<p>Oh, and are my sociology classes at UVA truly better than the sociology classes at Tech? How is “better” defined? I just don’t understand the logic behind all these rankings. In my opinion, the only way to truly decide whether a particular program is better at one school than at another, is to have individuals take classes at both schools. And even this idea leads to wacky results.</p>
<p>Overall academics not specific classes. Websites list the criteria they use for their list.</p>
<p>When you’re in a sociology seminar class with someone from the San Diego ghetto; a Korean-Swiss student schooled in Japan; a Northern Virginian; a Turkish party girl and a preppy Southern gentleman all being led by a professor who is performing ground-breaking research on the National Marriage Project, you can, indeed, feel the difference.</p>
<p>Wahoomb – what are you hoping to do with the Ph.d you are working on? Are you looking to go in to academics? If so, you might want to stop dumping on schools that don’t rank high on your personal “prestige-ometer,” since few new faculty start their teaching careers at top-ranked schools, even with doctorates from Stanford. </p>
<p>Big and Bust – those of us privileged to live in Virginia are thrilled that Northeasterners hold UVa in high regard. It helps keep our tuition low : ). Please understand, that not everyone ranks colleges on their pipeline to I-banks, although I realize that far too many in your generation do. For the good of our GNP, I’d be much more impressed if you were looking for the best school to prepare for positions in entrepreneurship, or industrial management or other such positions that actually create jobs and wealth for many rather then just yourself.</p>
<p>So wahoomb, according to you, classes/schools that contain the most diversity are better academically? If that’s the case, then the CUNY colleges are the best in the country.</p>
<p>And I’ll also add: The “elite” colleges usually accept students who are very similar, both economically and socially—perhaps cookie-cutter. In fact, this is the reason why these “elite” colleges are so eager to recruit students from different backgrounds, ethnically and economically.</p>
<p>I’ll also go on to say that UVA is a rather homogenous school.</p>
<p>Lastly, I have a question: Do other schools not contain professors who perform ground-breaking research? And if they don’t, does that mean that these professors are bad? What if these “non-groundbreaking research performing” professors have experience with “real world” jobs?</p>
<p>Ava- lol I understand what you are saying but again, the op is asking for other peoples opinion as to why choose UVA or VA tech. In my opinion ranking / prestige matter in this day and age. To completely ignore that would be foolish for the op. </p>
<p>Bigwill-</p>
<p>Idk if you were being sarcastic , but your entire second paragraph is a starburst ( aka contradict).</p>
<p>In addion let’s not generalize this to all universities , between UVA and VA tech, UVA is better academically.</p>
<p>I understand that my input may not be the most helpful to the discussion of this thread, so please forgive me.</p>
<p>bigshot - My second paragraph is not a contradiction at all. My point is that there are many “diverse” colleges in the country that do not necessarily make the list of “elite” colleges. And wahoomb made it seem as if diversity leads to a better education. And while I was not intending to make a generalization, it appears to be common knowledge that many top universities are trying to bring more diversity to their schools.</p>
<p>FYI - I do believe that diversity leads to a great, insightful educational experience.</p>
<p>And again, I feel that in order for you to judge whether UVA or Tech is better academically, you need to take classes in both schools—in the same department. Relying on rankings is a pretty sad way to go about things. But then again, I’m not the type of person who refuses to see a movie in theaters just because the critics gave it a bad rating. I prefer to come to my own conclusions.</p>
<p>^^^What?^^^ Are you actually an incoming first-year at UVA or just a ■■■■■? You make no sense. I’m done with this thread. Idealists are not my thing. </p>
<p>PS: To the person who was talking about academics–you clearly have not met enough academics. Academics are the most prestige-obsessed people in our society. Ask any how submitting articles to “prestigious” journals work or how departments recruit new faculty and you will get an idea. At universities like Stanford, the majority of PhDs in my department are placed at comparable institutions–lucky me.</p>
<p>As a northern virginian i must say uva is held in a much higher regard. Thats not to say vt isnt stilll a great school, but the students who end up going to uva were generally looking at ivies and other top schools while vt students simply were not. Because of this uva is the clear choice to me. </p>
<p>Sent from my Droid using CC App</p>
