<p>I’m new to this and maybe in the wrong place.<br>
Hi, our son’s top choices for Electrical or Computer engineering are Rose Hulman, Virginia Tech, and Clemson. He has seen and liked all three for different reasons. He prefers a smaller school but felt that within his major at Clemson or VT he will feel at home with both even though they’re much larger. This is a very tough choice. We can make any of the three work. We have considered, location, Coop, internship, job placement. Are there variables that don’t stick out or strong reasons to pick one over the others.<br>
The May 1st deadline is ticking. It is a wonderful but OVER whelming decision. It’s time not to look in the books. Can anyone please help. He is making the choice and is stuck.</p>
<p>I really like Virginia Tech. An extremely good engineering school , he will feel at home i guess, and even though it is a bit large he will meet a diverse amount of people and will make a lot of “connection” that may help him out in life.</p>
<p>As a VT student, i’ll give you some insight.
first, yes, it’s a big school, but once he’s in engineering, the world will shrink a bit =P And honestly, it really doesn’t seem that big. The EE department is much smaller than the other programs (around 200-250 students per year), which makes it feel more close-knit. There are a ton of resources available for any class he’s taking (except maybe chem/physics/multi-var…those depend more on the instructor), and since the engineering department is on the larger side than most, there’s always a ton of students to study with. The first-year, however, is very challenging, and the average GPA hovers around a 2.7. A ton of students get below a 3.0, and very few make it out with above a 3.5 after the first year. VT prides itself on its first-year “weeder courses”, but as long as he keeps up with classes, he should be fine.
Location: Blacksburg is a college town, but there’s a ton of stuff to do constantly. Plus, you’re in one of the best locations in VA, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mnts. And if he needs to fly in/out, Roanoke Airport is about 30min up I-81, and there’s a shuttle that runs between the campus and the airport that costs $3.
Jobs/internships: we have two career fairs each year, just for engineering. Companies are ALWAYS recruiting students here, and the companies range anywhere from Boeing/Raytheon/ect, to smaller, start-up companies. Companies love VT engineering, end of story. Also, there’s atleast one internship fair and one campus-wide engineering fair throughout the rest of the year, so there’s plenty of opportunities.
Campus life: heavy partying scene, especially for those not in engineering. But within engineering, students limit themselves quite often, otherwise they’d fail. First semester grades are typically lower due to the fact that it takes awhile for students to figure this out, but its not hard to have a full social life and do well in classes, it just takes responsibility and time management.</p>
<p>Now, there are negatives, take them as you will because this is coming from me:
I have a strong passion for liberal arts classes, which cant be fullfilled here. There’s very little room for electives, except for ones to fullfill core requirements. I really don’t like that, thus my reason for trying to transfer out to another engineerin school. But if he doesn’t mind not taking liberal arts classes, then this wouldn’t affect him. The only other thing I don’t like is the fact that Calc I, Linear Algebra, and Vector Calculus are all taken online via the Math Emporium. Calc II also can be taken trhough the Emporium, but only the tests are taken there, the lectures are held like other classes. Also, the math department professors all have PhDs, and thus some are simply horrible, but this is true of most schools. Upper-level math classes just suck.</p>
<p>Honestly, if he wants a great, hardcore engineering/CS program, VT is the way to go.<br>
Next, I would pick Rose, simply because he wants a smaller school. Then Clemson.</p>
<p>Thanks for your very thoughtul answer. How many of the lower level math classes are actually taught online? Is there any breakdown into small groups on a regular basis? What is the general perception regarding this sort of class. Do students tend to blow through the material or get impatient without any class interaction. ?? Learning online might not be for everyone.</p>
<p>For engineers:
Linear Algebra: strictly online. No classes, although there is a ton of online material. Not a hard class at all. 2 credits
Vector Geometry(or Vector Calc): you take quizzes/tests via the Emporium. Quizzes can be taken anywhere with internet access. Tests are at the Emporium only. Attend lecture for 1.25 hours a week, recitation for .75 hours/week. Hard. 2 credit class.
Calc I: 3 hours of lecture a week. Labs to be completed with MathMatica. Tests online at Emporium (im pretty sure).
Calc II: 3 hours lecture a week. You can take either 1206, which has nothing to do with the Emporium, or 1206c, which you take tests online at the Emporium. I STRONGLY suggest taking the 1206c, as even though you take the tests at the Emporium, you can take unlimited practice tests that are exactly like the tests.</p>
<p>As for the Emporium as a whole: it really is a great benifit. There’s math tutors (and one is me!!) that have completed these courses that roam the floor and you can easily ask for help on any of these courses. Frankly, there’s more resources for these classes than any other plain math course. So, there’s plenty of opportunity for one on one help, in addition to the online materials. Plus, there’s always office hours for the instructor. But linear algebra is a breeze. The other three courses have lectures and recitations and real teachers. Not to worry =)</p>
<p>shoebox,</p>
<p>good thing i decided to visit a part of the forum i never go to!</p>
<p>Can you elaborate more about why upper level math classes suck? I really like math, and was considering a minor or possibly a double major (but really only if i decide to major in physics instead of EE).</p>
<p>Also, I was gonna send a PM but it would probably help everyone else to ask, what makes the 1st year sequence at tech so hard? More specifically, what are your classes like, how are they taught, what about them is difficult, and if the answer is pure workload, what is involved in that ‘workload.’</p>
<p>and that math emporium thing sounds scary, good thing I have taken all of those classes already…</p>
<p>ps.
