<p>My D says the tutoring lab was of little help and the empo professors were usually nowhere to be found. There are no “replacement” courses that we know about. She had to retake the math class, according to her advisor, but took an easier one this time around. First math class she took was for business major requirement, just in case she wanted to major there. She is hoping for a C this time around. Pretty surprising since she did well in math at HS. </p>
<p>All in all, the freshman math program at VT really sucks. Putting a cup up on your computer screen to get help from a teacher (eventually) is really pathetic. And as a parent, to think I am paying $30,000 a year for such programs is appalling.</p>
<p>NP, Me and my 15K tuition paying budget hear ya, but many parents are in the same boat. We can always find things we don’t feel are up to our standards when it comes to our kids’ schools. </p>
<p>I remember last year when I was complaining to a colleague of mine about my VT math empo disatisfaction, he spoke of the fact that he was paying almost 50K to Princeton to have his son taught by TA’s during his entry level classes. Said his kid saw his actual prof two to three times in one particular class. </p>
<p>Until the state of Virginia puts more money into their state colleges and unis, and the economy rebounds a bit, I think we will keep seeing these schools try to do the best they can with the resources they have. I agree with you, some of the practices are tough to swallow. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, it isn’t any better right now with kids in earlier levels of public education. Our neighborhood public elementary school has 28 kids - 6 and 7 year olds -per second grade class…About maxed out in the other grade levels, too…now that is also appalling.</p>
<p>To Ferozi…there are plenty of reasons to attend VT over UVA. The atmoshpere at VT is more casual and laid back than UVA. UVA has an image of preppy and snobby. Over course it’s stereo-type but there are reasons for that. Most will say UVA is the “better” school but honestly, you need to chose which school fits your own needs, wants, and desires.</p>
<p>UVA has better graduate school placement and has a more intellectually stimulating environment. And I personally think its location in an ideal suburban town is more appealing than Blacksburg’s location in the middle of nowhere. Besides engineering, I honestly can’t think of a single reason why anyone should take Vtech over UVA.</p>
<p>So to sum it up, if you work your ass off for four years to be accepted into the school in Virginia with the most stringent admissions requirements, most successful alumni, and finest academics, do yourself a favor and go to UVA. You won’t be disappointed.</p>
<p>…also he forgot to add that he’s so smart and intellectual that he posts on VT’s boards to perpetuate his already over-inflated self perception. If you want to know what most UVA students are like, ^^^^this post above is the best indicator.</p>
<p>I never meant to put down Vtech. I simply think if you’re faced with the choice of going to UVA or Vtech, it makes sense to go with the better school. Other than engineering, what can Vtech possibly provide that UVA cannot?</p>
<p>Your anti-UVA sentiment is the result of an inferiority complex I suppose. I’m done posting here.</p>
<p>A better architecture program, a blue collar work ethic, community, and values. Enjoy going to graduate school. It’ really telling about a school where students have to go to graduate school to get jobs.</p>
<p>The key to math at the math emporium is to take the practice tests. My child had problems until she was told to do this, and then she got A’s. But it does suck.</p>
<p>You really have to visit both schools. They have completely different vibes and students. Most would not want to go to the other school. At Tech, none of my child’s friends wanted to apply to UVA because everything is such a competition/snobby - even to get into frat parties. Tech is a laid back friendly environment. But, his friends at UVA would never be caught dead out in the country at Tech and they love the competition. </p>
<p>You are there for 4 years, pick the right environment and types of friends you want to carry with you for the rest of your life. I think it’s more “self selective”.</p>
<p>NP, has your daughter been thinking about taking Math class over summer in your local community college or local University where you are from, and to have it pre-approved by VT in advance. She would have a standard class setting, one class to concentrate on, you can find a tutor if it comes to it and would satisfy the math requirements. But of course it is an extra expense and her summer time. I am talking only theoretically, as this is what I am contemplating to do.</p>
<p>In general, I love Virginia Tech and would not choose to go anywhere else. However, there are some things I absolutely HATE!</p>
<p>1) The bureaucracy: Getting things done at Tech requires A LOT of paperwork. Getting permission to do something as simple as standing on the drillfield handing out fliers for a student organization requires filling out a form and ten days notice (and let’s not even get started about what it takes to hold a bake-sale on campus). Dealing with financial aid and the bursar’s office can also be a major headache if stuff doesn’t process the right way.</p>
<p>2)Parking: Finding parking anywhere on campus is an ordeal. It should hopefully not be as bad next year after the new commuter garages are built, but I’d make good friends with the bus system if you plan to live off-campus.</p>
<p>3)Intro classes: Get prepared for a ton of large impersonal lecture classes during Freshman and Sophomore years. While very few of these classes are especially difficult, they are MIND-NUMBINGLY boring! Quite often, these classes are taught by graduate students with little-to-no teaching experience.</p>
<p>4) The math emporium: I’ll let you discover the joys of the empo for yourself.</p>
<p>The math empo is one of the greatest things at Virginia Tech in my opinion. It’s like they hand out free A’s over there each semester. You really don’t have to be genious to pass intro to calculus and linear algebra. You don’t even have to teach yourself because the teachers have lecture videos online. I wouldn’t let the empo sway anyones decision on whether or not to choose Virginia Tech. I went 3 for 3 in A’s in completely Empo classes, and I got a B+ and an A in two partial empo classes and I hate math.</p>
<p>Apparently, statisitics show that empo math classes result in higher levels of understanding and higher grades “on average”. Of course each student is different, but with the lectures and course notes online and extended access to professors and tutors in the empo, the students (who want it) actually get more attention and help than in a traditional lecture hall setting. Grade statistics are always tricky, because one students ideal learning environment may be anothers worst case scenario. But on average, the success rate of the math empo approach has been very high.</p>
<p>ok this might sound like a really really dumb question, but what exactly is this math emporium? is it like some kind of class that is optional or is it like a building? sorry if that was a stupid question</p>
<p>Chuy is right. Everyone I know of has had to take at least one class there. Even liberal arts majors like me.</p>
<p>You read lessons and take practice quizzes wherever you want on your own computer. Then, you take scheduled quizzes and tests at the empo itself. Its a 5-minute bus ride from campus. Sort of a hassle. But not that bad.</p>
<p>Well, I only have one reason why I dislike Tech: They rejected me!
