UVA vs. VT Engineering. Could anyone offer us an opinion?

[Anonymous]

If your eventual goal is to manage technical projects, you should go to UVA. If you want to be a technical architect or some other technical lead, go to Tech.

[Anonymous]

What about Computer Science? It is not a hard core engineering program. So which school has a stronger CS program, Tech or UVA?

[Anonymous]

There has to be an extremely compelling reason to turn down UVAundergrad. Not sure anything about VA Tech qualifies as said reason.

[Anonymous]

If student is interested in more than engineering, which liberal arts (philosophy, anthro, languages) at Tech have the stronger departments for an engineer with diverse interests?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There has to be an extremely compelling reason to turn down UVAundergrad. Not sure anything about VA Tech qualifies as said reason.

I can tell you that after touring many engineering schools, it really is different. The engineering program at UVA is an add-on. Really it is a technical degree for pre-wall street or the like. You want to have labs in wind tunnels or other serious equipment? Have a school with a focus on what you do, rather than fitting you in around the edges? Chose a straight engineering program.

UVA's program is fine for all the standard BS engineering needs, but not for all the extras.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There has to be an extremely compelling reason to turn down UVAundergrad. Not sure anything about VA Tech qualifies as said reason.

How about

* "I don't want a school with so many fraterities?"

* "I haven't really liked living in VA these last few years, so lets try somewhere else"?

* "I have a hobby I've been involved with for a decade. Can't do it in Charlottesville."?

UVA is solid. It is well priced. It isn't the be all and end all. One day, you will leave VA for a bit and see that.

Good luck to OP, and congrats to your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There has to be an extremely compelling reason to turn down UVAundergrad. Not sure anything about VA Tech qualifies as said reason.

How about

* "I don't want a school with so many fraterities?"

* "I haven't really liked living in VA these last few years, so lets try somewhere else"?

* "I have a hobby I've been involved with for a decade. Can't do it in Charlottesville."?

UVA is solid. It is well priced. It isn't the be all and end all. One day, you will leave VA for a bit and see that.

Good luck to OP, and congrats to your child.

Yeah...those assertions are unpersuasive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There has to be an extremely compelling reason to turn down UVAundergrad. Not sure anything about VA Tech qualifies as said reason.

How about

* "I don't want a school with so many fraterities?"

* "I haven't really liked living in VA these last few years, so lets try somewhere else"?

* "I have a hobby I've been involved with for a decade. Can't do it in Charlottesville."?

UVA is solid. It is well priced. It isn't the be all and end all. One day, you will leave VA for a bit and see that.

Good luck to OP, and congrats to your child.


How about: I have a son just finishing up first year at UVA (total success - even better than I had hoped for).
* has never set foot in a fraternity or sorority and doesn't drink
* is 2 1/2 hours away so has been home only for major breaks and Thanksgiving. Has made friends from all over the USA and foreign students from 83 countries
* what hobbies do you have that you can't do in Charlottesville? DS took up CREW which he couldn't do in Potomac

Back to UVA v. Tech. We toured both; loved both. First tour, DS had a strong preference for Va Tech and would have applied for aerosapce engineering had it not been for the ED. So instead he applied SCEA and EA where allowed and got into schools ranked well-above Va Tech so, ironically, never applied. Meanwhile, he had visited Va Tech on engineering day with his father and both were not impressed on that (second) visit. Then we started hearing horror stories of the Engineering 101 course in which we were told Va Tech separates the wheat from the chaff. In the end he turned down Ga Tech and Cal Tech for aerospace for UVA because he wasn't 100% sure aerospace engineering was his bag. Yes, a woman astronaut runs the aerospace engineering program and was most helpful to him in making the decision. Also he received no merit aid so in-state UVA was just not something he could turn down (then $26K a year compared to $66K a year at the OOS techs). He has had the best first year experience! He has had no adjuncts. His courses were all interesting but by the time when students have to file paperwork to get out of majors it was clear he was enjoying the econ and politics courses more than the engineering ones. So he is switching into the "Arts & Sciences" side and now preparing to enter the second year bulking up on poli-sci, commerce and econ courses. So it ended up well for him.

