UVA Engineering Grad here with many friends at VT.

If you child absolutely wants to study engineering and work at a company with the title of "engineer" after college, VT is a better choice. The curriculum is more hands on and practical like you would expect from a Tech school. The companies that recruit heavily at VT tend to be more traditional engineering companies in mature fields. Does your child like to build things in their spare time? VT is the school for kids that restore cars, build circuit boards, or fly model airplanes. The study body is fairly normal with some weirdos and backwoods folksy kids. If your kid is a lacrosse bro or NOVA princess, VT will feel rural and different to them. If they switch out of engineering like many people do, they are pretty screwed and their career trajectory will suffer. While a small sample set, my liberal arts VT friends are underperforming compared to my liberal arts UVA friends.

If you are at all unsure of your field of study or career trajectory, UVA is the better choice. UVA's curriculum is more high level and focuses on developing analytic thinking skills. UVA allows students to take electives outside engineering and offers many hybrid type classes like engineering ethics. It's possible to minor or double major in something outside of the E-school and graduate on time. I graduated with a double major in Economics and I think this has served me well. That said, I was the kid that built model airplanes and I resented that the curriculum was not more hands on. The labs were boring step by step required classes and there were not many design projects or opportunities to tinker with anything. However, I found the engineering student body to be exceptionally bright and normal. The E-school personality is dialed back a notch or two from the pretentiousness of the overall student body. However, your child should consider themselves somewhat "preppy" to feel comfortable. Companies that typically recruit UVA engineering grads included the mature engineering companies, but more recently those in evolving fields like BioMed and other smaller tech startups. These companies want the high level problem solving skills that UVA teaches. UVA engineering grads are heavily recruited into consulting, finance, healthcare and energy sectors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mason is a commuter school, comparable to a community college. Fine for what it does. Like umbc. But it's not going to move the needle.

Actually UMBC is harder to get into than VT

UMBC is crazy good computer science.

Anonymous wrote:Selecting a college shouldn't be ALL about the rankings. VT has a fantastic engineering program, UVA is a fantastic school overall. The student can get a terrific education at either, if he/she puts the effort in.

Between the two, I'd suggest visiting each and selecting which school feels like a better fit for the student. Class sizes? Culture? Surrounding area? Focus on engineering-only vs well-rounded education? Remember, you need to live here for at least 4 years. Personal experience says that it's easier to focus and do well at school if the whole life experience is a good fit.

FWIW, I work at a local engineering company. I work with alumni from both schools. There are some intense rivalries, but each group appears to have had a good education and experience.

Last paragraph here especially helpful. Is one school more innovative than the other? If VTech's program is larger, do they have more interesting g research projects going on ? Even if you're not in a particular speciality, it can be interesting to have some research depth close by. Anyone know about this, rather than ranking?

Anonymous wrote:Mason is a commuter school, comparable to a community college. Fine for what it does. Like umbc. But it's not going to move the needle.

Actually UMBC is harder to get into than VT

Selecting a college shouldn't be ALL about the rankings. VT has a fantastic engineering program, UVA is a fantastic school overall. The student can get a terrific education at either, if he/she puts the effort in.

Between the two, I'd suggest visiting each and selecting which school feels like a better fit for the student. Class sizes? Culture? Surrounding area? Focus on engineering-only vs well-rounded education? Remember, you need to live here for at least 4 years. Personal experience says that it's easier to focus and do well at school if the whole life experience is a good fit.

FWIW, I work at a local engineering company. I work with alumni from both schools. There are some intense rivalries, but each group appears to have had a good education and experience.

I didn't even realize that Mason had an engineering school. Is it nationally ranked at all? How does it compare to VT's engineering school?

Mason is a commuter school, comparable to a community college. Fine for what it does. Like umbc. But it's not going to move the needle.

Anonymous wrote:Mason is a joke.

Then Va Tech is a bigger one...GMU is more selective.

Mason is a joke.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No question. VA Tech. But it is difficult to get into the engineering program.

Nope. The school has 70 per cent acceptance rate. The Volgenau School of Engineering at GMU is better.

GMU? You mean the commuter school?

70% for engineering school?

Anonymous wrote:No question. VA Tech. But it is difficult to get into the engineering program.

Nope. The school has 70 per cent acceptance rate. The Volgenau School of Engineering at GMU is better.

Anonymous wrote:No question. VA Tech. But it is difficult to get into the engineering program.

Is VA Tech competitive or collaborTive once in?

No question. VA Tech. But it is difficult to get into the engineering program.

Tech is ranked 23rd in engineering in the US

I would do VT for engineering, UVA for pretty much anything else. VT has long been known for their engineering program, and honestly, I'd be thinking about the career path afterward and how the school's program was perceived by employers.

My brother (much younger) is making a similar decision right now. He was offered a scholarship to the engineering program at University of Kansas (KU), but the engineering program at Kansas State U is more renowned. The culture at the two schools is very different, and he's not sure he's 100% into engineering, so he's having some trouble deciding.