Fifty years ago, this month I graduated from Virginia Tech. This is the kind of event that can make a guy get reflective. I could have asked what is the biggest regret or what I what is the biggest positive from having gotten from my time there, but, instead, I thought I would share what lead me to VPI and how small choices made huge impact in my life.
My Dad was in the Army and in January of 1964, he was transferred from Fort Lee, Virginia, to an assignment in Frankfurt, Germany. We could not go with him immediately because housing was not available. After a six-month delay, we followed him and I started my senior year at Frankfurt American High School. Toward the end of that Fall, I took a personality test to help me figure out what I wanted to study in college. That test indicated that I might like to study Forestry. In my naivety, I was thinking someone was going to pay me to go camping. The only college in Virginia to offer Forestry was some school called Virginia Polytechnic Institute. I think it was the only place that I applied. I enrolled in the ROTC program; the Vietnam War was going on and, if I was going, I wanted to go as an officer.
I came to Tech having no idea what was involved in being in the Corps of Cadets. I also arrived on the campus never having seen it. I don't think I had ever been any closer to Blacksburg than the Skyline Drive. Even then it was a beautiful campus, however, most of my classes were on the opposite side of the campus from the upper Quad. Oh, those chilly walks from the Upper Quad to the Greenhouse labs!
Another surprise was that Forestry seemed to be focused on the pulp and paper industry. So instead of being paid to go camping surrounded by the peaceful sounds of wildlife, Forestry was preparing me to go bulldozing through the woods (insert images from Avatar with those massive machines crushing everything in the way). I ended up switching to Horticulture with the idea of doing landscape design, but before leaving Forestry I learned of two courses that used aerial photography to measure and identify objects on the ground.
So, the serendipity is even though I was clueless in choosing my major at a college I had never visited and participating in an ROTC program I had no clue about, I graduated from a school which I am proud to be associated. The Forestry aerial photography courses led to my specialty focus in the Air Force and later as a Department of Defense civilian. My abilities were valued; I met some great people; and I was able to travel internationally. Life has been good.
What about you? Do you have any unexpected or serendipitous stories of from attending Va Tech?
Comments
Congratulations on your impending induction to the Old Guard!
I have signed up for my class's 50th reunion this Fall. Looking forward to cheering our Hokies on to victory at that game .... and all season long!
Go Hokies
Hell Yeah. Go Hokies
My dad was station at Ft. Lee twice, though much later than yours. Did you go to Prince George High School while he was there?
I was born in Frankfurt, so another connection there.
I had a similar story of going into school thinking one thing only to realize it was a mistake. I always liked architecture, but a few young scholar type programs scared me away from that. But I still wanted to Design. My high school had a great technology program, but for some reason the push was for me to go into Mechanical Engineering. I did about 3 years in that major, during that time I had about 1 1/2 years working in manufacturing facilities. The job stuff was great, but I didn't like the other parts of ME. So I enrolled into the interiors program. Though I liked base building architecture, interior architecture was where everything made sense to me, as I get to impact people's lives all day.
That switch, which required a crazy summer session program and complete culture swap, was the best path in the end. I still use a lot of the stuff I learned in ME on a daily basis, but enjoy getting to design.
I ended up starting my own design business, have done some great spaces through the DC area, and am currently working with DeAngelo Hall on his upcoming Barber Shop Parlor 23.
Anyway, enjoyed reading your story, so figured I'd share mine. I have a lot more to go through still. Oh, and I had a friend who went Forestry thinking the same thing, he is now doing IT security.
Congrats on 50th anniversary!
After my Dad's tour in Frankfurt, he was reassigned to Ft Lee and retired 6 months before I graduated from VT and was commissioned (so he would not have to salute me ;>) ). I had gone to Thomas Dale in Chesterfield County before going to Frankfurt.
I do not know what the real percentage is but I have heard that "half" of the student change their major while in college. I did not know that at the time. I just thought I was different.
