<p>You MAY be able to take Exploration (or it’s equivalent) at a local CC while you’re at VT. You’d have to drive to Christiansburg a couple times a week (only 15 minutes away or so) but that is probably more convenient than staying an extra semester/year.</p>
<p>Even if it’s hypothetically possible to take only core classes freshman and most of sophomore year and then take all your CS classes Junior/Senior, I’d be worried about trying that. Normal courseload for an engineer is 16-19 credits/semester, but generally theres at least one or two classes that are easy electives. 19 CS credits, which are generally project based, is going to be very, very hard. </p>
<p>Some CS classes are offered during the summer, which could help, but all have the Exploration class as a prereq so you couldn’t start that until after your sophomore year, and you NEED to be doing internships during the summers. To further complicate matters most majors have one or two classes that are taken during sophomore year that are prereqs for nearly all the classes later on, so you could find youself as a Junior, more or less finished with all non-CE requirements but not able to take many CE classes because of prereqs.</p>
<p>So basically here’s what I’m saying. Look into taking Exploration at the CC (New River Valley CC I believe.) They may not do that anymore but it’s probably your best bet. If that doesn’t work out you can look up the course requirements and do the math on whether you can still graduate in 4 years, taking all cores/non CE classes (math, physics, chem, etc.) your freshman and sophomore years, but it will not be fun and it will not be easy. And it very well may not be possible.</p>