<p>I was just accepted to Virginia Tech, and before I make my decision, I was just wondering how students like the school. Is there anything you don't like about it? I don't mean to be negative, I'm just curious.</p>
<p>For me, the drive can be bad through baltimore/down 81, but that probably doesnât apply to most, so i would say the winter weather can be rough. That really is my only complaint about virginia tech. The atmosphere is awesome and the fall and spring weather is amazing, but it gets cold and really windy for a couple months in the middle. Itâs definitely bearable, even on the worst days, so i wouldnât let the weather be a deciding factor, but there are ugly days and youâll have to get used to it for a little while.</p>
<p>I did Finance for undergraduate. I do accounting now and every Top 10 firm in the country recruits here. That said, the Finance careers are a bit different in that all the big jobs are in New York. VT grads have trouble getting into the UBS, Goldman Sachs and Suisse Bancs of the world because of the location. Even UVA has a problem with this as well from an undergraduate perspective.</p>
<p>I suppose the driveâs a bit of a pain (6+ hours) but the weatherâs nothing. Itâs random, sure, but I wouldnât consider it cold or miserable. Par for the course for your average Mid-Atlantic city Iâd say.</p>
<p>(The following is from an engineering perspective; other programs may be similar) I guess my only gripe is also a perk in a sense. Being a freshman at a big school like VT has its downsides: stupid freshman level classes. There are weed-out classes for several semesters and that can really bother some people. The faculty in these classes are (understandably) mostly uninterested but will gravitate towards engaging students. Hopefully youâve worked hard and are coming in ahead of the curve. What most people fail to understand is that all college level courses are at least AP level. Why not take them in HS when theyâre easier and you have more time?</p>
<p>If you want to excel and make something special happen, VTâs a great place to do it. You just need to know which rocks to look under and need to look often. Thereâs a prevailing sense of âOh, Iâm just a freshmanâ but donât take that as a motto. Internships and other opportunities are waiting for charismatic people who can set themselves apart.</p>
<p>I wouldnât consider it a party school, but it depends on who you are really. If you can keep everything in balance and put in the hours, youâll do well and love it at any big school.</p>
<p>Driving around tech ainât fun (takes like 15 minutes during rush hour to get 3 miles)âŠparking sucks, dining halls are packed during peak hours (especially west end), gym is also pretty crowded during peak hours. Pretty much the symptoms of any big school. But with any big school like Tech, it is quite easy to get a job as long as you get good grades since there are so many companies recruiting, and there are a lot of opportunities to major here, minor there, and join this club or that frat.</p>
<p>Fantastic question. Let me preface what Iâm about to say by saying that I do love VT and recommend it to most people. Itâs not perfect, but itâs very, very good, and most of what Iâm going to say could apply to anywhere. Here are the negatives Iâve experienced though:</p>
<p>Academically:</p>
<p>Most of the advisers arenât very good and you need to double check everything they say.</p>
<p>Intro classes bog you down, often needlessly. You have to jump through hoops (using the right kind of paper for assignments, labeling everything exactly, etc.) freshman year that you never have to jump through again. </p>
<p>Itâs hard to plan your classes if youâre in a small major. Classes are offered once every two or three years sometime and sometimes they skip a year or add in the class unexpectidly. Itâs not a MAJOR issue since the classes Iâm talking about are electives and replaceable, but it gets annoying.</p>
<p>Around Blacksburg/Campus:</p>
<p>CONSTRUCTION. It might be starting to wrap up but theyâve been building new stuff the entire time Iâve been here. Itâs great for whoever gets to use the cool stuff like new dorms and a parking garage, but it sucks for the people that are there now. Itâs annoying.</p>
<p>Youâll get ticketed if you park your car in the wrong place for any amount of time. They will find you. If you can park there starting 7 and you park there at 6:45, even if the lot is completely empty they will ticket you and itâs $30-40 down the drain. </p>