Ah Thomas Dale was our rival when I went to PGHS. Though the rivalry is very similar to the current VT/Hoos. Have you been back to Ft. Lee. It's changed a lot, and has actually grown with the BRAC. They have basically redone all of housing by now, so not much to see there anymore.
Wonder if our Dads were running similar paths? My dad was working on logistics of feeding the troops and was on AFN's Gasthaus a couple of times talking about MREs and the old C Rations.
As for majors, I always assume that at 18 years old, it's hard to know where you really want to be. I remember seeing a stat that most people will change their careers 7 times throughout their lifetimes, so no surprise that it happens while in college too.
Seems to have worked out for the better though for you and me.
My Dad was a supply sergeant, which if not the same, is closely linked.
He was in the Army in WWII and part of the D-Day landings (though not in the initial wave of personnel going ashore. D-day+7, maybe). He got shot by a sniper while stringing telephone or telegraph wire. During his recovery back in England, he met my Mom at a USO dance. In a strange way, I am a live because of a German sniper! He also served in the Korean War. So, he was in two major wars but came out relatively unscathed only to be killed by a driver while he was directing traffic around a road painting crew in Prince George County. He died at the hospital on Ft Lee.
Sorry, but I'm on a tangent. As much as I support the school, football program, and generally what it stands for, I survived, and thrived, despite Virginia Tech.
Campus was beautiful and I made some great friends and experiences a long the way, but for an engineer that wasn't a 4.0 student, Tech did everything it could to try and make my life miserable and weed me out. They didn't even try to help me when I was in my academic lows. To me, Tech was just an industrial meat farm that just needed bodies to go through its system. They are cold, calculating, and careless.
Just my two cents. Probably why I'll never give back to the university in any significant way.
I felt the same way. I started as an engineering student and had trouble adapting to the large class sizes. I especially had trouble learning math from a computer at the Math Empo. After almost failing out of school, I decided that enough was enough and asked to get out. I had to sit down with my advisor and tell them my reasons for leaving. When I complained that I couldn't learn math from a computer because there was no one there I could really ask a question to, she started to get upset and said "Maybe you should go tell all this to the dean!" in a sort of threatening way. I just asked her to sign the paper and then left - and never looked back. I transferred to biology and enjoyed every second of it. That was really when I found my love for VT. The professors, advisors, TAs, and other students were just...more pleasant than what I experienced when I was an engineering student. Engineering definitely wasn't for me, and in a way, I am glad they have their extensive weed out strategy. It turned me around, showed me the door, taught me that there are other options, and now I couldn't be any happier.
I can somewhat relate to both you and AXD above as well as Quincy Patterson. But if I had an advisor I was never advised who that was, which was on me for not asking. Playing sports in college and studying engineering can be a tough road. I chose school and gave up football and really don't know why. I was better at football and didn't like engineering. I simply did not know how to make myself try something different and was determined to get that degree. At that time, I could work summers and make enough to pay for the next year's tuition - not including, books, room and board. The only benefit I got for my time was a decent GMAT score and a real easy time with graduate business school math.
So, are you an elder statesman, or did you have one helluva summer job?
In other words, "Heisenberg, is that you?"
Engineering internships could do that back when I was in school. $18/hour full time for 13 weeks and a few scholarships to boot and you could pull it off. Needless to say, my wife waiting tables over summers did not make nearly the dent.
Shoot where I am now, in the Outer Banks, someone waiting tables in the summer can make more than I do all year. If I didn't value my time with my wife and son so much, I'd be waiting tables as a second job. I know of people who are taking home $400 a day
Elder, old, ancient by current standards I guess having attended during the latter half of the 70's. My first year, if I recall correctly, tuition per quarter was $219 or $657 for the Fall-Winter-Spring cycle. That was followed by a modest increase for a total which doesn't stick with me for the next year. From there it went up to I am fairly sure $279 per quarter for '78-79. I worked crap jobs digging ditches, pouring concrete and wallowing in underground conduits. However, at 10-12 weeks of $80 to $120 per during the summer, I was good to go as far as tuition. I feel for those trying to get a handle on it these days.