But my point is both schools are terrific. I loved Va Tech's spirit and the lay-out of the university. If you really know you want engineering, or vet school, or architecture, then that's where you should go. If you aren't 100% certain, then definitely UVA. Just the clubs alone at UVA will allow your child to really branch out and discover parts of their personalities or interests that they didn't know they had.

[Anonymous]

PP. UVA is a very nice school. I'm just saying it isn't the only nice school. Charlottesville is a smallish city. It is very nice, it doesn't have everything and is not Mecca. I'm glad your kid had a good experience. I'm glad you are happy with your choice. Doesn't make it for eveyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There has to be an extremely compelling reason to turn down UVAundergrad. Not sure anything about VA Tech qualifies as said reason.

How about

* "I don't want a school with so many fraterities?"

* "I haven't really liked living in VA these last few years, so lets try somewhere else"?

* "I have a hobby I've been involved with for a decade. Can't do it in Charlottesville."?

UVA is solid. It is well priced. It isn't the be all and end all. One day, you will leave VA for a bit and see that.

Good luck to OP, and congrats to your child.

Yeah...those assertions are unpersuasive.

Attitudes like this are a pretty good reason alone to consider Tech.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There has to be an extremely compelling reason to turn down UVAundergrad. Not sure anything about VA Tech qualifies as said reason.

How about

* "I don't want a school with so many fraterities?"

* "I haven't really liked living in VA these last few years, so lets try somewhere else"?

* "I have a hobby I've been involved with for a decade. Can't do it in Charlottesville."?

UVA is solid. It is well priced. It isn't the be all and end all. One day, you will leave VA for a bit and see that.

Good luck to OP, and congrats to your child.

Yeah...those assertions are unpersuasive.

Attitudes like this are a pretty good reason alone to consider Tech.

yup. such a complete lack of imagination to think there do not exist things one can't do in charlottesville.

[Anonymous]

VTech no question

[Anonymous]

VTech if serious about engineering. As noted above, it's an add-on at UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There has to be an extremely compelling reason to turn down UVAundergrad. Not sure anything about VA Tech qualifies as said reason.

How about

* "I don't want a school with so many fraterities?"

* "I haven't really liked living in VA these last few years, so lets try somewhere else"?

* "I have a hobby I've been involved with for a decade. Can't do it in Charlottesville."?

UVA is solid. It is well priced. It isn't the be all and end all. One day, you will leave VA for a bit and see that.

Good luck to OP, and congrats to your child.

Yeah...those assertions are unpersuasive.

Attitudes like this are a pretty good reason alone to consider Tech.

yup. such a complete lack of imagination to think there do not exist things one can't do in charlottesville.

Yes, bizarre statement. I love Charlottesville. I would love to be able to retire there some day. New Haven? City around Duke? Cambridge Square? Ithaca? etc. not so much.

[Anonymous]

Just graduated from VT, landed a position with a Fortune 100 company in L.A. with a Business double major. All due to our alumni network within the Business school, and (shocker) hard work within our business programs. Being from Charlottesville originally, I will say that many "UVA families" don't even give us a chance to show what strong programs we have- there is just complete judgement and the assumption that we are "only good at engineering".

There are many opportunities with both schools, and both schools are great public universities. I'm just severely confused as to how all of these parents within this forum can "claim" that UVA is supreme outside of engineering when they don't even know what we offer.

**Sidenote: many UVA professors teach at Piedmont Virginia Community College just down the street. So are we really getting nit picky with academic rankings here?

Like many have said on this forum, the atmosphere is just different. Virginia Tech is not the land of "vineyard vines", nor is it Greek central. We are normally middle class students that want a school with a good reputation, good programs, and a fun "spirited" vibe.