<p>I've been interested in Virginia Tech lately, but I've been hearing a lot about it being a huge party school. Don't get me wrong, I'm not the type who goes out and burns Harry Potter books and thinks partying is evil or something, but I do want to get a quality education. Anything to add to this?</p>
<p>Also, how would you rate class size, the dorms, and Blacksburg itself (such as, is there any life in the town?).</p>
<p>Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks =^)</p>
<p>try studentsreview.com</p>
<p>bump, im interested in this too. any help?</p>
<p>My nephew is a soph there and absolutely lOVES it!! He has terrific friends who love their outside activities--skiing, running, paintball--and he is working hard in his classes too. </p>
<p>The downside is the town of Blacksburg--absolutely NOTHING there--no decent hotels or restaurants. This is according to his parents. However, this doesn't seem to be a problem for my neph, who is a real "guy's guy". Seems that the girls who go there are down to earth, outdoorsy, wholesome types as well. Also, because VTech is not only engineering, there are more girls there than at Ga Tech, for example.</p>
<p>Virginia Tech students do not party any more or less than students at other large institutions with fraternities. If you want to party, you can find one. If you want to study all the time, you will find many to join you.</p>
<p>I suspect that it's easier not to fall into the party trap out of sheer boredom when there are a range of entertainment options available. I.e., places like VT or Grinnell have it tougher than NYU or Swarthmore.</p>
<p>Older son goes there. He attended an OK public HS, 4.0 weighted GPA there, many AP classes, 1500 SAT. Now a CS major at VT. Finds it challenging but not overwhelming. Loves it there. Has a very nice internship lined up for the next 2 summers.</p>
<p>Lives on a co-ed floor of a co-ed dorm. Floor seems 50-50 male/female. </p>
<p>Has not been forced to attend any parties - at least as far as I am aware of.</p>
<p>Mom and dad have never been without a nice place to stay or a decent meal in Blacksburg - just our opinion. I recommend Donaldson Brown right on campus for now. VT is building a new on-campus Inn and conference center that will open later in '05.</p>
<p>I heard the business school is very reputable as well. How far away to the nearest "city" from Blacksburg, just curious.</p>
<p>Washington, DC is about 4.5 hours away by car. Roanoke is about 30 miles away.</p>
<p>I have never met anyone from VT who was not happy with his or her college experience. They are very loyal to their school. Anyone doubting that should have seen the crowd at FedEx for the USC-VT football game last August. 70-80,000 Hokies can make a lot of noise. For days before the game the whole DC area was awash with people driving cars flying VT flags.</p>
<p>My son and I visited the school, and I have worked with people there when I was in the Federal Government. It has a very large, handsome campus, and the administrators I dealt with all seemed very nice. BUT it is isolated. Far away from DC, and I wouldn't consider being near Roanoke as adding anything to the mix. Also it is not very diverse; few Blacks, few Jews. My son did not feel all that comfortable during the visit, although parents of Jewish students I met said that their children did fine there.</p>
<p>I don't know anything about the partying, but I suspect no one will kidnap you and force you to party if you don't want to.</p>
<p>I went to Virginia Tech last year and transfered to UVa this year. Tech is a wonderful school full of nice people, fanatic fans, and great, great, great food. To answer some of your questions, the dorms range from terrible to awesome. If you join the "leadership community" you will likely get put into air conditioned, suite style dorms. If you don't you have a good chance of being put into dorms built over 40 years ago. My room in West AJ was a double and was only 10.5' by 11'. Like I said before the food, particularly at West End, is increadible (nationally ranked)! Someone mentioned it before but the football games are the best I've ever been to, but remember there's probably only 5-6 home games and most of the other sports teams aren't very good. Blacksburg itself is probably one of the most boring towns ever. There is absolutely nothing to do there, there are some places to eat/drink and a second run movie theater...that's it. In my estimation that is why so many students at Tech party, and yes it is a party school. That being said you can find people to hang out with that don't drink, there's even a "community" in one of the dorm's that is alcohol free.</p>
<p>My biggest complaint about Tech besides the lack of anything to do is the academics. If you are in engineering, CS, or architecture you will have plenty to do and will be challenged. Otherwise, prepare for some very easy classes; even some of the honors classes I took there were jokes. Students in most of the other academic disciplines aren't the "cream of the crop." I often felt the teachers dumbed down the material and didn't expect much of the students. Everyone probably has their own opinions about the academics there and in fact I had the best teacher I've ever had there but overall I felt it was lacking. </p>
<p>I hope this helps and feel free to ask anymore questions that you think I might be able to answer.</p>
<p>Academically, Virginia Tech is a very weak institution. Although they brag about having a good engineering program, it is actually not that much better than UVa's. Other comparable state Universities, like Penn State, have much better programs. Tech is the opposite of a good "all-around" school; the social sciences are extremely weak.</p>
<p>The football games are fun, but Tech students have yet to realize that football is the only good sport at the school. The application doesn't require essays or recommendations, even more evidence that you are just a number at Tech.</p>
<p>Tech is certainly a few steps down from the Harvards, and even a step or two below the 2 top state schools in VA, which is no shame as I would put the VA public schools up against any state's publics, except probably CA. But in the scheme nationally, I would hardly classify them as a "very weak institution."</p>
<p>Yes, Tech is large, and really, once you get outside the very top schools in the country, admissions is a lot more numbers based, and if you have the numbers, you get in. It's not cutthroat like the admissions to the very top schools.</p>
<p>thanks, these are all really helpful</p>
<p>bump. anyone know anything about the profs in the business school?</p>