Did a campus tour with number 2 today.
I live in NJ so I don’t get down often. I teach physics so I have had several students go to VT over the years. Met with two of my former students at Macado’s last night. They sold my son hard on how great they think VT is. Last night, my son and I walked around the athletic complex by ourselves. It was awesome. Probably could have ended our Spring Break college tour right then and gone home. He’s sold. Being out of state money is a factor, so he’s not a Hokie yet, but it’s definitely in the cards.
That said, the campus tour today was not great. The info session was very low energy. Then the walking tour was pretty bad. We didn’t go in any buildings. We didn’t see any dorm rooms. We didn’t see any classrooms. We didn’t go in the library, the gym, the athletic fields, any of the places that we have routinely gone in on other campus tours. Most tours, even of small schools last at least an hour. Bigger schools are at least an hour and a half. VTs lasted a half hour. It also didn’t help that the person giving the tour had way too many people and didn’t have a working speaker.
If I were not an alumni, and if he hadn’t met students who could speak intelligently and enthusiastically about the programs, I think he wouldn’t even think about VT.
If anyone has connections to the people in charge of the tours, please pass along the feedback. I know how great VT is. I was glad my students said “It” is still there. I just want the campus tours to reflect that.
27 Replies
4mo
(In response to this post by soonerhokie)
4mo
found that schools manage this differently. 100% agree others do a much better job on their tours. VT does have good 1-day type of activities, which were better than the brief tours. Knowing what is what is tough to get from VT. I have 1 at JMU and 1 at VT. JMU was/is difficult to get transfers in (at least for mine) for Dual Enrollment classes & they tend to 'run out of room' for prerequisite classes which force you to take stuff that isn't needed. The short story is it comes off as a game to keep you there paying for four years. AP credits were much easier to get to JMU than VT.
(In response to this post by soonerhokie)
4mo
her the feedback and she will get it to the right people.
(In response to this post by soonerhokie)
4mo
once you got there. Kids these days are spoiled! 😊
(In response to this post by soonerhokie)
V
VT72
4mo
and live on campus. Didn't even apply anywhere else.
(In response to this post by RoswellGAHokie)
4mo
If I got accepted, I was going to VT. My dad had 7 kids to get through college. Baby sis decided not to go and has done fine.
I did apply to VCU. SATs were bad, so no UVA application and I was not a good fit.
NC State was my out of state school. It was VT, NC State and then VCU. Got accepted at all of them.
** Edited by VaTechie at 3/30/2026, 8:02:50 PM
(In response to this post by VT72)
4mo
campus tour. My parents took me to campus a few times for a football game (my dad is an alumni), but I picked VT just because the application process wasn't a pain, they accepted me early decision, and I wanted to major in Engineering so it was a top-20 school anyway.
I never took a visit to campus as a prospective student to take a tour. If the tours they offer have been that bad for that long, I'm glad I didn't take one.
(In response to this post by soonerhokie)
4mo
I spent a month at VT during the summer between junior and senior years in HS and fell in love with it.
(In response to this post by Tafkam Hokie)
4mo
We dropped into VT Admissions and were told everything is online.
(In response to this post by soonerhokie)
4mo
we live here. She wants a small/medium school so she hasn't show interest in VT or the like....but we want her to at least take a tour to be able to compare. (We will be touring UVA as well simply because if the does the physics/chem major at Longwood....which she really likes....she can do 2 yrs at Longwood and a 3rd year at either UVA or ODU and get a masters)
We have been to Longwood and Milligan and she's really liked both....the tours were great and engaging and we got to see a ton of classrooms, dorms, and other facilities....we even get a free lunch in the dining halls.
So it sounds like the tour will be a waste of time if we would like for her to consider VT.
(In response to this post by soonerhokie)
4mo
JMU was last and blew us away
(In response to this post by HokieGator)
4mo
back in 2014 we went on a tour with my son and it was really bad. We toured about 9 different schools and only George Mason was worse. Even East Carolina gave a better tour than VT. JMU was by far the best, with students seeing the tour group walking by and saying come to JMU you'll love it. Students were even opening their windows and yelling come to JMU. VT was one of the last we went to and I was embarrassed by the tour. Of course my son had been to Tech many times so he knew the everything anyway.
(In response to this post by soonerhokie)
4mo
Students lined the sidewalk to the convocation center at 8 a.m. Their FROGs, First yeaR Orientation Guides, unloaded the van and carried his stuff into the dorm.
** Edited by TomTurkey at 3/30/2026, 3:14:01 PM
(In response to this post by vthhhi)
E
EDGEMAN
4mo
That's been the same for years, so why doesn't VT fix this?
(In response to this post by soonerhokie)
4mo
numbers drop.
(In response to this post by EDGEMAN)
4mo
the campus tour, not because of it.
It was almost hilariously bad.
(In response to this post by soonerhokie)
4mo
almost an embarrassment of riches.
(In response to this post by soonerhokie)
4mo
(In response to this post by VT Pez4Life)
4mo
and by far the worst of the 5 campus tours she went to. JMU was WAY better. Fortunately for her, she had been to VT about 50 times for football games over the years and her brother went to VT so she really didn't need the tour. She is now a sophomore at VT.
I filled out the 'post visit' surveys and also sent an email directly to admissions describing the horrible campus tour in detail (no dorms, no dining halls, no classrooms). Sounds like they have done exactly NOTHING to correct those issue in the last 3 years.
(In response to this post by soonerhokie)
4mo
My daughter is a freshman there. That campus tour was great. My son hasn’t been at VT much but my former students did a great job.
(In response to this post by vt90)
4mo
big open house day. The school's academics and graduate pay impressed. But I just can't get by how butt ugly that campus is.
(In response to this post by soonerhokie)
4mo
I didn’t think it was that bad. Buildings are all brick, sure, but there was plenty of open space. My daughter loves it. That said, their weather, as you are well aware being local, makes Blacksburg look like Miami.
(In response to this post by Late 80s Hokie)