2-3 years ago I got the numbers and did the math. For the average 4 year state school (in state tuition) in 1980 you had to work 19 hours a week at minimum wage to pay tuition, room, and board. In 2015, you had to work 43 hours a week. So something gave, either minimum wage didnt keep up or schools cmgot more expensive, or both.
Yeah, that's pretty amazing, considering I started a 529 plan for my 5 year old a year ago and I'll be lucky to have saved enough for a full year by the time he's 18
Hear, hear!
Somehow you and he will get it done, whatever he wants to do. That's what I'm voting up for.
In 1975-76, in-state tuition and room & board was $1,650/year at VT. I know because my Dad set aside $2,000/year for my college. The remaining $350 paid for most of my books. When I moved off campus my last two years, my 3 bedroom apartment at Dutch Village ("Dutch Ghetto") was $185/month.
I originally wanted to be a Veterinarian, but the out of state schools were way too expensive. My second choice was to be a Forest Ranger (anything outside), and I got into Tech in it's Forestry & Wildlife program. During freshman orientation, I saw how much science I was going to have to take in that discipline and with science being my least favorite subject, I transferred to Business right there and then. I never looked back. VT had some great teachers back then...Marsh in Sales & Marketing, Ward in Business Ethics, the infamous Mandelstamm (sp?) in Economics.
First, hats off the OP as this has been a most interesting off-season thread throughout.
Ah yeah, next, room and board and books. My first year in Hillcrest I lived well and ate better. After moving out to try and play school, I commuted a long distance and was fortunate enough to not have to pay rent until living in Terrace View for the '77 to '78 school year. Four of us in a two-bedroom place paid $55 each. Utilities I think were included. Food was optional in my case. Books, while not approaching what these kids pay today, were expensive and kept many professors or their colleagues in second and third homes I imagine. I sold most of them back to the bookstore for a pittance at the end of each quarter. Still have the Swokowski Calculus With Anyalytic Geometry book though. For anybody interested, a Foxridge three-bedroom went for about $300 or maybe a bit less for '78-'79. After that to finish, I lived quarter to quarter in all of Blacksburg's finest slums.
10+ years after graduation, this is probably one of the few things that really annoyed me the most about Tech. So much of the math curriculum ran through the Empo that it really came across as 'if you need help at this, go fuck yourself'. I never had trouble with math at any level of education, so it didn't really impact me too much, but I knew a lot of people who were probably held back from being as good as they could have been because of the nature of the Empo. It was like everything you picture about a cold dystopian future where humanity is long gone.
This is the very reason I feel like one of my biggest accomplishments was obtaining a degree from VT without ever setting foot inside the Math Empo.
The Math Empo is excellent at teaching pattern matching to someone who has the patience to take enough practice tests to learn the tendencies of the answers to the auto generated quizzes and exams. The happiest I ever was at the Math Empo was when I 6/6'd a quiz in one minute of educated guessing, because I had taken so many practice exams that I almost missed the deadline and had to fly through the real one.
Yessir! Rarely spent any time learning the lessons my freshman year, because I could figure out the answers to basically every question just by finding the patterns. Never got anything lower than an A
Probably a good thing I elected not to go to VT then, I started having trouble with math at algebra 1
I can't really speak to the other schools at Tech, but def engineering wouldn't have been for you.
I agree about the "weed out" part of the Engineering program at Tech. I was pretty much a strait A math student in high school (public high school is too easy in VA, at least in the 90's) and when I got to tech I really struggled early as engineering student with teachers who were mostly just PHD students themselves and could not teach worth a damn. I switched to ECON early sophomore year and never looked back. I guess one could say I was weeded out as intended but I have had successful career in business so I guess fine then, whatever.
