@nyuhopeful44 I’m so sorry to hear that. I also have severe depression and anxiety. I attempted suicide in 7th grade when I had too much pressure on me. Please keep us updated about your sister.
OMG so I literally just walked all the way to my bus stop only to realize that we are having a 2-hour delay. :((
@ak2018 So I’ve been doing a little bit of research and I had a question for you. You mentioned how Virginia Tech was your dream (can’t think of another word) school. What made you like Virginia Tech more than UVA?
@apple1893 VATech has some baller architecture, IMO.
UVA has better liberal arts and better business program and better for pre med but Virginia Tech has better engineering and technical programs
@apple1893 Well I’ve been researching both schools for the last year and have seen that while both have awesome and high-accredited engineering programs, UVA pales in comparison to Virginia Tech’s strong engineering program.There are also other reasons as well:
- Sports (Specifically Football): The Virginia Tech football games are the place to be for anyone who enjoys watching college football in southern Virginia. They are always sold out and I can only imagine that parking is a total nightmare during game day.
- School Spirit: Both UVA and Virginia Tech have strong school spirit. But, as I've heard, no university knows how to tailgate like Virginia Tech does. The day of the big game, everyone shows their school spirit. VT students don't even need a special day to wear their school colors, orange and maroon, they do it because they want. Not that many people know about UVA's mascot, The Cavilers, but a lot of states on the east coast immediately recognize, and sometimes fear, "The Hokies". They even have a school motto called "Ut Prosim", or "That I May Serve" as well as adopting Metallica's Enter Sandman before the start of every football game as the name of the school's president is Timothy Sands. As soon as the song plays everybody knows to start jumping.
- The Math Emporium: VT converted an unused mall into an emporium devoted to freshmen math classes. It's honestly really neat. Freshmen use it to get math tutoring as well as taking online graded tests and quizzes.Some math classes, like Linear Algebra (which is completely online), Vector Geometry, and Differential Equations, can be taken online and you would do one quiz and test a week at the Math Emporium. For Linear Algebra, as it is completely online, you meet your professor the first day and then you probably won't see him/her again, unless you go see them during their office hours.
- Hokie Stone: Most of the buildings at VT were built using bricks specifically called Hokie Stone. They were thoroughly engineered to last a long time!
- Engineering (My Favorite Reason): VT is famous for its highly-accredited and nationally recognized engineering program. Mechanical Engineering, the most competitive major to get into as well as the major I plan to go into, is VT's top major. The way The College of Engineering works is that you obviously need to be good at math and science, but also the humanities and the arts. In high school, you must take a good selection of AP science, math, and humanities courses so that you stand. You must also have a good GPA, average is between 3.8 and 4.3, as well as high SAT scores, especially in math.
- The Drillfield, The Libraries, and The Dining Halls: A well known spot that separates the dorms and the class buildings is the Drillfield. VT used an all-male military institute and so the Drillfield is a big part of it. That is where people usually sit and study on a nice, sunny day. The libraries are phenomenal as well. But apparently what is really to die for is the food. Talk about fine dining. The Princeton Review ranked VT number 4 in the best campus food in the nation category. Yes #4. I remembered that you could even get an entire lobster. And there are so many diverse restaurants that there really is something for everyone.
- The Corps of Cadets: Since VT used to be an all-male military school, it has a lot of military influence. The Corps of Cadets are one of VT's shining emblems.
- Random Stuff: Like horses being put on treadmills, a big snowball fight in which The Cadets always win, hearing present-day songs being play at Burssus Hall, the Hokie Bird mascot rollerblading through the halls, everyone thinking the place looks like Hogwarts, confetti being shot out of a cannon after every touchdown in a home football game, Frank Beamer, the football coach, is a household name, etc.
The list above doesn’t exactly include reasons why VT is better than UVA, they are mainly just really good and interesting things about the university itself. Today was actually a really good day for me. I uploaded a picture of the letters from VCU and Virginia Tech onto Instagram and tagged Virginia Tech’s Instagram account. They liked it 
and commented: Hope to see you on campus for a tour! And I responded: I’ll try my best. Ironically, my dad finally asked me about the letters and said the we could definitely do some college visits over the summer. ^:)^ I’ll be going to VT first.
@ak2018 Lmao I found you. That sounds stalkerish but it feels weird to see what someone from here actually looks like lol
@apple1893 @nyuhopeful44 I’m happy the Broncos won, even though I don’t like the team. I’m thinking of the game as Peyton Manning’s retirement party. 
I’m a diehard Patriots fan. Go #12!!!
@ak2018 I am sick of PDA in the halls at school, so Valentine’s Day will be a well-deserved break.
I can’t find “Formation” anywhere on YouTube. 
Her performance during the halftime show with Coldplay and Bruno Mars was GOLD!