<p>I donât really consider the next one to be a negative, but if youâre under 21 you might have trouble finding things to do downtown. There are things to do like bands playing or movies at the lyric and I canât stress that enough, but youâll have to really try and find them sometimes. The vibrant off campus party scene largely makes up for this, but if youâre wanting to go bar hopping itâll be tough before youâre 21. I know where I grew up they didnât care once you turned 18, but here theyâre strict.</p>
<p>On campus/dorms:</p>
<p>RAs are extremely inconsistent. My RA freshman year would give you a high five if he saw you walk into the dorms at 3am drunk with a girl, while my RA sophomore year would set his alarm so that he could check the bathroom on our floor and make sure there werenât any girls trying to use it. </p>
<p>Dining halls can get really crowded at peak times, and sometimes you canât find a seat. Especially at the quicker places for lunch since everybody is going to the same place at the same time. They make up for it in quality though.</p>
<p>Shiffert. Sucks. Thatâs the on campus health center. Theyâre at best useless. They misdiagnosed my friendâs dislocated rib as a strained muscle twice and one time tried to prescribe me something I was allergic to, and had specifically mentioned being allergic to. If you need anything more than cough medicine and have the means go elsewhere.</p>
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<p>I can only really think of three things.</p>
<p>1) Winter weather. Obviously, this year was especially bad. But I live in florida so the cold kills me. Spring and fall are great though.</p>
<p>2) Totally agree with chuy about Schiffert. Theyre useless. The only reason to go to them is if youre a little sick and need some free sudafed or ibuprofen. Ive heard too many horror stories about them to trust them with anything more serious.</p>
<p>3) Parking. I havent brought my car up here because it just is pointless. Walking from my dorm to the cage takes 15-20 minutes and I just dont see that as worth it for a 5 minute drive to walmart. Buses are always running and you get used to walking.</p>
<p>bumpp</p>
<p>and:</p>
<p>1.) though i was born in the states, i spent my childhood days living in the tropics. i lived in blacksburg for a couple years then moved again. compared to DC, new york, and philly, blacksburgâs weather is nothing⊠i dont know what the people above are complaining about, but⊠yeah. again, thatâs just me.</p>
<p>2.) i say befriend somebody whoâs from blacksburg. theyâd know streets to take, which gyms to go to, and places to go where youâre sick.</p>
<p>3.) what major are you gonna do?</p>
<p>what i dont like: nothing major if compared to other big schools. a lot of things you gotta know about since competitionâs high, and you have to avoid crowding. like someone said about the athletic facilities. also nice dorm suites 
i should warn you, itâs a small town. whenever thereâs a home game, traffic is way worse than other major city jams.
if youâre one who likes shopping, blacksburg only has small shops downtown. you gotta go to christiansburg mall (15 minutes tops) or roanoke (half hour drive). there are buses that go there too. the bus service is good.</p>
<p>do you have any specific questions?</p>
<p>Are you able to walk relatively easy to all the classes because I donât want to have a car!</p>
<p>Also, are the gyms good? Thatâs a pretty big draw of a college.</p>
<p>How are the ECâs over there?</p>
<p>Do they have a MUN?</p>
<p>We went yesterday for the admitted students open house. This campus is truly a walking campus. The academics are on one side and the resident halls are on another. I will say as a 45 yo Mom it took us 5-8 minutes to walk from the dorms to Burress Hall and it was looking at the trees, and the chapel. </p>
<p>Our DD and us loved how the dorms are all really close in proximity. Literally you can run from one to the other in 45 seconds, but yet somehow they have made cozy courtyards and common areas to hang out in.</p>
<p>They have a huge amount of organizations, and the Tech Ambassador stated that if you want to make a club it takes $5 and 2 people. They have kayaking and sky diving clubs for the adventurous types.</p>
<p>They have 2 gymsâŠbut honestly I must ask why this a pretty big draw? Are you a recruited athlete (makes that a moot point) or are you a PE major? You may love going to the gym, but SLAP MY HANDS, I think that should be the lowest on the priority list.