If you know anything about the physics program at VT (specifically VT vs. UVa) can you let me know what you think about it? (PM me because this isn’t really the place to discuss it)</p>
<p>The discussion about Physics at VT is definitely of interest to me as well as the math. The strength of a physics and comp sci program are areas to study at VT are excellent alternatives. All of this is fascinating as I watch the decision be made.</p>
<p>well then nevermind, skip the PM and just post it here</p>
<p>Upper level math classes: they suck because they’re hard as anything, and the teachers teaching them often suck too. It’s true at mostly any school (VT and UVA), although you do get a really good apple every once in awhile, and a really bad apple every once in awhile. My teacher has a PhD from Rice in Math, but she can’t teach AT ALL and thus half the class is failing (literally). I had a superb teacher first semester for Calc II, but i’ve heard horror stories about others. I’ve heard good stories about other multi-var teachers too. So its a toss up. But yeah, the math classes in engineering suck. End of story.</p>
<p>First year classes: at VT, you’ll take chem, math (calc I or II, or even MVcalc), vector geometry or linear algebra (depends on what you come in with…i came in taking calc II, and i took calc/vector geometry, but i should have taken LAlg last semester too, but the registrar office messed up), engineering class, and english or an elective (again, depends on AP…i came in with both freshman english courses, so i took geology).<br>
Chem sucks. Lots of people fail it, and in my class, a 73% was a B. 64% was a C. You get the picture i assume. The engineering course is tedious, and lots of homework/projects. Vector wasn’t too bad, but its all brand new, so it can be challenging quite often.</p>
<p>Second semester: for EE: physics, calc class (II or MV, although they changed the math sequence so you might end up going on to diffEQ, not MV), english (depends), engineering course, C++ course, and maybe LA or VG. Physics is another crummy class, and the C++ course is pretty bad too. </p>
<p>First year experience: there’s no point in going on for years and end up doing poorly soph/junior/senior year and wanting to drop out of engineering, but there’s very few options because you have so many engineering credits racked up. That’s the theory of VT I think, so the freshman year theory is: if we kill them now, they’ll figure out whether or not they want to do engineering. So, first year courses are tough. Chem and Physics are the stellar weed out courses: my first two physics tests had an average of 48%. It was bad. Chem was pretty much the same, but test averages were about a 60-70%. Calc II/MVcalc are sort of the same way (calc II had a 27% failure rate during the first semester). But, as long as you put in the effort, you should be fine.</p>
<p>Physics: it’s going to be good at both UVA and VT. I know a bunch of physics majors here and they all seem to be doing well and like it. Same with math majors (i work at the emporium and its staffed by mainly physics/math/engineering majors). Physics at UVA I’ve heard is really easy and bland at first, then gets super brutle and a lot of kids hate it. But I don’t know much first hand. Either place is going to provide a great education (VT might be a tad better), so I would focus more on other non-academic aspects. Also, double majoring in physics/math is very possible here, as a lot of classes overlap. You might have trouble at UVA because there are more core requirements (due to its liberal arts nature).</p>
<p>At Rose-Hulman the education he really gets is tops. The difference here is that Rose-Hulman is all about people, it’s all about the undergrad students. At VT and Clemson there is much more emphasis on research because that’s how those schools make their money, the professors get million dollar grants to do research.</p>
<p>But at Rose it’s all about teaching. That’s the biggest difference. Very rarely do you get a terrible professor who can’t teach because they don’t last.</p>
<p>Also at Rose the mentality is not success and “weeding” out students by pure attrition. At many large schools it almost seems like they’re trying to fail you out (as shoebox10 said himself) but at Rose, they respect you enough to give you every available resource. The professors are very approachable and don’t have “office hours”, they just have an open door policy where if they’re in their office they welcome you to come and talk to them. It’s a great atmosphere and I have no regrets about my choice to come here. I considered Rose-Hulman and Georgia Tech and I’m infinitely more happy here than I would be at a larger school.</p>
<p>There are no teaching assistants here, no huge lecture classes (class sizes are strictly limited to 30). Professors make a huge effort to know you and make themselves available for help.</p>
<p>If your son is sure that engineering is for him, then Rose-Hulman is most definitely the place for him if he wants a small school where he can feel like people care about him, whether it’s the professors who give out their home phone numbers and answer emails right away, or the staff who change their sheets and empty their trash every week, or the resident assistants and sophomore advisors who make every effort from the moment you get on campus to befriend you and get you involved and pay attention to you, Rose-Hulman is all about people.</p>
<p>Sorry for the delayed response, but I wanted you to get an opinion on Rose-Hulman.</p>
<p>I’m a Rose grad who has worked with plenty of other top tier large state school engineers, including those from Purdue and VT and PSU. I can say that the good engineers with refined communication skills will get ahead, and the largest difference I have noticed between my experience and those graduates at a large school is the communication aspect of it all. In a smaller setting, you learn that it’s ok to really care about what you’re doing but also about the people you’re doing it with. The VT guy I work with now is a great young engineer who is very bright in a hands on kind of way - my perception though is that there is much more variance in a Purdue, or VT grad. The breadth and depth of a program at Rose is just plain the right way to do an undergraduate engineering education. You’ll get plenty of great minds from a larger program, but a decent or excellent student from RHIT is guarenteed to be refined in their technical skills but also refined in the group work, and intangible communication skills that it will take to make it.</p>
<p>My opinion of course, and I’m biased because I’m a recent Rose grad, but I can’t say enough about the education that I recieved.</p>