<p>The cost actually wouldn’t be much lower staying in CA. In-state COA at UCI is $29,653 while OOS at VT is $31,336. You’ll have to factor in travel cost as well depending on how often you plan on going home. Rankings-wise VT is 75 and UCI is 41, although that’s for the overall university and not any individual program. I don’t know where to find undergrad rankings for biology or accounting.</p>
<p>The biggest difference between VT and UCI is going to be, for obvious and not obvious reasons, location. Irvine alone is about 5x as big as Blacksburg, and you’re butting right up against LA. Blacksburg (in addition to being smaller) is tucked away in the hills of Virginia. Roanoke is relatively nearby (~45 minutes) but it isn’t that big either and most VT grads never have cause to go out there. The closest big cities are DC (s-hole) and Charlotte, NC, which are 5 and 3 hours away respectively. </p>
<p>There are definite pros and cons to both situations. There is more to do in SoCal, that’s for sure. There are more concerts, plays, bars, events, restaurants, really anything.</p>
<p>In Blacksburg everything centers around VT. Virginia Tech is the town. This is a very good, very one of a kind (not that Blacksburg is the only place you’ll get it, but it’s one of relatively few places, and none of them are in LA) experience. I wouldn’t have traded getting to live in a place like Blacksburg for anything. I don’t know if you’ve lived in SoCal your entire life up to this point but it’s going to be a shock to see. There isn’t as much to do, but what there is is all centered around college students. And just about all you’ll see around are college students. You’ll have a chance to literally know and go to every restaurant in town. You’ll see people you know all the time.</p>
<p>Also you’ll have to get used to calling interstates “I-77” instead of “The 1-oh-1” or people will look at you funny.</p>
<p>Virginia Tech is very reputable all across the nation. I was previously having trouble choosing between Virginia Tech and James Madison University. What I came to the conclusion was that Virginia Tech is a bigger school, much “more” reputable, has well-rounded kids/smart kids, many notable alumnis, and etc. I chose to attend Virginia Tech even if it was a bit further and costly. I researched on Virginia Tech and all I can say is that in terms of post-graduate employment the BIG 4 Accounting firms recruit heavily here at Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech I would say is comparable to other Tech schools such as CalTech, MIT,NYIT, Georgia Tech, Illinois Tech, Worcester Institute of Technology, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Why? you may ask? Because Engineering/technical are Virginia Tech’s “major” focused. Other great academic departments of Virginia Tech are the Pamplin Business School, research, biology, and etc. to name a few. The top “public” schools in the state of VA are UVA,Virginia Tech, and JMU they are all “tier” 1 schools. Virginia Tech’s 2012 Businessweek undergraduate rankings was 52 out of the entire nation. However, JMU was ranked at 32 which is also good. All I can say is that Virginia Tech is recruited heavily and has a “top-notch” recruitment over the entire nation. I also heard that Virginia Tech was included in the top 35 schools that are recruited heavily by the Big 4 firms ( PWC,Ernst&Young, Deloitte, and KPMG). Plus, to top it off Virginia Tech has amazing football and the name of “Tech” gives it an edge of prestige to it.</p>
<p>I’m from VA, and most of the top students go to either UVA (ranked #3 in the nation for public schools) or the College of William & Mary (ranked #6 for public in the nation). VT is not quite as competitive as the others (getting into UVA or W&M from out of states if just as hard as getting into the ivy leagues) but VT still has a great reputation both in-state and out of state (ranked #28 for public in the nation) JMU is also very good, but is mostly just known in Virginia and the mid-atlantic (ranke #2 for regional southern university’s). </p>
<p>Because our public schools are so good, we don’t really have many top tier private schools. The only two I know of are Washington & Lee University (ranked #12 in the nation for liberal arts schools) and the University of Richmond (ranked #27 in the nation for liberal arts schools)</p>
<p>I came all the way from Idaho to VT, and I have never regretted my decision. I have also met some other kids from LA and Seattle and they also love it here (albeit, we’re all here for engineering). If you got any questions about being an out-of-state student switching from west to east coast, just ask!</p>
<p>Its hard to compare VT to any of the CA schools I know of. UCLA, Berkeley and Cal Tech are probably better. However, VT has EXCELLENT reputation on the east coast and great ties to industry. VT grads are known to be hard workers (because its really hard!) and are easily placed in jobs. They are most well known for engineering and the business school. I cant speak about biology or other life sciences. They also have a pretty well established co-op program. Visit before you attend, scenery is very different than CA. Also, the school spirit is palpable. Hokie Pride, the Hokie “family,” “UT Prussim,” are not just platitudes, they are very real. The students LOVE Virginia Tech - and that’s not about the academics.</p>
<p>VT is not comparable in quality to NYU or UC Berkeley or Caltech. NYU is not only an arts school; it’s one of the forefronts of mathematical research in the entire United States. Secondly, UC Berkeley is the top public institution in the United States, which VT certainly is not. I won’t even make a comparison between VT and Caltech. As a Virginia resident, I can tell you that the in-state school all the “smart” people aim for is UVA. It’s much more nationally recognized, and it is ranked just behind Berkeley. It’s ranked nationally at 25th while VT is ranked at 71st. It attracts a lot of mediocre students. Never do the people from the top of my or surrounding high school classes attend. However, the engineering program is more selective overall than the college itself. VT is a nice engineering college, but it’s not nationally renowned or anything of that nature. It probably has some nice connections in the engineering field, but you won’t be walking out of there with unparalleled prestige or the best education on the east coast. Rankings aren’t everything though, and Virginia Tech overall is pretty good school that will give you a fine education.</p>
<p>The engineering college “is not nationally renowned or anything”…!!!</p>
<p>That was probably one of the stupidest things I’ve heard. VT Engineering is one of the most respected programs in the country- that’s common sense.</p>
<p>Fermat25 - as an in-state student you’ve bought into the UVA hype that comes with being the flagship university. UVA is a great school and most high scoring students apply to that university. But, it’s also true that the flagship college of engineering is the one at Virginia Tech. VT’s college of engineering has not only a national but international reputation. </p>
<p>The OP, however, is not interested in Engineering. She currently plans to major in accounting. The Pamplin College of Business isn’t ranked as highly as UVA but the education is likely comparable to the UC system (with the exception of the highly reputable Berkeley). All of the major accounting firms recruit at VT.</p>
<p>" It attracts a lot of mediocre students. Never do the people from the top of my or surrounding high school classes attend"</p>
<p>Definition of mediocre: adequate or acceptable, but not very good</p>
<p>Fall 2011 Freshman Offers at a Glance
Average GPA: 4.00
Mid-50% GPA: 3.81–4.24</p>
<p>Since when is a GPA of 3.81-4.24 mediocre? Many of the accepted students in the School of Architecture and Engineering are significantly higher than 4.24.</p>
<p>Fermat25<br>
I am not sure why you posted on this forum when you do not currently attend or plan to attend the school. Are you just trying to make sure the poster knows that UVA is the top school in VA?
