Guaranteed Admission Agreement Between
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University's
College of Engineering
and the
Virginia Community College System

Section 1: General Requirements

In order to meet the requirements of this agreement and be guaranteed admission for a Summer or Fall term, a student must have:

• Completed a transferable engineering Associate Degree¹ including a minimum of 60 semester credit hours of undergraduate college-level study;
• Achieved a cumulative grade point average of not less than 3.0 (in a 4.0 system) at the time of the degree award, at the community college awarding the Associate Degree, as determined by the Virginia Tech Undergraduate Admissions Office²; and
• Completed six semester hours of a single foreign language at the college level, or two years of a single foreign language study during high school, or demonstrate proficiency³.

Associate Degree holders accepted for transfer  under this agreement will not be subject  to special requirements beyond those specified  as major department, general education, and/or  graduation requirements for students who originally enrolled  in Virginia  Polytechnic Institute  and State University  as freshmen.  Virginia Tech will consider  students  admitted  under this guaranteed admission  agreement on the same basis as native students (students who began as freshmen at Virginia Tech) for admission  to competitive programs,  registration, financial  aid, scholarship. student housing,  parking, and any other opportunities open to native students  with junior standing.

Virginia Tech waives its application fee for students with demonstrated financial need. An interested student should submit a written request, which includes an explanation of financial hardship, to the Virginia Tech Office of Undergraduate Admission by February 15 prior to the Summer or Fall term of application.

Virginia Community College students who have completed an engineering Associate Degree and have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 (with minimum grades of "B" or better in all engineering, math and science courses) at the time of Associate Degree completion are guaranteed admission to General Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.  Admission to a specific  department is subject  to space availability and specific  departmental entrance requirements.  Eligible students  will be admitted  to alternate  engineering majors  if the first choice of major is not available.

¹Deree must be transferable, not an Associate of Applied Science.

²All course grades on the VCCS transcript, including repeated classes, will be re-calculated to determine the overall GPA

³Students attending a Virginia community college will be allowed to complete the required foreign language units after enrollment at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. There credits fulfill a university entrance requirement and may not be counted as credits toward graduation requirements.

Graduation credit hour requirements for the various departments of the College of Engineering range from 120 to 136. The College of Engineering will transfer from the community college up to one-half of the credit hours required for graduation. The College of Engineering may require more than two years of courses work for the Baccalaureate Degree and will specify major course requirements.

Students without the engineering Associate Degree or with credits or grade point average lower than specified above may be considered for transfer admission on an individual, competitive basis; however,credit earned does not come under the protection of this agreement. A student who simultaneously receives an Associate Degree in engineering and high school diploma is not eligible for admission via this agreement.

Virginia Tech reserves the right to deny admission to students who have been dismissed or suspended for academic or disciplinary reasons or to those convicted of a felony or a serious misdemeanor impacting the safety of the university community.

Acceptance of course credits for transfer will be evaluated by the College of Engineering on the basis of applicability of the courses to the baccalaureate program.  Any advanced standing, Advanced Placement, or International Baccalaureate credits awarded by the VCCS will be re­ evaluated by Virginia Tech to determine course equivalency at Virginia Tech .

VCCS transfer students applying to the College of Engineering may be eligible for Lifeline Scholarships administered  by Virginia Tech.  More information is available at http://www.finaid.vt.edu/types of  aid/scholarships/vt-vccs-lifeline/index.html http://www.finaid.vt.edu/types  of  aid/scholarships/presidential  campus  enrichment/vt-vccs-lifeline.html The College of Engineering also has a scholarship available to any VCCS graduate with a transferable engineering Associate Degree.  The Leo Padis scholarship  is awarded by the College of Engineering to students in their first year of study at Virginia Tech; the scholarship award is
$1000 ($500/semester)  and awarded at the beginning of a fall semester only.  This scholarship process requires an application, to be submitted to Virginia Tech no later than June I   prior to the Summer or Fall term of admission application.  Scholarship applications can be obtained from the Transfer Counselors at the VCCS sites offering transferable engineering Associate Degrees, or from the Engineering Department at the same VCCS sites.

Guaranteed admission status  will be granted  to any Virginia community college student  who has completed an engineering Associate Degree containing the following minimum  core:

*These 38-48 semester hours will be applied  toward the fulfillment of the university's and the
College of Engineering's general  education requirements. Completion of a native engineering Associates Degree (all college  credits earned  solely  from VCCS schools) will guarantee completion of the Virginia  Tech  Liberal  Education  (general  education) component of the undergraduate curriculum .  While a non-native degree does not impact  guaranteed admission under this agreement, Virginia Tech  will guarantee completion of the Virginia  Tech  Liberal Education  component of the undergraduate curriculum  only for students with a native transfer engineering associate degree.  Virginia  Tech considers any AP, Advanced  Standing, Military credit, or CLEP  as part of a native degree.

³Transferability of ENGE 1024, 1104 & 1114 is determined on a college-by-college basis (not as a blanket approval for all VCCS colleges).  Prospective transfers should consult the Transfer Guide (available on-line at www.vt.edu) to see if equivalents exist at their site.

Remaining credits will be accepted by the College of Engineering and may or may not satisfy the requirements of the degree program into which the student transfers.  Subsequent graduation from the College of Engineering, therefore, is not assured within a two-year period of full-time study.

Remedial, developmental, and/or vocational courses (including drafting and engineering technology courses) will not be counted for academic credit in transfer.

All courses completed at the community college and offered for transfer credit to the university must be passed with a grade of C or better (for purposes of complying with this agreement, guaranteeing admission, all grades in engineering, math and science courses should be "B" or better).

SECTION 3: Nontraditional Credit

The evaluation of nontraditional credit will be the same for transfer and non-transfer students.

SECTION 4: Publication of Requirements

All requirements for admission to the university should be set forth with precision and clarity. The University catalog will include a description of this articulation agreement  in both the Engineering and Admissions sections.

Checksheets, with graduation requirements for each engineering major, will be available in the Office of the Associate Dean for Engineering Academic Affairs.  Checksheets are available to VC TS faculty and advisors through the Registrar's website at
http://www.regi strar.vt.edu/registrationidegree  checksheet.php

SECTION 5: Terms of Articulation Agreement

The terms of this articulation agreement shall be effective with the academic year beginning August 20 II  and apply only to the College of Engineering.  It shall be reviewed every two years at the Virginia Tech Engineering Articulation Conference.

Virginia Tech will provide tracking data annually on the performance of students enrolling in the College of Engineering under this agreement, to include comparison with native-to-Virginia Tech students.  The specific data elements and the timing of the report will be determined by the institutional research staffs at VCCS and Virginia Tech.

SECTION 6: Agreement Withdrawal

Either party to this agreement (the Virginia Community College System and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University's College of Engineering) may withdraw from this agreement by providing witten notice to the appropriate parties. The following must be notified two years in advance oftheir intention to withdraw: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Provost, Dean of the College of Engineering, and the Vice Chancellor of Academic Services & Research of the Virginia Community College System.

Back to top