At the tour they did say, that between the two gyms they have racquetball courts and indoor swimming pools. Theoretically if they have a pool or racquetball courts, 10 will get you 20 they have great fitness equipment since it is cheaper than an indoor pool.</p>
<p>The one thing I will say if you are looking at Drexel, NCSU, Rutgers, or UMDCP, the town will be the biggest difference. All of these colleges have a college town.</p>
<p>If it is JMU, UVA, or Villanova, than you are going to feel the same.</p>
<p>There is no true walk past the campus gates and VOILA there is the town. You really are secluded, and you are going to HOOF it or take the Hokie bus.</p>
<p>College is not just academic, it is the whole pic and I think your questions are great ones. I may have been snappish on some of my answers (gymâŠbecause I just donât know why a child would attend because of a gym if they were not recruited), but you are now going to help others that will be 2015 make a decision of applying from the response to your post.</p>
<p>GO HOKIES BEAT WAHOOS!</p>
<p>Bulletandpima,Gyms are important considerations for some kids even if they are not recruited athletes. Just one thing that may not have been important to you or your daughter but would possibly be important to other kids. Have had one kid at UVa and now one at Virginia Tech. Charlottesville and Blacksburg are both great college towns, just different. In another recent post you said it is Tech all the way between the 2 schools. Not always true, depends on the kid and what they need out of a college. The rivalry actually seems pretty friendly. They are both great schools and we are lucky in Virginia to have them! Great that you and your daughter are excited about Virginia Tech. Hope she has a wonderful time in Blacksburg!</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman there now. Her only complaint, and itâs a big one, is the freshman math classes. Itâs done off campus in one large room in a shopping mall and you basically have to teach yourself calculus because there is no teacher. If you have a question about the material, you have to put a paper cup up on your computer screen and wait about 20 minutes for someone to come by to help you. Itâs disgraceful how the math department has designed this. As a parent, Iâm upset about it because there is no excuse for it to be done this way.</p>
<p>NervousParent, your daughter is missing something here: office hours, tutors, CLASSMATES, and the tutoring lab.</p>
<p>Yes the math emporium exists, and yes youâre (partially) expected to teach yourself math. I donât know what department your daughter is in, but I can certainly speak for engineering and the other majors as far as âweed outâ courses go. If you canât teach yourself calculus, thereâs very little chance youâll be able to survive in a difficult major. Thatâs why colleges put these seemingly stiff barriers at the beginning!</p>
<p>One KEY feature of the math emporium is the free tutoring lab. Every day except saturday, 8 or so very qualified upperclassmen are in a room with essentially open office hours. For any freshman or sophomore math department course, they are there to assist you. I owe a lot of my good grades in my math courses to the students there.</p>
<p>Every math class has a professor, and if itâs an empo class they all have hours at the Empo that theyâre available for.</p>
<p>Another thing I dislike is their OBSESSION with research rankings.</p>
<p>D who is an English major struggled through those math classes at the Emporium. I donât know if she availed herself of the tutoring opportunities mentioned here but in any case she had to drop the class or she would have failed it. Fortunately for liberal arts majors like hers, they offer replacement courses that count for the math requirement. They are called language and logic or something like that. She still had trouble with this but was able to pull a B.</p>
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<p>AHA! Now that makes sense why they stressed the tutoring lab during the tour. </p>
<p>Quick question since I think our DD would be lib arts (psych/soc major)âŠwhy didnât she take the replacement course? Was it that she didnât know it existed or thought that the class she took would not be difficult?</p>
<p>DD hates math, but has taken Pre-Calc and Stats in hs,(Bâs in both) so I am wondering if we should tell her to just take the replacement course. Since it would be her freshman yr, I want to make sure that she doesnât bite off more than she can chew. I want her to enjoy life at Tech while staying on par instead of maxing out and losing that experience because she is living at the library or the Profs office during their hours.</p>
<p>I canât see how taking the replacement course would hurt her since she is not in a mathematical field.</p>
<p>B&P, it depends. When you have to contend with stuff like this in that language and logic class: âthere is a y such that y is an apple and y is in the basket, and each thing z is such that if z is an apple and is in the basket then z is identical with yâ , she may want to run and take that Emporium math class instead, ha ha ha!</p>
<p>hypothetical & unrelated question:
Say I get into UVA and VTech, and yes I am very aware of the harsh admissions requirements, would I be stupid not to attend UVA?</p>
<p>Not, not at all. Especially depending on your major. There are some majors where VT is considerably better than UVA, and some where UVA is considerably better than VT.</p>