My son was accepted into WVU for Engineering and we like what we have read about it so far. He is waiting to hear back from NC State and plans to apply to Tech. We know the ins and outs for State and Tech but could anyone provide some insight on WVU? He would be OOS for WVU but can qualify for instate tuition if he does the Aerospace/Mechanical double major which is appealing to him.
What do you like or dislike with the Engineering program? How is the faculty in regards to student support? I researched the faculty and was surprised on the caliber of some of the faculty. Any inside information would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
@Tricities3024 Like your son, my son was accepted into the Aerospace Engineering program at WVU as well as the Honors College. He is also interested in the dual AE/ME program. I was thoroughly impressed with the College and facilities. He is still waiting to hear back from a few more schools but WVU has been by far the most engaging and generous in terms of scholarship money for OOS. We are from NJ.
@spqr70nj Awesome and congratulations to your son. If my son goes to WVU he will definitely be doing the AE/ME program. Both my wife and I are sold on WVU however, my son seems to want NC State but he knows if they do not offer enough scholarship money they will be out of the picture as we live in VA. My son does like WVU more than Tech so I think in the end he will end up there. I will say WVU has been first class throughout the entire process.
@Tricities3024 exactly. My son loves Penn State but if they don’t provide the scholarship money it will be hard to pursue it. And Va Tech he applied but already said he is not interested.
@Tricities3024 How’s the Admissions process going? My son was offered 2+2 at Penn State which doesn’t really make sense for us since we’re OOS. He got waitlisted at Rutgers Engineering but got into the General College there. I put in a deposit for WVU as a placeholder if any of his remaining schools come back with favorable news. Still waiting for Syracuse, Rensselaer and NYU.
@spqr70nj we are in a holding pattern but WVU is ahead of the other schools. We heard back from NC State and he was deferred to regular admission. We will visit a couple more schools before he makes his final decision. We will visit NC A&T for an honors tour and may visit Tuskegee next month. Tuskegee offered a full ride but it may be to far away for my S but we will see. We will here back from Va Tech next week but it may not matter as he is not high on Tech as they did a poor job in selling the school. We have been there three times and each time it was worse than the previous visit. All deposits have been submitted for WVU as my wife and I believe that will be the pick. Hopefully a final decision will be made by the end of March.
@tricities3024 Sounds like we’re in the same boat. Secured both deposits and reassured my son that they are refundable but it makes sense to have a fallback. We’ll see. He just got his 2nd marking period grades and again all As. I told him he should send them to Penn State and tell them to suck wind. Lol
Are you sure we’re not sharing the same kid? Almost identical situation. Deferred at NC State until March. Accepted to PS University Park engineering (but too expensive and no merit). Accepted to SCar, Auburn, Bama, Tennessee engineering programs but he decided that he doesn’t want to go that far. Accepted to Deleware but he wants a bigger football program. Haven’t heard back from VTech but son was not impressed much with the tour (he ranked it about 7th of the 10 colleges we visited).
Now it’s down to Maryland and WVU, but he seems to be leaning towards WVU and their outreach has been phenomenal (by far the best of the 10 he applied to). So… we rolled the dice and put the housing deposit down at WVU. I’m verycomfortable with him going there, more so by the day, and I have a feeling that’s where he’s going to end up (regardless of what NC State or VTech come back with).
Yeah, it seems we are all in the same boat. We just returned from another visit to NC A&T yesterday. I figured he would be done with visits as he wasn’t high on going all the way to Alabama but he tells me on the way to Greensboro he wants to visit Tuskegee in Alabama instead of going to the WVU Admit weekend. I really do not want to go down to Alabama if I know he likes WVU but as of now it looks like we will be visiting one more school. I am glad my S has options but I will be glad when he makes a decision.
Yup, I guess we’re all in the same boat and looking largely at the same schools. As mentioned above we did look at Bama, a great school that was also very generous with merit aid. Ultimately my son decided that it’s too far (not that close to the airport, it just felt like a long day of travel to him). But it’s a great engineering college with plenty of local jobs, that’s undeniable. And it’s a college that’s played the merit game very well and is obviously attracting a lot of strong students.
You just gave me an idea. We were going to fly into Atlanta and then drive but now I think we will drive so he can get a taste of how long the drive is. Even though we have family 2.5-3.5 hours away my wife and I really do not want him that far away.
I would recommend registering for the Decide WVU program (if you can) and talking to the counselor on the phone, she’s very helpful and can tell you all the information you need beyond the brochure. I am still waiting for NC State’s decision and need to take a campus visit in UCF and FL Tech in 2 weeks. I was waitlisted in Virginia Tech, but it’s ok haha.
Decide WVU has two dates - March 23 and April 12/13? (I registered for March 23) So if you want to talk to students and faculty members I would suggest going there and registering. I was impressed with the campus tour, I love the atmosphere of the place.
My dad went to Virginia Tech before transferring and graduating from WVU, and he loved the teamwork aspect between the students and professors. The students are there to help each other instead of trying to beat each other to be “top of the class” and work individually, which is what he experienced at Virginia Tech. For extra support for engineering majors, he recommended signing up for Braxton Towers for housing - there is an engineering learning community there that helps, plus the Towers are in the heart of the Evansdale campus. It is not limited to Honors students like other colleges - anyone there is welcome.
Agreed, the atmosphere at WVU is fantastic. Our son did get into VT engineering, however he’s still leaning towards WVU. Final decision probably just a few weeks away …
My son got into Tech Engineering as well but when he found out he wasn’t excited. He currently has Tech ranked 4th.
@Tricities3024 Hey there, it’s been awhile. Has your son decided on which school to attend? About three weeks ago we did a four school travel block to narrow the scope. We had a great time at WVU Decide Day and even met up with a student I found on LinkedIn who gave us a nice candid opinion on the school and engineering program. Buffalo was another great stop. But when all was done, my son committed to Syracuse. They gave generous aid which is what tipped the scale. It was difficult for me to request the WVU deposits back.
@spqr70nj Congratulations on your son and Syracuse. My son decided this past weekend to commit to WVU. We are sending declining the others schools tonight and tomorrow. We are all set for new student orientation and looking forward to his new adventure. I pray all goes well with your son. Syracuse is a good school and you can’t go wrong with generous aid.
Thanks @Tricities3024 and good luck to your son also. It was a tough decision for my son but I think in the end he probably felt WVU was too far. Jealous that you guys get to ride the PRTs! ???