<p>I know Tech is a HUGE school, so there is probably a type of person for everyone, but as a whole what are students like? I would be coming from an elite New England Prep School, one of the top 10 in the country. Since I'm assuming Tech is mostly public school kids, would I be out of place?</p>
<p>I'm extremely preppy and girly - would I find people like me at Tech?</p>
<p>Another thing I'm potentially worried about is since so many students come from large public high schools in VA would everyone know each other? Like, do you think it would be hard as a freshman not knowing anyone else on campus?</p>
<p>And what is the Greek life really like? I visited campus and the houses weren't the most beautiful but Greek life is still super fun right?</p>
<p>I think you are going on some very broad sweeping stereotypes. You will find students from elite schools, large public schools…who happen to produce very high achieving students, and small rural schools where students rise to the top of their class and shine. The average GPA for the class of 2014 is 3.9. Perhaps they are not students you would consider of your social caliber, however certainly very high academic caliber. </p>
<p>You will find students that go to class in more preppy clothes, athletic clothes, and everything in between. I think if you give people a chance as individuals they will give you the same courtesy. You are correct that some students come from large schools in the Northern Virginia area. They are not representative of the entire state…not at all. Thirty percent of students are from oos so they bring their own flavor. Obviously these students largely don’t know students when they come in as freshman. The seventy percent that are from Virginia come from areas as varied as Northern Virginia, Richmond, Charlottesville, Roanoke, and tiny towns like Crewe. </p>
<p>Regarding Greek life, I’ll let someone else chime in here. I’m sure a lot has changed since my days at VT, however I hardly think that the beauty of the houses are a reflection on Greek life being ‘super fun’ or not.</p>
<p>To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure if it is a matter of VT students giving you a chance, it sounds like you giving VT students a chance. There are 23,637 students…quite a wide variety.</p>
<p>I currently go to tech and grew up in Mass. and New Hampshire. I had a bunch of friends that went to Phillips and they really are the same as my friends down here. Honestly tech students don’t care where you’re from. It’s about who you are.</p>
<p>Considerably less awesome now that I’m gone.</p>
<p>I kid, I kid. It’s a large public school but thanks to NoVa I’m sure you’ll find plenty of people you fit in just fine with. About a third (I’m not even sure I’m exaggerating) of Tech students are from Northern Virginia, and many of them come from a similar background (highly ranked private school, pretty preppy.) Yes they do have friends from their highschool but by and large they don’t exclusively stick together. This is doubly true if/when you join a sorority.</p>
<p>And no, it’s not that hard to make friends if you don’t know anyone. I knew 0 people (well, one, but I can count the number of times I saw her in four years on one hand) when I set foot on campus; I’d never even spoken to my roommate except over email. The people in the freshman dorms usually get together and go get food/go to games/party/whatever together. Just leave your door open when you’re in the room for the first few weeks.</p>
<p>What is girly girly to you? I would say my DD is girly girly, but have to admit she is a “hear me roar, girly girl!” She is the girl that has to match her rainboots to her slicker, her jewelry to her clothes and her dorm stuff had to coordinate (fan, butterfly chair, towels, bedding, etc)!</p>
<p>To me that is girly girly! </p>
<p>Now, this girl knew nothing about football prior to getting there, now she can tell you what the ref hand signal call for holding or off sides are.</p>
<p>Our DD is from NoVA. NOT ONE STUDENT ON HER FLOOR IS FROM HER HS! Her best friends are from Delaware and So. VA. </p>
<p>Their first night there, she and her new friends had friends in other dorms, so they all went to visit them at each dorm. Our DD who is not in the cadet corps, hangs out socially in their specific dorm. </p>
<p>Our DS goes to UMDCP, and if I had to say which is more clique like, it would be UMDCP.</p>
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this girl knew nothing about football prior to getting there, now she can tell you what the ref hand signal call for holding or off sides are.
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</p>
<p>LOL! that’s exactly what happened to my D. Now she is a rabid football fan. The football team is the glue that unites all these students from all walk of life. They adore their team.
My D is from Nova but only knew a couple of people when she started there and quickly made new friends from all over. She also joined a sorority and now she is a total southern preppy girl (and I am from France originally and this whole sorority stuff baffles me).