I ended up enjoying my time much more after the switch as well, and grades reflected that. Granted I had a lot of changing/growing up those first few years, but I wasn't connecting with the program and the grades were there to prove it.
After the change, much different world. I had some fun those first few years, but the last few years were the best.
Supposedly the weed out strategy is why Pamphlin School of Business is raned as high as they are.
I got the grades for the math expo classes but my retention was crap. The worst part is that my current job requires a lot that I was supposed to learn in linear algebra and vector geometry, but I have to look it up online and reteach it to myself every time it comes up
That's because, despite its intentions the Empo doesn't teach you anything, at least not when I was there. It is designed to encourage you to identify patterns in the software to basically bypass learning, and if you pick up anything along the way, more power to you.
You okay? This isn't a joke or a meme, you've just seemed down recently and I just want to make sure you're doing alright.
THanks. Perhaps more jaded than usual, but I'm trying to keep on swimmin'.
I get that. I really appreciate your posts. Yeah, sometimes they can be a bit sharp, but it's nice to have someone bringing a different side. Keep it up!
Thanks my dude. +1
What kinds of things were you looking for in terms of help that wasn't provided or unavailable?
I'm not sure. Perhaps a more sympathetic and smaller class size? I'm not asking for W&M-style effort (5-6 per class) but having 600 in frosh chemistry and then having an asshole of a professor who made you by a $600 text book and then learn from a DVD when his teaching style is stupid isn't the way to go about it. They basically gave you the least support frosh year and if you swam and didn't sink then you went to the next challenge.
I'm an engineer by profession now, but I'm doing actual learning and appreciating engineering so much more than I ever did in class. All I ever did was try to pass a test and not fail and never learned anything (truly) in class. I'm doing all that and so much more now.
So yeah - go hokies, but fuck you engineering school.
I take it you had Professor Trivedi? I was well prepared in chemistry coming to VT but I must agree that his class and teaching style was atrocious. I can still remember him repeating himself over and over again until enough people verbally agreed to get him to move on with the lesson, regardless of if there was any actual understanding.
Trivedi? I thought people loved him. Glanville was running a textbook scam and didn't teach shit.
My freshman engineering advisor told me point blank that I'd never make it as an engineer at the end of my freshman year at Tech.
Mine, too. He was probably right, but just because it pissed me off I decided to prove him wrong.
Took me 5 and a half years, but I did it.
I have some of the same complaints as others above. I really didn't have an advisor, formal or informal, and I wasn't social enough to go find one. I also was the first of my family to get a bachelors degree (even out of my first cousins, I think). So I really had no one to model in the family, and I didn't know who to model from friends.
In the end, nothing else seemed as appealing as contrariness (is that even a word?), so I stuck around and muddled through. Had some great times, met some great close friends that I still see today - both my Freshman and Junior year roommates - roomed 2 years with the first and 3 years with the second. Even had some great classes that have helped me in my career.
The biggest thing VT gave me was the ability to teach myself. Great gift, just wish it wasn't quite so hard earned.
Similar motivation for me. They basically wrote me off as a statistic. No one point blank told me I should drop out, but you always get the general announcement to all students frosh and soph year essentially that "if you're not doing well you should think about changing degrees".
I decided to do well, pass, and succeed to give a big middle-finger to the entire system.
Everyone I know who was a first generation college student had a far more difficult path than those of use whose parents had done it first. I think it's something to be really proud of!
One of my first bosses told me "you go to high school to learn how to show up, you go to college to learn how to learn, and you get a job to learn how to apply what you learned." Learning how to learn, or how to teach yourself, is truly one of the most valuable skills you can have.
My Econ adviser pulled this same stunt with me right after I transferred into the department. Flat out looked at my resume and told me it was a mistake to even try to transfer in, and that there was no way I would graduate if he had anything to say about it. Pissed me right off, I never spoke to him again unless it was in the one class of his I ever took, and graduated in 2 years on the Deans List.