We are OOS residents and Vtech has a very strong reputation outside of Virginia for engineering while UVA is more known for its business school and other majors. If you are paying the instate price for UVA then its a deal no matter what major you have there. It is not known as an engineering powerhouse and is probably not worth the OOS price for engineering. I dont know what its like to live in Virginia but I have seen many comments by UVA students that are very defensive of their school (especially if ever compared to Tech). If UVA’s reputation stands on its own why do you feel the need to remind everyone how much better it is. The OP was asking about VTech in comparison to CA schools. Now to the original poster… why did you apply to Tech if you did not know much about the school or its reputation? I can tell you that to pay the OOS tuition and cost of travel from the west coast may not be worth it for a business degree unless the CA schools that you got admitted to were not as reputable. Tech has a strong business program and is a great deal for IS students but the engineering and architect programs are what draw the OOS applicants. I am not saying that strong applicants do not apply to Vtech for business, but am just referring to the reputation of the school outside of VA.</p>
<p>W t FFF guys I dont care about UVA . I didn’t apply there nor do I give a rats a** about it. What does this have to do with UVA? I have no idea what to say. I got waitlisted at UCSD and got accepted to Virginia tech, I guess since its for “mediocre” students as that one guy stated… I wont be attending and will be attending community. I am sincerely dissapointed.</p>
<p>@ BTW for those of you who live in virginia. I live in california and no one ( or at least who I know) have ever even heard a thing about UVA and most have heard of virginia tech. Not to say that UVA isn’t good but it is defintiely not IVY status and is not the “nationally known” college you think it is if even we californians don’t know sh** about it. Sorry I am cussing but I am just really dissapointed to hear that Vtech isn’t a good school. It is really hard for me to distinguish between people hating on it because of a rivalry and loving it because they went there. I WISH I COULD JUST GET AN HONEST OPINION : Is it a good school? ( and not good school like a mediocre school where everyone gets in, I really mean a school that people strive for) <— doesn’t mean its an ivy league or that the valedictorian strives for it lol I am not looking for something comparable to berkeley but maybe UC irvine or UCSD or ucdavis</p>
<p>1) if they go to the architecture or engineering schools or are premed and on their way to the new Carleton Med School.
2)If they go any of the other schools</p>
<p>Mcroson, the sentence that contained the remark about being nationally renowned was about VT in general. Trying reading it again. I said it was a good engineering school–it is. But that is simply because they spend the most money on it while the other majors in the college seriously lag behind in funding and ranking. </p>
<p>Overall, VT engineering is pretty good. It is ranked at 24th or 25th currently. However, it is no secret that VT engineering is preparing you to directly enter the workforce. This isn’t to say that many VT students do not further their education; it is just the way the program works. If you major in an engineering field at many lower-ranked schools in engineering, such as UVA (#39), it will be a much more theoretical-based curriculum that prepares you for graduate school and not the workforce. Because of this, the rankings are not exactly reflective of the program as they have different goals. </p>
<p>Secondly, my main point of posting here was to the original poster, not to debate about the prestige of the engineering program. VT does not have a golden reputation as a top tier university. Get over it. Low scoring applicants with mediocre GPAs attend Virginia Tech every year. It has a high acceptance rate, the median test scores are low, and the quality of students attending is not the greatest. For the OP, UVA would be a much more fitting school and that is why I mentioned it. </p>
<p>To further elaborate on the engineering point, I agree that VT’s program is stronger than, say, UVA’s engineering program. With that being said, I would still go to UVA as a engineer. UVA’s national reputation overall fall supersedes Virginia Tech in every single way. It’s a larger university with more prestige, and with that comes more and better job offers. VT has many great connections, but a school like UVA has many more. Let me take a more drastic scenario to make my point: Yale Engineering is ranked in the 30’s. VT’s program is far superior, yet who will have more options upon graduating?</p>
<p>I’m attending USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering. I don’t have a bias towards UVA. I was accepted to both Virginia Tech and UVA, and I am a native of Virginia. What you are getting on this forum are a bunch of people who are attending, did attend, or will attend VT. I’ve lived in Virginia my whole life. VT’s reputation is not that strong. I go to a magnet school, and each year our entire class is accepted and uses VT as a back-up. As I said, VT is a fine school, but do not let these blatantly bias people sway you into thinking it is better than it is. It’s ranked 71st for a reason. Georgia Tech is all about engineering and yet it manages to be ranked at 36th. How come?</p>