attendance at “Days on the Lawn”), our younger son was firmly convinced that UVA is where he belongs. We’re delighted to be a returning UVA family - Wahoo-wah!</p>
<p>Congratulation to 3 new UVA engineering students! As a parent of a third year BME, who waffled about going to UVA 3 years ago…he has zero regrets and is very happy to be a Cavalier. Good luck to all of you!</p>