Parent of a former Innovate member here. Some things to consider:
- As pointed out by STEM2017, you will have to take 2 required courses for Innovate. Pros - both are easy A’s. Cons - you could miss out on taking some other class that you might have enjoyed more.
- You will get some earlier exposure to resume building, etc. (this may be true in either LLC).
- When my kid was in Innovate, it was almost 70% business majors.
- On a 1-10 scale for my kid and hallmates, “were you glad you did it” and “Did you get useful things and experience from it” rated about a 5. As a parent I would have given it a 6-7.
- Two things seemed to contribute to their feelings above. One, the program seemed to over-promise and under-deliver to some extent re: exposure to business leaders, entrepreneur treks, etc. Two, the request/requirement to move in 1st day and do Innovate activities didn’t allow them to participate in some other campus-wide first week activities due to schedule conflicts. I wasn’t a fan of this either.
- You’ll be in the new dorm either way, and the buildings look fantastic.
- In either instance, your roommate will have to be a member of your LLC (I don’t think that requirement has changed). Keep that in mind in case you have a friend you wanted to room with who isn’t interested or accepted.
- I believe there is still an entrepreneur club at VT, so you might be able to get a taste of that while still being in Galileo.