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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There has to be an extremely compelling reason to turn down UVAundergrad.  Not sure anything about VA Tech qualifies as said reason.[/quote]

How about

[b]* "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.
[/b]
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. [/quote]

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