But now it appears this might just be a tactic that all advisers might pull. Which... Yeah, that's pretty shitty if it is.
It's a big university. Be careful about painting with such a broad brush. We do not do this in Biochemistry and our advisors are awesome and genuinely try to help any student who walks through their door. Occasionally there is a difficult conversation if a student is struggling needlessly and would be better off elsewhere, but we call that honesty, not an attempt to cut people.
My medical school advisor at Tech told me I'd never get into a school and to start looking for another career.
Am currently a second year resident and am receiving offers for faculty and private practice jobs.
Im sure some people took her at her word and moved onto other things. I think the takeaway is that their job is to be honest with you and not blow smoke into your dreams. I took it as a challenge and it encouraged me to try harder to prove her wrong.
I was a bad student who kind of had the opposite experience. I graduated from ME with pretty mediocre grades (failed two classes). I agree that I never really got academic help, but I never seeked it out either (except from professor Chang; not only was he an incredible teacher, but he didn't make you feel burdened when you asked a question, unlike my ECE lab teacher who told me her job was to do research, not teach, but I digress). I was on academic probation and forced to go to Linda Vick's office for a consultation with my academic adviser (who I had never met until that point). Linda's best advice was that I visit career services.
Career Services helped my understand that getting a job and being a good student are two completely different things. Because of their help (resume reviews, cover letter help, practice interviews and career fair interaction, all of which were free), I felt like I was ahead of my peers (most of whom were smarter than I), and I was able to lock up a (really great) full time job before Thanksgiving of my senior year.
Chang who was in physics but knew all of engineering ever created? Yes he was a genius.
He was in Engineering Science & Mechanics (physics of engineering), if I remember correctly. They pulled him in to teach physics because all the physics professors were crap.
I had Chang for Mechanics of Deformable Bodies. He was by far one of the best professors I had at VT. We called him the human calculator.
I was also a bad ME student, mostly because I detested the major, kinda wish I got weeded out, but I was too stubborn for my own good. Worked as an ME for 2 years after graduation, absolutely hated my job, but wound up being able to transition into software which I may not love but enjoy a lot more than ME.
Same exact situation here, except I figured out I hated ME during a co-op. Graduated with the degree, went straight into software consulting after graduating.
My sister went to W&L and had a completely different experience. One of her professors officiate her wedding, the president was always around and students would stop by and chat. My mother still adores the campus life my sister had. There was a 25 year reunion for my sister and my mother drove there to watch the grandkids while my sister and brother in law partied.
My mother has been on VTs campus maybe 4 times.
I met Steger once, I do think he was a good president and you wont get that level of involvement at a campus our size. It was a very different experience for me, but that's what I wanted. I didn't want professor to know my names, but at the same time large classes suck for teaching. I had senior level engineering design course with 60-80 students in them. That's ridiculous if you need help, you can't get it.
I never thought VT or Blacksburg was some magical place. I cheer for the school, I chose the school, I met my wife there, i dont have any regrets going there, but I would have had similar experiences at many other schools.
Fair points. I'm glad you enjoyed yours more than mine.
I agree with much of what you are saying, however, some of my experience was on me. There were lots of independent study, upperclassmen group work, etc that I could have taken part in, that I didn't. At the same time, classes were big, and some of the curriculum was geared towards people looking to do research, not as much practical application (my masters program did that later in my career and it was great).
The biggest unintended thing I got out of VT Engineering is that nothing in my professional career would physically and mentally exhaust me as much as school did. My first job out of college was a BREEZE compared to school. My connections to VT also got me into the space industry for my second job, a career path that I haven't looked back from, and has given me a lot of professional satisfaction.
I wish I could recommend VT as a program for Engineering academically, but I can't. What I CAN say is that VT produces engineers that work better in collaborative environments than any engineer I've dealt with from UVA, Embry Riddle, UMD, or Purdue. Thats just my observation.
