UVA or VT Engineering?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only major I would choose over UVA for Tech is engineering. But:

You have to be sure you would STAY in engineering. Many people I know started in engineering and switched majors.

They are different schools and “fits” and therefore different college experiences. You have to ask yourself where you’d rather spend 4 years.

They both have good reputations, you really can’t go wrong with either.

Have you posted this before? There is absolutely no reason a student can’t switch out of engineering at VT. I have a DC who started at VT engineering and decided to switch to their liberal arts college. Having a wonderful time and involved in many activities. The liberal arts college is fantastic and has so many majors to choose from. Our younger DC is going to apply to VT for a LA major next year.

DP here. Yes, of course you can switch out of engineering at VA Tech. But if you're not going to go into engineering, UVA is far better regarded across the state and the country than VA Tech. So it would kind of suck to give up UVA because Tech is ranked higher in engineering, and then wind up not majoring in engineering.

I completely disagree. As I said above, my DC switched to a liberal arts major at VT that isn’t even offered at UVA. So had they started at UVA in engineering, and then decided to switch out, their preferred major wouldn’t have even been available. There are far more options to choose from at VT.

Of course it's fine to do any major at either UVA or VaTech. They are both great schools. But if the only reason you're choosing VT is for a slightly higher ranking in engineering, realize that you may change what you want to do part way through school. Or, HAVE to chose because your grades aren't that great, which happened to two people I know.

Pick the school with the best overall fit for you. There are lots of factors here - overall reputation, distance, "vibe", whatever. Regardless, you are pretty equally employable.

[Anonymous]

These schools are so totally different from one another in feel, I would support my DD wherever she feels most comfortable. They’re both great schools so I wouldn’t obsess over rankings.

[Anonymous]

I am one of the PPs and my DC is still trying to decide. So far one plus for UVA is that there are no caps on specific engineering majors anymore. So that would be one less stress at the end of freshman year. At VT, we were told that the 3.0 GPA requirement for mechanical engineering applications will rise to 3.2 next fall because of the high demand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: It doesn’t matter where you go, it matters what you do when you get there. Both are terrific schools but my advice is to use your time there wisely no matter where you decide to land.

This.

Take the rigorous upper level in-major electives that are consistent with the kind of work one wants to do after college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tech has a different vibe than uva so where would dc thrive? UVA has a better overall reputation so that dininshes the tech engineering ranking

UVA.
The scores of the UVA engineering students are much higher than those of the average VT engineers. The peer group is not strong enough to push the 1450+ kids at VT. That being said, UCB, CMU, or ivies/Stanford/MIT would be even better than UVA, for the 1530+, for the same reason: not enough peer match at UVA.

That seems a bit of a stretch.

Actually, they make a very good point. Statistically, they are two different peer groups. UVA’s 75th percentile scores are a 1510 SAT, a 35 ACT and a 4.5 GPA. VT’s are 1430/32/4.33. The discrepancies are much larger at the 25th percentile where UVA is 1420/32/4.2 but VT’s are 1270/28/3.89.

Got it. This is for the schools of engineering? Or for the entire freshman classes?

I've never seen a breakdown of scores at VT by engineering. Pretty certain this is for the whole school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which would you choose and why? Interested in Civil, but that might change.

UVA

[Anonymous]

I’d probably go UVA bc of its prestige and ambitious student body across the entire school. Know of one UVA engineer going to Stanford grad and many going on to super prestigious grad schools of Cal tech and the like. It just gets another class of student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tech has a different vibe than uva so where would dc thrive? UVA has a better overall reputation so that dininshes the tech engineering ranking

UVA.
The scores of the UVA engineering students are much higher than those of the average VT engineers. The peer group is not strong enough to push the 1450+ kids at VT. That being said, UCB, CMU, or ivies/Stanford/MIT would be even better than UVA, for the 1530+, for the same reason: not enough peer match at UVA.

That seems a bit of a stretch.