The bottom line: you will fit just fine.</p>
<p>Wow - my DD is the same way. She only half watched football before this fall, and now she knows more about football than I do! </p>
<p>She also knew very few people going in 2 months ago (and none of them were anything more than acquaintances), but she has a large group of friends already. The more you’re involved in, the larger your social circle will be.</p>
<p>My daughter is extremely girly - even her bedroom ceiling here at home is painted pink. She graduated from one of the large high schools in Northern Virginia, but only one of the girls she pals around with at Tech is from her HS. Most of her friends are fellow competitive cheerleaders (she’s on Tech’s all-girl squad) or fellow RLC members. As you probably know VT does a deferred winter sorority recruitment, but fall is filled with informal Panhellenic events. My daughter is currently participating in these and is loving it, and cannot wait for formal recruitment in January!</p>
<p>Yes they do have friends from their highschool but by and large they don’t exclusively stick together. This is doubly true if/when you join a sorority.</p>
<p>I think that’s a good take home point for you, OP. Many people here have friends from their high school and many of them do hang out together when they arrive on campus, but this wears away within weeks of being on campus - “they don’t exclusively stick together.” And this is definitely more than doubly true for joining sororities and clubs. I don’t view Tech overall as filled with preppy students, but I do see them much more so in sororities. Overall, I would definitely say the theme that Tech students have is strong school spirit, and we unite through this. As for Greek life: Yes, it’s always fun. </p>
<p>Realize that in the end, you’re going to have to find that nice group of friends who you will largely/mainly hang out with, and at a large school like Tech it’s more possible to do so. This applies to any and every school in the world. No one can maintain strong friendships with hundreds of people; in the end everyone has to resort to that niche that they fit into. Hopping niches is very easy to do (though it does take time), but being a part of many niches is not.</p>
<p>Our D’s roommate actually has several friends she graduated with, including her bff. However, these girls decided on purpose not to room together. In the beginning the two girls floated back and forth between hanging out in each other’s dorms. 1 month later and they may see each other for lunch once a week. I am sure by the end of the yr, the bffs will be more like acquaintances than bffs,</p>
<p>Tech sounds amazing - my whole fam went there and they are really hoping I follow in their footsteps. I’m just nervous about not knowing anyone at such a big school! Thanks so much for the opinions, they’ve been really helpful!</p>
<p>To be 100% honest with you, I’ve been at Virginia Tech since August 18 and I don’t have any friends yet. I came from a very small high school, but there are people at Virginia Tech that graduated with me. I was friends with them in high school and now they have their own groups. I have a few people that I talk to that are in my calculus class, but as for hanging out around campus, going out to eat in downtown Blacksburg, or just hanging out in the dorms, I haven’t experienced any of it. Of course you probably aren’t like me. I’m extremely anti-social and I spend about 90% of my time doing coursework for my classes, even though my calc. grade is suffering. =( You will most likely find friends very quickly. Good Luck =)</p>
<p>The people there are actually very nice. I have two great friends there that I did not go to HS with. People are very diverse there, you will have girly girls and others…just like most other places.</p>
<p>James, you should join some academic clubs and get involved and meet students more like you there (i.e. studious students, hard workers, go-getters, etc.). You can even meet students in your student lounge on your floor. The first time I ever used it I met someone. If you’re not that type of person, just go a lot and eventually you’ll begin to see familiar faces over time and just throw a hey some time. If you click just ask for their Facebook, no shame in that and way less creepy than a number. Talk to students in your class who sit next to you. When you sit down just say hi to the person you sit next to (or purposely sit next to someone so you can say hi). You’d imagine that this far into classes, students aren’t trying to meet other students specifically in class anymore but I’m still meeting people (I met someone today). College is what you make of it.</p>
<p>Attend Hokie Camp. Hokie Camp is a three day camp offered to incoming freshman and transfer students in August. There are 3 sessions to choose from, but the sessions do fill up, so you will want to register early. My daughter went this year and had the most amazing time. Her “yellow” team won the Hokie Cup, but more importantly… she had 24 friends the moment she moved in!!!</p>
<p>btw, it’s not cheap… but it was worth every penny!</p>