Starting as a New Transfer Student at Virginia Tech
All new transfer students, regardless of their intended engineering major, will start in General Engineering (GE) and will be assigned an academic advisor from the Engineering Education Department (ENGE). New transfer students will attend a new student orientation prior to the start of their first semester at Virginia Tech, during which they should meet with an academic advisor to review their course plans and finalize their schedule for their first semester. Students should be prepared to provide course syllabi for any courses not listed in Virginia Tech’s transfer equivalency database that they hope to use towards graduation.
Transfer students should develop long-term course plan(s) by the time they leave orientation showing when they plan to take all remaining courses needed to graduate. Plans might include the quickest way out, a co-op schedule, and/or spread out course plans. An academic advisor should sign off on these plans after checking to make sure that: (1) all graduation requirements are covered, (2) all prerequisites requirements are met, and (3) courses will be offered in the terms the student intends to take them.
Students with questions about their long-term course plans or intended major are encouraged to contact the academic advisor in their intended engineering department. They should try to ask questions and meet with an advisor well in advance of deadlines. Students should try to avoid seeking advice during the first week of classes and should ask questions earlier if possible. Mechanical Engineering advisors are available all summer.
New General Engineering transfer students are able to take major-restricted courses from their intended degree-granting department (like Mechanical Engineering) during their first semester provided they meet all prerequisite requirements. Students will need help from their academic advisor to add major-restricted courses. ENGE advisors will work with advisors in the degree-granting majors to get the appropriate major-restricted courses added to a student’s schedule. After the first semester, transfer students must switch into their new major to continue taking major-restricted courses in their intended major.
Students should consult their academic advisor before dropping or withdrawing from classes to make sure they understand how this would affect their long-term plans.