Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

As an Aerospace Engineer, my experience at Virginia Tech has been great. The engineering program is top notch, but more importantly Tech has the prestige to attract priceless opportunities for its students. We have the largest job fair and internship/co-op fairs in the country where hundreds of companies pay to have a recruiting booth. Companies invest a lot of money in various programs, some even set up shop in our Corporate Research Center. We also have great professors who bring lots of enthusiasm, knowledge and experience to the table.

And yes, it is true that many teachers don't speak English as their first language. However there is a pretty even mix of average professors and truly exceptional ones who speak with heavy accents.

Taking math classes that test in the Math Emporium is excruciating until you adjust to college level work. Then you realize that you are not missing out on much as long as you work hard and utilize your math professors.

Virginia Tech is indeed "in the middle of nowhere", but so is every college that is not in a major city. Blacksburg is a college town but neighboring Christiansburg is more of an economic hub. It is a great place if you love the outdoors.

Social life is great as long as you seek out people like yourself. Bars are strict about carding but alcohol is easy to come by everywhere else, if that is your thing. If it isn't, you're certainly not going to miss out on a social life. The school's atmosphere offers enough opportunities for you to choose your own lifestyle.

As for the student body, it's not bad...if you know where to look. Very many good looking girls are in the Agricultural department, which is over 90% female. As for guys, take your pick. The school's male/female ratio is split almost evenly, but different majors are dominated by one sex or the other.

As for safety, not much is needed. Swipe cards to get into residence halls but no one to enforce it. Campus police are present. Only a handful of cameras on campus. Overall it's a world class school if you're going into the sciences or agriculture, though I can't speak for the rest.

1st Year Male -- Class 2013

Education Quality: A+, Scholastic Success: B+