I should clarify that Junior / Senior year were much better as the classes were dramatically smaller (relatively speaking - still 30-40 ppl per class on average) and the classes were much more in-line with my specific engineering major. That being said, I still didn't think it was a great experience overall despite making several life-long buddies.
I struggled the same way in engineering, and college in general. If it wasn't for my WUVT friends, and a friend who I met on my hall freshman year who brought me into his circle of friends for the rest of my time in Blacksburg, I really wouldn't have much to show for college except a degree.
I have more VT friends from working at VT right after HS and from hanging out with all of my VT roommates' friends while I was at NRCC than I do from my time as a student at VT. But that's because by the time I really got going there I was married and commuting over an hour each way. It was a monumental win if I could just get all my classes on the same days from semester to semester. I wish I could have spent more time on campus meeting people and being more involved, but when my classes were over, I was GONE.
Congrats on the 50th anniversary! Reading your story has some parallels to mine. Went to VT in 1993 without ever seeing the campus until I went there for orientation. I basically took the biggest school that accepted me. I thought "hey, I'm good at math, why don't I get a degree in accounting." I realized I didn't like math all that much, switched to Sociology. Worked with juvenile delinquents for a year and realized I didn't want to work with juveniles anymore. Fell into working with historical maps and aerial imagery, got a job within the Department of Defense, and I'm currently in Wiesbaden, Germany, not far from Frankfurt.
When I move back to Northern VA in September hopefully I'll be able to meet some of you all at a tailgate or watch party!
I spent two years in Wiesbaden with the 497th Recon unit before being assigned to DIA working as an imagery analyst. My portion of DIA became National Imagery and Mapping Agency which became the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency ( because you are only important in the DC area if your organization is three letters or less ).
And I work for that agency that had to feel important! I had a feeling there was the connection. You still work for them?
No. I retired as a federal employee in 2003 and went over to the "dark side", i.e., a contractor for another 8 years. I retired from that in December 2011.
Now, I live in the Winchester, VA, area. People are friendly out here; when they wave, they use their whole hand - not just one finger. I miss things like Harris Teeter, but I DO NOT miss the traffic!
Do you know Mark - Mark from Winchester?
I know several Marks but not any that I know are associated with VT.
A friend of mine had a son killed in the shootings at Tech. Each of the last 5 years I have helped in the Big Event clean up of the Memorial Park in near by Stephens City sponsored by the Shenandoah Chapter of the alumni club. Perhaps he is part of that group?
Small world. I grew up in Stephens City and Winchester, and now am a daily consumer of products from your previous employer. Better you than me on that front, imagery analysis is not easy.
Variety is the spice of life. I truly enjoyed doing imagery analysis. During my career, that intelligence discipline evolved from simply identifying objects to explaining why the object's presence was (or was not) important to being able to be predictive about what would happen next. I finally retired, not because of the work, but because of the management.
The National Imagery and Mapping Agency, NIMA (now known as the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, NGA) was created using the components of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Defense Mapping Agency (DMA), the National Photo-Interpretation Center (NPIC), plus a few other bits and pieces. The idea was to merge intelligence into a geographic presentation of the information. A very good concept but somewhat of an oil and water cultural merger. DMA was by far the largest of the merging elements and with more than half of the population located in St Louis. DMA also had union workers, contractors and DoD civilians. DIA included military officers, contractors and DoD civilians. NPIC included CIA personnel, military officers, contractors and DoD civilians. DMA's culture was heavily influence by assembly line production of maps for the GI (perhaps an over simplification). The CIA and DIA culture was focused on analysis of intelligence for specific customers. As time went on, the effort to merge the diverse elements of the organization led to more and more of the DMA leadership moving into the management of the historically intelligence focused side of the organization. In my opinion, the new management did not understand nor value analysis.
