Hello everyone,
I’m an International Student applied for UG Studies in Mechanical Engineering.
Can someone give me an insight on VTech’s Engineering dept and also touching on some other factors as given below:-
Campus life.
Internship opportunities.
Also accepted in:-
Iowa State University
University at Buffalo- SUNY
Penn State
Ohio State University.
Texas A&M University.
Arizona State University- Tempe
San Jose State University
University of Utah.
Was a little perplexed between Penn State, VTech, Texas A&M Uni and Ohio State University and finally chose VTech.
I hope my choice is not a wrong one. (?)
Any help would be appreciated.
Virginia Tech has a very large engineering career fair (called Engineering Expo). Engineering students are well recruited. You will start in General Engineering before being able to move into Mechanical Engineering (or another engineering department). There should be resources for international students available if you want to look into that. There is lots of info on their website. Also, there are post grad surveys available to give you an idea of companies that engineering students end up at ( but not sure if international student opportunities are limited with some companies).
There is very good school spirit and a strong alumni network . The campus is very nice , the Drillfield is an open, green space . Football games (and tailgating) and basketball games are very popular. Blacksburg is a nice college town, with restaurants and bars right by the campus. Hope you enjoy Virginia Tech!
Thanks a lot Sevmom. Appreciated.
Hope I made the right choice among those universities?
Also I’m huge sports buff. + point for Virginia Tech on that one.
This may be showing my ignorance, but will you have the appropriate immigration paperwork to work internship and full time here after graduation? Or are you planning to go back to your home country?
What’s cost of attendance at each and can you afford them all?
The OP has said he already chose Virginia Tech over the other schools he was considering. But is still wondering if he made the right choice. These last ones that were considered were all good choices and any would have provided a good education. The choice has been made,so time to look ahead and focus on what Virginia Tech has to offer. In terms of sports, which PusanC is interested in- in addition to lots of spectator sports, there are plenty of opportunities with intramural and club sports. There is hiking nearby, skiing clubs, outdoor clubs, etc. Plenty of non sports related clubs and activities as well.
Edit: after reading what I wrote I hope it doesn’t come off as “preachy”. It is written from the perspective of a dad, so it probably should come off as “fatherly”.
My son is currently a sophomore in Mech Eng at Va Tech and I am a graduate of Penn State, so I can offers some perspective between those 2 schools. Although my son wanted to go to PSU, because he grew up there, Va Tech was the in state option and he felt it was just like Penn State.
Those two schools are similar in that they’re both located in rural mountainous regions, and are both situated within a small town. Penn State and State College are both a little bigger with some more amenities than Va Tech and Blacksburg, but they’re very comparable. I’m not sure you’ll notice the difference.
From an academic standpoint both schools have highly ranked engineering programs and seem to trade spots in the rankings over recent history. I’m sure the Mech Eng programs are very similar as well. I can tell you that Va Tech does require their Mech Eng students to take two Electrical Engineering courses. I’m not sure if PSU or other programs require that.
As for the other schools it appears that most of them were large public state university types. So I’m sure they would all have offered similar opportunities and amenities.
My son would tell you that you made the right choice in deciding on Va Tech, but other than PSU he doesn’t have much background on your other options.
When you get to campus get involved and plan on studying, including spending time in office hours. My son isn’t the smartest kid in the program, but he works very hard, especially so this year. But he’ll end his sophomore year with between 3 and 3.5 GPA. He was recently notified that he was chose for an internship with a national engineering company in the field of his choice. So it is working out for him.
Moral of the story is, I don’t think you made a bad decision, but what you do when you get to campus will determine whether you made the right choice.
