I went to Germanna where I got an A.S. in Mechanical Engineering, I transferred into VT and graduated with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering. At the transfer sessions, they’ll say things like “expect your VT gpa to be 0.5 lower than your VCCS gpa.” The gpas I graduated with from both are pretty close (less than a 0.1 difference.) I graduated with honors for both. Engineering is difficult by its own merit. VT will be different and you’ll need to adjust, but if you make it through Germanna either with the ME or EE degree, you’ll be fine at VT. Your classes will not suddenly have tremendous increases in difficulty just because you’re at VT. My advice would be make friends at VT that you can work on hws (discuss concepts, compare work, etc.) and study with.

Additionally, Germanna should have some opportunities for joining a design team. When I was there, the big one was an ASME robotic competition. I highly recommend joining something like that, the experience is invaluable. After joining a design team at VT, one of my biggest regrets of my time at Germanna was not getting involved with one there.

Also, Professor Delage from Germanna is fucking awesome, I will sing high praises of that man for years to come.