<p>This thread is pointless.</p>
<p>The student is interested in engineering and unless he wants to go into biomedical, then VT is the clear winner. </p>
<p>People can argue that UVA will give you more opportunities, but what exactly is an “opportunity”? Hedge funds? Investment banks? Consulting? If those interest you then UVA is your safe bet.</p>
<p>But if you plan on actually doing engineering work, then VT is much more prestigious in the engineering world. If you don’t like it then get over it. It isn’t the end of the world. A good student will succeed wherever he/she decides to go.</p>
<p>Opportunities should be judged on who comes TO YOU. Any college student can drop in an application at Google, but it means a lot more when Google comes to hire you. VT offers that. Hundreds of companies come to hire at VT’s engineering school and the career fairs are much larger. These are the opportunities you want. Unless of course, if you want to work on Wall street.</p>
<p>This is UVA engineering vs VT engineering. Just about everybody in the state of Virginia ( no hyperbole here ) will tell you that VT is the better choice. It is nationally respected, UVA’s isn’t. Like others have said, if this was business or English then UVA would be the clear winner - but it isn’t.</p>
<p>To those who say," what does a UVA engineer and a VT engineer have in common? They both got into VT.", while that is cute and all, UVA is much more difficult to get into than Georgia Tech or Purdue. But who would say UVA engineering is better than those? </p>
<p>P.S. please forgive any bad grammar. It’s 1:30 AM and I am typing this on my phone.</p>
<p>“They both got into VT.”</p>
<p>This thread may be pointless from the standpoint of substance, but it feeds right into U-Va’s reputation as a snob school. That’s really too bad.</p>
<p>It might be time to remind certain posters that U-Va only ranks 27th among national universities in selectivity (U.S. News) and that the SAT gap between U-Va and Harvard is larger than that between U-Va and Tech.</p>
<p>Nova…I’m right there with you on the humility factor; however, UVa is in a 3 way tie for #25 – they’re not #27. Naturally, this means little IMO.</p>
<p>I said I was going to leave, but uff, people apparently get so sensitive that they start making up figures. </p>
<p>UVA ranks #25 (in the 26 year history of the US News rankings it has always been in the top 25)</p>
<p>Last time I checked Harvard was #1</p>
<p>Virginia Tech is apparently ranked #69</p>
<p>So between Harvard and UVA there are 23 spots. Between UVA and Tech there are 44 spots. 44>23, yeah?</p>
<p>"This thread may be pointless from the standpoint of substance, but it feeds right into U-Va’s reputation as a snob school. That’s really too bad.'</p>
<p>I was thinking the same thing novaparent. Certainly not pointing this particular cc thread out for our next in line to read…she was hoping that the pretentious/snob reputation was coming to an end. Hope this thread does actually.</p>
<p>Um, you guys might want to re-read my post. I said that U-Va is ranked 27th in SELECTIVITY. And this was in direct response to the silly “They both got into Tech” joke. My point is that if you’re going to be a snob and assess the quality of colleges strictly on the basis of selectivity then, well, by this measure U-Va is closer to Tech than it is to Harvard (or Yale, or Princeton, or Columbia, etc.)</p>
<p>Note to KandKsmom – so do I. I am big fan of U-Va but it’s exactly the kind of attitude that’s displayed on this thread that makes me worry about my kids going there.</p>
<p>Sweet display of math skills, wahoomb. Time to bone up on reading comprehension, though.</p>
<p>PS – it’s a relief to know you have a good shot at securing a position at an “elite” u straight from your graduate program. That way 99% of the nation’s college students will never have to endure your pomposity . . . .</p>
<p>Novaparent-</p>
<p>The person who made the joke , made it clear it was just that, a joke. To look for meaning and to analyze a joke is pointless, in this situation. Of course a state university is less selective than the private institutions you mentioned. There are rules, when your funding comes from the state.</p>
<p>@ anyone who is afraid of snobby behavior
Anyone who wants to protect their child from real world attitudes is foolish. You do not want your child going to a school where some students act like " snobs" ? In the real world people can act like snobs. You are failing to prepare your child for life if you try to shield them from every less than perfect situation.</p>
<p>Ava-</p>
<p>Are you trying to provoke an argument? Your post added nothing to this forum except a childish rebuttal. Wahoomb’s honest words must have gotten to you, so much so, that you felt forced to make an empty, infantile and, above all, worthless reply. Thank you.</p>
<p>Most of the UVA affiliates in this thread fail at reading comprehension. </p>