But, I wasnt even the slightest bit mad, because it’s only all about the
DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUKES!!!</p>
<p>Everything msgolds said is true and parking will still be a problem soon when they start getting rid of the Perry St. Lot for more academic buildings in late 2011 or 2012. For the short term the parking garage will help. </p>
<p>Here are mine in addition to the above:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The town of Blacksburg is starting their main st. project downtown next week and will be reducing main st. from two lanes both directions to just one lane both directions all the way to Prices Fork Rd. This is all to make downtown “pedestrian friendly” Construction on that will take 2 years so prepare to have fun driving downtown and dealing with awful traffic.</p></li>
<li><p>I hate the frequent amount of bad professors here in Engineering. A lot of courses your first 2 years are not even taught by PhD holding professors, rather either instructors with MS degrees or just grad students. Many of them have strong accents and are hard to understand. Class averages on exams in the 50’s are not uncommon and most courses end up curving their grade. So just strive for the class average on exams and do well in everything else. </p></li>
<li><p>Tech is obsessed with research in the Science and Engineering which isn’t bad in itself. However so much so that education here is not that great or is not “focused” upon as much as research until you get to grad school. If you are interested in research then you will love it here and there are tons of connections. However if you came here thinking you’d get such a “great education” because of tech’s engineering rankings then you’ll be a little surprised especially with those intro level classes. Yes they are extremely challenging and hard and I’m not saying they should be a cake walk but what I hate is that a lot of the courses your first two years are designed either by the professor or the department in such a way as to “weed” you out or scare you away from the major. Yet the nation complains why we have low numbers of American Engineers these days and why people are choosing other majors. Just pull through and stick with it if that’s what you really want to do and repeat a class if you have to. That’s what I am doing.</p></li>
<li><p>Tech’s ticket system for football games for freshman and basketball games for all students is a “lottery” system. It’s probably the fairest but tech only cares about the revenue stream so much more than student experience when it comes to games. So don’t be surprised if you can’t go to every football game. Once you become a sophomore you can buy season tickets for 85 bucks which isn’t too bad. Same goes for basketball. </p></li>
<li><p>*****!!! Beware ! This I hate the most is their meal plans! The food is the best but their meal plans are not. This last semester tech took $200 from me. I paid $500 for a $250 meal plan which is their smallest since I live off campus. I didn’t eat on campus as much as I had thought so I decided to not add additional dollars for the spring semester since I was told my dollars roll over. However when I went to eat on campus in the Spring, my card didn’t work. I went to the Student Services/hokie passport office and they told me since I had not added an additional $250 for the spring, my dollars I had saved from the spring semester were null. They were still on my account but I was not able to use them since I had not paid for an additonal plan. I was not told this or aware of this and I couldn’t ask for my $200 back since I couldn’t use it and I had no reason to pay $500 to add another $250 just to be able to use that money again. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>So basically I had no choice and had to let it go and also couldn’t eat on campus. They basically robbed me. </p>
<p>Just beware that when you purchase a meal plan, whether or not you have money left at the end of the fall semester that will roll over, you HAVE TO buy an additional plan for the spring semester in order to use your roll over dollars. </p>
<p>In my case I had a lot of roll over dollars $200 and thought that could get me through the Spring since I eat on campus once or twice a week. I couldn’t use that $200 since I didn’t purchase/add more money to it. </p>
<p>The bottom line that I’ve learned in my 4+ years at Virginia Tech and that I hate,… is that Virginia Tech runs more like a corporation than a University. It has strong business ties with research and athletics and pulls in a lot of revenue that way. It is only concerned most about the money than it’s actual students. I went in naive with a High School mentality thinking the school had the student’s best interests but that’s not the case. </p>
<p>That actually may not be a bad thing to get use to because the real world is not like that at all either, so in a way Tech is treating you like the real world.</p>
<p>My only complaint with that is your paying a lot of money to go there and they still treat you like S*** or essentially another number and customer service is awful for a lot of things. I would say you get what you pay for but in this case and in my opinion, you don’t.</p>