<p>As good a school as UVA is overall with business, religion, history, etc., we hear their engineering school lacks...a lot...we hear their facilities are sub par and that budget cuts have effected teachers. Lots of TA's. Recent graduates have told us the engineering programs are disappointing. Any thoughts???</p>
<p>Who is “us”? I haven’t heard too much about UVA engineering, but everytime I hear about it its always good. At any rate, I would love to hear the answer to this as well. I am heavily considering UVA, and while I don’t put too much stalk into rankings, a good honest opinion on the matter would be nice.</p>
<p>[Shoebox10[/url</a>] just graduated from the engineering school. She transferred into UVa from another engineering program, so I think you’d find her post comments very interesting. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/967086-engineering-enviro-sci-double-major.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/967086-engineering-enviro-sci-double-major.html](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/search.php?searchid=25193116]Shoebox10[/url”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/search.php?searchid=25193116)</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/904666-uva-engineering-vs-virginia-tech-engineering.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/904666-uva-engineering-vs-virginia-tech-engineering.html</a></p>
<p>The amount of building being done in the engineering school makes me think the budget is just fine over there. 
New building: [U.Va</a>. Engineering E-News Online Rice Hall Updates](<a href=“http://www.seas.virginia.edu/pubs/enews/rice.php]U.Va”>http://www.seas.virginia.edu/pubs/enews/rice.php)
The last “new” building, which opened in 2006: [New</a> State-of-the-Art Facility to Transform Research in Nanotechnolog, Materials Science and Engineering and Chemical Engineering](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=1023]New”>http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=1023)</p>
<p>I have a soft spot for engineers (I worked at an elite engineering school before coming to UVa) and I have gotten into the habit of searching youtube for videos to see what they are up to. What I find makes me so proud. These students are doing wonderful work.</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - Why Do We Do It?](<a href=“Why Do We Do It? - YouTube”>Why Do We Do It? - YouTube)
[YouTube</a> - U.Va. Engineers Develop Novel Device to Help Treat Ear Infections<a href=“this%20is%20really%20impressive!”>/url</a>
[url=<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube]YouTube</a> - EcoMOD on the MOVE<a href=“9%20minutes,%20about%20eco-mod”>/url</a>
[url=<a href=“ecoMOD on the Move: Putting Sustainability on Wheels - YouTube”>ecoMOD on the Move: Putting Sustainability on Wheels - YouTube]YouTube</a> - ecoMOD on the Move: Putting Sustainability on Wheels<a href=“a%20shortened%20version”>/url</a></p>
<p>TAs are part of most research universities. I don’t think we use them in a dramatically different way. You may want to read the [url=<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/search.php?searchid=25193075]the”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/search.php?searchid=25193075]the</a> posts from hazelorb](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube). She was a computer science TA. She’s currently doing a 5th year Masters program in the Curry School.</p>
<p>Hope everyone’s having a great weekend! I’m writing to you from an airport and my next click will be to see how the football game went. Crossing my fingers…</p>
<p>There is quite a bit of a budget issue going on, but this year it is better than last year from what I can tell so far. Last year was reeeeally bad, I made lots of posts about it. I’ll be more sure in the spring if the budget is better, when there are 500 kids in the class, though…</p>
<p>The engineering school is strapped for cash right now – I have noticed some cuts since my first year (I’m now a third year). It’s definitely because of the recession, though, so hopefully in the next year or two we’ll be back at full budget. Even with the cutbacks, I haven’t had any classes taught by TAs (labs are still run by TAs, but I think most universities do that)</p>
<p>Many (all?) offices around the University cut their budgets a bit (2.5-5%, I believe) over the last three years in preparation for the end of stimulus money. We are lucky that we have leadership that was able to plan for and weather funding cuts [without</a> furlough days](<a href=“http://www.nbc29.com/story/12249199/uva-will-not-force-mandatory-furlough]without”>http://www.nbc29.com/story/12249199/uva-will-not-force-mandatory-furlough), massive tuition increases ([this</a> fall’s tuition in California’s state system increased tuition by 32%](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/education/20tuition.html]this”>Regents Raise Tuition 32 Percent in California - The New York Times)), or dramatic changes to the size of the freshman class. </p>
<p>Yes, the belt tightening was visible to students by the third year of doing this, but the alternatives outlined above probably would have had more difficult, lasting effects.</p>
<p>[U.Va</a>. Anticipated, Planned for State Budget Cut](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=9667]U.Va”>http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=9667)</p>
<p>Older son graduated 09 and has a very good job (as do his friends), making very good money for a young guy. There is very good on campus recruiting by top firms. I wouldn’t worry if UVa is a good fit otherwise. Son was very happy there.Younger son is at Virginia Tech in engineering and is very happy there as well.</p>