<p>This thread was never about UVA as a whole vs VT as a whole, it was about these schools respective engineering programs.</p>
<p>The OP said this," UVA is a better overall school and more highly regarded by VT has a better engineering rank. Would it be a disadvantage to go to UVA in terms of getting a job out of school?". </p>
<p>Very few people answered that question. UVA students got defensive and began attacking VT instead of comparing and analyzing. There isn’t a need for that.</p>
<p>Us Virginia students are very lucky to have 3 amazing schools in-state. I can only hope that some people learn to be more humble in the years ahead.</p>
<p>Haha, I re-read it, but I was too embarrassed to rebuttal. You want to know the selectivity figures? Here you go (It doesn’t change that much for UVA , but oh boy, Virginia Tech goes from 69…to god knows what)</p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard University (MA) 1 </li>
<li>Yale University (CT) 1 </li>
<li>Princeton University (NJ) 3 </li>
<li>Massachusetts Institute of Technology 3 </li>
<li>Columbia University (NY) 5 </li>
<li>Washington University in St. Louis 6</li>
<li>Stanford University (CA) 7 </li>
<li>University of Pennsylvania 7</li>
<li>California Institute of Technology 7</li>
<li>Dartmouth College (NH) 7 </li>
<li>Brown University (RI) 7</li>
<li>Duke University (NC) 12</li>
<li>Rice University (TX) 13 </li>
<li>University of California—Berkeley * 14 </li>
<li>Cornell University (NY) 15</li>
<li>Emory University (GA) 15 </li>
<li>University of Notre Dame (IN) 15 </li>
<li>Tufts University (MA) 15 </li>
<li>Northwestern University (IL) 19 </li>
<li>Georgetown University (DC) 19 </li>
<li>University of California—Los Angeles * 19 </li>
<li>University of Southern California 19</li>
<li>University of Michigan—Ann Arbor * 23 </li>
<li>University of Chicago 24</li>
<li>Johns Hopkins University (MD) 24</li>
<li>Vanderbilt University (TN) 26</li>
<li>University of Virginia * 26 </li>
<li>Lehigh University ¶ 26 </li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon University ¶ 29 </li>
<li>Boston College 29 </li>
<li>College of William and Mary (VA) * 31 </li>
<li>University of California—San Diego * 31 </li>
<li>University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill * 33 </li>
<li>New York University 34 </li>
<li>University of Rochester (NY) 35 </li>
<li>Brandeis University (MA) 36</li>
<li>University of California—Santa Barbara * </li>
<li>Wake Forest University (NC) 38 </li>
<li>University of California—Irvine * 38</li>
<li>Case Western Reserve University (OH) 40 </li>
<li>University of Miami (FL) 40 </li>
<li>University of Wisconsin—Madison * 42 </li>
<li>George Washington University (DC) 42 </li>
<li>Georgia Institute of Technology * 44 </li>
<li>University of Illinois—Urbana - Champaign * 44 </li>
<li>University of Florida * 44 </li>
<li>University of Maryland—College Park * 44 </li>
<li>Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY) 48 </li>
<li>University of Texas—Austin * 48 </li>
<li>Tulane University (LA) 48</li>
<li>University of California—Davis * 51 </li>
<li>University of Washington * 52</li>
</ol>
<p>This is from 2008, if someone has the actual magazine and cares to post, do so. People want me to stop being a “snob” and then post ridiculous things, you can’t have it both ways. Or you back up your rants with facts or you quietly accept the evidence.</p>
<p>I agree with many things posted on this thread, including that most of the posts – including mine – have gotten off topic. Quite to the point, the OP hasn’t been heard from in many pages.</p>
<p>What has struck such a nerve with me and apparently a number of other posters, is that a couple posters insist on saying things in ways that may actually hurt UVa’s reputation with prospective students who would make wonderful additions to the student body. What I have been trying to get across to those posters – with facts, humor, and sometimes with ridicule that may have gone beyond the bounds of appropriateness – is that from my perspective, which by virtue of my age and experience alone is broader than yours, your comments feed into the oft-repeated stereotype of UVa as a school full of pompous “windbags” (or worse in today’s student vernacular). And, I know from experience that reputation has dissuaded some excellent students, whose talents and interests would have contributed greatly to UVa, from attending the school. Students who attend UVa primarily because of its rankings are less likely to contribute positively to the school during their tenure, since they are the type who more likely act for their own benefit than for the good of the whole. This hurts the school in the long run.</p>
<p>None of us are trying to protect our children from snobbiness. It exists and behooves all to learn to deal with it (and ideally ignore it, unless the behavior threatens something important to them – then I hope my children would also call out the offender).</p>