The final straw was when a report from a different element in NGA got published with faulty intelligence and my leadership would not allow me to publish or provide a briefing to counter the false information because "they did not want to embarrass the agency". Shortly afterwards, I was forced out (fired) from my contractor position. It was not that big of deal because I had already announced my intention to retire at the end of the month but it left a bad taste in my mouth. (NOTE: I was not entirely blameless in this affair but that story is even more nuanced than what I have already gone through. Sorry for the dirty laundry airing.)
First, thank you for your volunteerism. And I'm very sorry for your friend's loss of their son. I can not imagine the pain that brings.
My question about Mark from Winchester is a Key Play "joke" that I'm not even sure the origin of. I didn't find it in the references.
Sometimes us old guys need flashing lights, sirens and earthquake type hints to catch the joke.
I've been with the agency for 10 years, so our paths may have briefly crossed but that would be a conversation for another day.
One thing I do look forward to upon returning from Germany is the grocery stores and the variety they provide. Although I hear that Lidl is making quite the impact in the NOVA area these days!
I plan on being at the VT - UNC (Oct 19). If you are there, maybe we can chat?
I'll see if I can make it!
Great job on making it to you 50th, that in itself is a big event as you grow older. In my case VT was the only school I wanted to go to mainly because my brother-in-law went and showed me around as a high school kid. Unfortunately, studying was not at the top of the list, but I made it. The big problem was, back then you had one week to drop a class. Sometimes you only attended one class before the drop date, so it was really difficult to make an informed decision on the class. This can and did hurt the overall GPA. As far as getting help, I had to go ask the Dean to get permission to take 12 hours during a summer school session. He informed that my grades were not good enough to take that kind of load, to which I responded to by saying "have you seen my face before.... then sign that paper and you will never see my face again. From there I went on to have a pretty good year over the next 40 years and now living at SML enjoying retirement and supporting the Hokies. So it all worked out.
Forestry flunked me out. I wanted to be a ranger, not a logger. After a couple of years with our Uncle, I was back and Sociology provided me a degree. Used it some working with blind folk, but it's been instrumental in my life. My first and part of my second year, I wasn't ready to attend college, just didn't know it. I reached out for help before flunking out, it was, after all, during the Vietnam war and I lost my deferment, but no one gave a shit for me because I had brought it all on myself. I was way more afraid of upperclassmen than the draft my freshman year, and too far sunk for my one sophomore semester to dig me back out. Came back on the GI Bill and easily got my degree, despite enjoying myself a whole lot more. Met the best friends I'd ever had, and will ever know, and started myself on the way to loving VT. One thing I learned was that VT offered pretty much anything I needed for an education, but I didn't bring it with me when I came, the first time. You gotta do that. Bring it with you, attitude, habits, purpose, and Tech will help you get what you need.
Thirty plus years out of VT and I still don't know what I wanna do when I grow up! I only applied to 4 schools-VT(sisters attending there), Duke (Dad's alma mater), William and Mary, and the USAF Academy. Got into all four(had the appointment and passed fitness test and physical for the Academy but wasn't ready to make a 9 year commitment at age 18) and ended up at VT. Didn't know what wanted to do so I figured start in Engineering 'cause I could always "drop down" to something else. Two years in decided that wasn't what I wanted (grades were OK just not career for me). Switched to hardest major in business 'cause I liked math but after two quarters decided "Hell no-THIS is boring" (had an A average in those classes). So then I looked at what business degree I could get with the LEAST amount of additional classes which turned out to be Management. (Statistics I looked at said only 30% of folks get job in their academic major field anyway and most of these were professional things like Architects, Doctors,Lawyers, Engineeers,Accountants, etc.). From there it was an easy two years to finish on the five year plan-never took more than 15 hours/quarter and senior year was 12 hours in fall, 9 hours in winter and 6 hours in spring (including Public Speaking and a pass/fail elective that I didn't need except to remain at least half-time so student loan payments remained deferred). Went to the final in the passed/fail elective with a B on the midterm but a term paper worth 40% of final grade due last day of class that I hadn't even started on. Did the math for my GPA and determined with a Pass I had a 3.38 and with an Fail I had a 3.34. AS you may have guessed I blew off the class and since I had already done my final speech in Public Speaking I was done two weeks before graduation. Had a great time watching everyone else sweating out their final exams. After graduation worked restaurants for about 4 years before getting into mortgage banking where I have been with same company for 26 years now. My time in Blacksburg was awesome and I never regret the choices I made there. The sense of community and the beautiful campus and the fun at football games every fall reminds me each year that even though I live in Richmond not Blacksburg, "THIS IS HOME" !