Actually, they make a very good point. Statistically, they are two different peer groups. UVA’s 75th percentile scores are a 1510 SAT, a 35 ACT and a 4.5 GPA. VT’s are 1430/32/4.33. The discrepancies are much larger at the 25th percentile where UVA is 1420/32/4.2 but VT’s are 1270/28/3.89.

Got it. This is for the schools of engineering? Or for the entire freshman classes?

I've never seen a breakdown of scores at VT by engineering. Pretty certain this is for the whole school.

"Actually, they make a very good point. Statistically, they are two different peer groups. UVA’s 75th percentile scores are a 1510 SAT, a 35 ACT and a 4.5 GPA. VT’s are 1430/32/4.33. The discrepancies are much larger at the 25th percentile where UVA is 1420/32/4.2 but VT’s are 1270/28/3.89"
The above is for the whole school. VT breaks it down by school. Engineering entering 2025: Median Math 709, Reading 687, total 1395, in other words VT Engineering median is below the overall -UVA 25th %ile. There is no UVA Engineering school data but it most certainly is higher than the overall UVA numbers, making the real difference between engineers larger.
VT and UVA engineering cohorts are significantly different groups.

[Anonymous]

Ah, the UVA booster is back to claim that the two engineering schools have "significantly different groups." The insecurity dripping from your (multiple) posts is just pathetic.

These two schools do not get "significantly different groups." And, lest you forget, here are their engineering rankings:

VT - 14

UVA - 35

[Anonymous]

VT but you already knew that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ah, the UVA booster is back to claim that the two engineering schools have "significantly different groups." The insecurity dripping from your (multiple) posts is just pathetic.

These two schools do not get "significantly different groups." And, lest you forget, here are their engineering rankings:

VT - 14

UVA - 35

The US News rankings are purely based on the peer survey, right? Not on salary or hiring data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d probably go UVA bc of its prestige and ambitious student body across the entire school. Know of one UVA engineer going to Stanford grad and many going on to super prestigious grad schools of Cal tech and the like. It just gets another class of student.

Truth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ah, the UVA booster is back to claim that the two engineering schools have "significantly different groups." The insecurity dripping from your (multiple) posts is just pathetic.

These two schools do not get "significantly different groups." And, lest you forget, here are their engineering rankings:

VT - 14

UVA - 35

The US News rankings are purely based on the peer survey, right? Not on salary or hiring data.

+1 and not PhD matriculation data.
For engineers who want to have a career driving the leading edge of innovation rather than an average engineering job one can get with a BS, UVA is the better pick over VT. Of course Stanford or Ivies or Hopkins is even better than UVA, but those are not options for OP.
VT is not a program that tracks into the top sector of the broad array of engineering careers.

[Anonymous]

My kid EDed to UVA engineering. Deferred and waitlisted. She will attend Virginia Tech. If she does get off the waitlist (she does understand that this is incredibly unlikely) she will pivot to UVA in a heartbeat. She liked the smaller size of the program, vibe of the campus and location much better. That said, we were pretty impressed with the VT Engineering presentation at Hokie Focus. The program is much more dynamic and collaborative than we initially believed. I’m sure she will have a wonderful experience in Virginia Tech and will graduate as a fine engineer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ah, the UVA booster is back to claim that the two engineering schools have "significantly different groups." The insecurity dripping from your (multiple) posts is just pathetic.

These two schools do not get "significantly different groups." And, lest you forget, here are their engineering rankings:

VT - 14

UVA - 35

The US News rankings are purely based on the peer survey, right? Not on salary or hiring data.

+1 and not PhD matriculation data.
For engineers who want to have a career driving the leading edge of innovation rather than an average engineering job one can get with a BS, UVA is the better pick over VT. Of course Stanford or Ivies or Hopkins is even better than UVA, but those are not options for OP.
VT is not a program that tracks into the top sector of the broad array of engineering careers.

Quite frankly, this doesn't sound like you have any idea what you're talking about.