My English class starts reading Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” over February vacation.
Wheaton thinks I’m interested in their school since I clicked (accidentally) on something in an email they sent me. I’ve received mail from them 2 days in a row now.
When I first read “horses on treadmills” in comment #3265, I thought it said “horses on trampolines” and almost laughed really hard. lol
@LeopardFire I actually didn’t have a snow day on Friday. We should have, though. All of the other schools in the area had a snow day. There were so many accidents before and after school. Thankfully the superintendent (aka the Ice Queen) gave us a snow day today. We didn’t actually get a lot of snow. lol
@raffie Student Council and JROTC had a Valentine’s dance on Saturday. I would have gone, but I was in Boston and was super tired when I got back.
@HelloThereHola That’s awesome! I’m very jealous!
I also have “The Fifth Wave.” I’ve only read 5 pages and I’ve had it since last summer. I need to finish it at some point. The Divergent series is great!
@nyuhopeful44 I’m so sorry to hear about that. I had depression from 7th grade to 9th grade. I did self-harm and almost had to be put in out-patient at the local mental hospital. I hope your sister feels better soon. If you ever need to talk about it or need help in any way, I’m here.
@averagebean I got “The High Mountains of Portugal” by Yann Martel and “Grace & Style: The Art of Pretending You Have It” by Grace Helbig in the mail Saturday. Currently I’m reading “Welcome to Night Vale” by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. My all-time favorite book is “The Martian” by Andy Weir. So good and science-y. I watched the movie again today.
My school got release at noon today and tomorrow we are delayed two hours. There’s still no snow, but I guess they have to be cautious lol
@ak2018 Thanks for sharing. I was looking into Virginia Tech’s engineering program and was curious. Thank You
@ak2018 how does virginia tech calculate GPA because you said average is 3.8 to 4.3. If they just give a 1 point boost to all AP/Honors then a 4.0 isnt too hard
@HelloThereHola No, it’s completely fine. I made my Instagram account knowing that anyone could see it. I like it that way. I feel it shows the world that I’ve got nothing to hide.
@frazzledazzle I too am sick of all the PDA I see in the halls. I see it as I to History class, Chemistry class, and when I’m going to my bus in the afternoon. Whenever I see them, I just run past them. Whenever I’m going to my bus they are always blocking the lanes and I’m just thinking “OMG, can’t you just go home and text her or something?”
Also about the Formation video, I believe Beyonce’s people might have accidentally, or intentionally, made the video private. You have to use a private link to see it. If you go to any of the Formation reaction videos on YouTube, they might have the link in their description box. And lol. Where did you get horses on trampolines from?
@BucketsUCSC That was the average GPA of regular admissions throughout the university. I believe the Engineering GPA is a good .25 points higher. I don’t know exactly how Virginia Tech calculates GPA, but I do know that it is less important than your actual letter/numerical grade in a class. Since GPA’s are calculated in many different ways, that grade matters the most. Hope that explains it, because I feel like that would be a little confusing.
someone from my class was in the superbowl halftime show
@ak2018 I was reading quickly.
The PDA is insane. I see a couple kissing every day when I’m on my way to band. I’m even sick of all the hand holding. I’m just a pissed-off single person. Both of my best friends got in relationships last week.
@BucketsUCSC That’s awesome! I saw on Facebook from the LA Phil page that it was the LA Phil youth orchestra who performed. I’m very happy for them and wish that we did that sort of thing in my youth orchestra (small state probs).
I’m sitting in US history taking notes.
I can’t wait until the weekend… Next week will be so much easier. We won’t be taking our normal classes, which will really be quite refreshing.
Have any of you received your PSAT scores in the mail? I’m probably misremembering, but I think the physical reports also compare you to the people at your school? And so I’m sort of curious about that (… if it’s actually true and I didn’t make this up in my head).
edit: nvm I think I made that up… I really need to stop projecting (if that’s the correct term).
@mutedmornings What special classes are you taking?
My school passed out the physical reports a week or two ago. They don’t compare you to your classmates, but my school did give us the average scores for our grade separately:
Sophomore School Average: R 514 M 492 C 1006
Mine: R 660 M 540 C 1200
So I’m pretty happy. I want to do better next year though…
Also, they also said the national composite average was 931, if anyone was curious.
I am finalizing my classes for junior year tomorrow! Is this ok?
AP Chem
AP Lang
AP Psychology
AP Calc BC
French 3
US History
I have to fit my second year of PE at somepoint… I was supposed to take it this year, but I wanted to take it over the summer… And wasn’t allowed to… This year I have a new counselor, so hopefully she will let my take it over the summer.
If I can’t, should I ask for a 7th or 0 period or drop AP Psychology… I REALLY WANT TO TAKE PSY!!! :((