I never went to VT. I never attended any institution of higher learning by most people's standards. I did complete a 5 year electrical apprenticeship through the NJATC. I didn't acquire any debt and actually got paid to learn a trade. I don't work behind a desk, but this has afforded me opportunities I never felt was possible for a young man from Scott Co. Va who graduated 38th out of 42 in his class. I've helped built sky scrapers in Las Vegas. The BART system in the Bay area Ca., Liquified Natural Gas plants in Maryland. Helped the people of Puerto Rico with USACE after Hurricane Maria, built solar farms in Mass. Hydro Electric Dams as well as Coal and Gas plants for the Tennessee Valley Authority currently building a new 500KV substation in Church Hill TN for AEP. Hell I've even worked inside the "hot zone" of a Nuclear reactor power plant. Most proud of the fact that my son just graduated high school and scored a 27 on his ACT. I never even attempted the SAT. He tells me he wants to be a project manager. I told him that if he could handle the work load. A 40 hour a week job, complete the same apprenticeship I went through and take online courses to get a bachelor's degree in occupational health and safety. He should finish those up pretty close together and then go to get his masters in project management. Im not even sure if that is a major or not. He would be 26 or 27 and he could be a journeyman wireman, safety professional/manager and project manager with 5 years and over 8000 hours OJT in the electrical field. How does that sound to you educated folks who actually know how a university works? I've never even typed a resume. Am I telling him to do the right thing? Is it asking to much? Im proud of the things I've done. But that's nothing to how I will feel if I can help him be successful.
Back story: my son's mother moved him away from me to Iowa when he was 10 without asking me and refused to let me talk to him. We got back in touch while I was in Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria and On his 18th birthday "this past February 19th" I was picking him up in Iowa to come back to NE/TN where he belonged.
I shouldn't post when I'm sleepy. Sorry.
Proof that where you go to school means absolute dick to actual experience. Keep being awesome HH
As much as appreciate my time at tech and I do actually use some of what I learned, I was a useless sack of crap right out of school. If it hadn't been for my senior design project, I would have had very little to offer my first employer. Now that I'm in the position of hiring people, I put a lot more weight on real life experience. I'm in machinery design so it's a different beast but someone comes to me with hands on experience (say as a machinist or assembly tech) and they've shown a willingness to start learning design, I'm hiring them way before someone with a degree and nothing else to show for it. It sucks for recent grads (everyone wants work experience but no one will give you your first job) but until I have tons of spare time at work, I can't afford to pay someone an engineer's salary to learn on the job.
Maybe my input is not yet totally fleshed out yet because I graduated from Tech two and half weeks ago, but I think that my unexpected break from attended VT came during my senior year. Finishing up my junior year in Pamplin I had no idea what I wanted to do but there was a chance to apply for an internship with the athletic department, so I figured, "hey, sports are cool, let's try it." But they did not see me in the position I interviewed for. Fortunately for me though, they offered me a lower, different job so I took it.
Throughout the year, I worked my way up into the original position that I interviewed for and I took the opportunity and ran with it. Because of the experience I was able to get in the athletic department, I found what I wanted to do with my life and now have a job working in a different university's athletic department.
Maybe this would have happened at any university that I attended, but I believe that it was the people in the office within the athletic department that I worked for that got me to the place I am.