Virginia Tech: Experiences of a Real Student in Egypt

[abdo375]

I wanted to know what you think about virginia tech, I live in egypt and my college is offering a master's from there and I'm strongly considering it.
so if someone has been there can you please tell me how is it.

 

[jbusc]

I have no personal experience with virginia tech, but from what I hear it is a very good engineering school. I don't know more than that.

 

[chroot]

I attended Virginia Tech for my undergraduate degree (BSEE). It is one of the best schools in the country, with an engineering program consistently in the top 15 or so. There are an enormous variety of well-funded research projects there, and VT continues to develop into one of the premier research institutions in the world.

The only drawbacks, in my opinion, are: (1) The town, Blacksburg, is very small, and rather far from any big cities. If you like big-city life, you will not enjoy Blacksburg. It's a neat experience to live in a town almost completely composed of college students, but I found myself wanting more culture experiences than such a small town could offer. (2) The weather can be quite cold there in winter. Normal snowfall is probably in the range of 2-6 feet per year, usually in three or four storms throughout the winter. I'm not exactly a winter person, and found it to be a bit cold for my liking.

- Warren

 

[abdo375]

Thank you chroot for your reply, the things you mentioned wouldn't be a problem since VT gives me the option of taking the whole Master's degree here in my college with prof. flying to Egypt to give the lectures or by means of video conferencing, although I'd prefer the other option which is to spend one year at my college and the other at US.

chroot my problem is that the Master's degree in Egypt typically range from 300-1000$ a year, but the VT program is going to cost 12,000$ a year and that in Egypt is a small fortune, so I was asking if it's worth the money, I mean does it have a strong reputation in the job market that will make employers consider me more than someone else.

thanks

 

[chroot]

abdo375,

As I said, VT is one of the top 10 or 15 engineering schools in the US. It definitely has very strong name recognition in the US, and will definitely help you get a job in the US. On the other hand, if you intend to remain in Egypt, I really do not know how well VT is known there.

- Warren

 

[abdo375]

Thank you very much chroot & jbusc.