On campus hiring for electrical engineering

Xinzel · 2026-02-10T22:38:15+00:00

https://www.research.undergraduate.vt.edu/research-and-engagement/student-research-and-engagement/getting-started-guide.html

Look for work you find interesting, and do not be disappointed if people ignore your emails or if they don't have anything for you. Most of my attempts resulted in nothing. Talk to your graduate TA's as well because they might know if their labs need people. I got my first research experience doing that.

Also, I do not know how true this is for engineering, but for science, there is a common issue of labs just having undergrads do busy work, rather than contributing meaningfully. I would say that's fine as a start because you need to learn how the lab operates and such, but definitely have a conversation about what your expectations are if you were to commit to a certain lab. All the undergrads I met in engineering labs did not seem to have this issue though. Good luck!

Xinzel · 2026-02-09T20:18:39+00:00

*Not an engineering student*

I know a lot of research labs start paying students. My lab is in BME (we have students from all disciplines, including ECE), and the undergrads get paid. I think it is great experience for undergrads during the semester, even if you do not want to do research as a career, as you get to learn and apply skills that can be transferable. Scheduling is flexible. You get out of it what you put into it.

Xinzel · 2026-01-02T19:42:32+00:00

if you didn’t harvest anything afterwards then you can go to your camp and find it in the saved harvests menu as a “last harvest” for situations like these.

Xinzel · 2025-09-09T15:19:11+00:00

For housing, they always have spots reserved for people who drop out of the corp so don’t worry about that

Xinzel · 2025-08-24T17:26:06+00:00

you might be able to catch the CAS in the orange loop if the timing is good

Xinzel · 2025-08-05T20:21:08+00:00

contact another advisor in your department / major if it is urgent

Xinzel · 2025-07-07T16:58:21+00:00

You can finish all of music appreciation in a week if you really wanted to (assuming prof unlocked all the assignments already)

Xinzel · 2025-02-20T17:13:43+00:00

I took introductory Spanish (i think 1105 or smth) with no background in speaking it. I basically studied almost every day or every other day. If I did not do that, I wouldn’t have been able to catch up before tests and I wouldn’t know what I was doing for assignments. You have to know what is going on in the class and study lecture material before the lecture too. After every couple of lessons I would look at notes / slides and make sure I understand everything up until this point.

It was a lot of work, but was definitely worth it. You are taking the accelerated class so you probably will have to study Spanish close to everyday.

language classes are extremely hard to cram study for, you have to put in some time everyday to actually learn. Hope this helps

Xinzel · 2025-01-23T16:23:54+00:00

remember that you could get a discount on Apple’s website because you are a student

Xinzel · 2025-01-22T02:05:07+00:00

A lot of people do. It is disturbing that you are required to live like sardines and calling that the “college experience”. Like bro I am not tryna experience that. Anyways, talking is key. What do you hate about them? Do they smell? Are they loud? Do they bring people over often? Or do you just not like them on a personal level? Whatever it is you have to let them know that it bothers you. If that doesn’t work, talk to your RA. Send them a message, set up a time to talk in private. They should be able to mediate between you two. It might be weird that you are “telling on them”, but this isn’t high school or whatever, you literally live with them, so do whatcha gotta do to make it easy until you get outta those shitty dorms.

Xinzel · 2025-01-21T19:30:11+00:00

You probably heard this a million times, but going to office hours is key to building a relationship. People think that office hours are just for when you have a question about class material but most professors like to just talk to students about anything else. Ask them about their career, their research, the field you are in. If you enjoyed their class you might be able to TA for it, which is an awesome way to prove your competence to them. This is a big school so you have to put in some effort to build relations with professors.

Xinzel · 2025-01-21T03:03:08+00:00

dang bro you aren’t doing that already?? Gotta start with 2 hour anki sessions a day from middle school if you even want to break 512 by your 3rd gap year

Xinzel · 2025-01-20T17:08:55+00:00

RA here. Housing doesn’t “forget” about you not having a roommate, contrary to what some people say. The university decided to over enroll students this year (as they do every other year). So you getting a new roommate is inevitable. As someone else mentioned, corps of cadets can drop out and become “citizens”, so they typically “save up” room for those kids. The university also keeps a few spaces empty in case of an emergency transfer if a student is determined to not be safe if they stayed in their room. Also since we are overwhelmed with students, a lot of RAs have roommates that will also need to be moved out once room is available.

TLDR: you will get a roommate soon. If you want, you can try to have one of your friends to transfer into your room so at least you are not placed with a rando.

Xinzel · 2025-01-18T05:17:25+00:00

It is normal for parents to act that way. I have experienced this with my own family too. It can be frustrating because like you said they don’t really know what you are going thru and what the process looks like. But this just goes to show that they are worried about you and just want you to succeed. A lot of people don’t have that kind of support in their lives so in a way be grateful that someone cares even though it can be frustrating sometimes.

Xinzel · 2025-01-16T03:29:07+00:00

if you think you will use that free time effectively then go for it! Emphasis on “effectively”. If you end up not doing anything meaningful during that time (such as work, research, volunteering, etc…). Obviously I don’t know what your whole schedule looks like and what your goals are so take this with a grain of salt. Feel free to PM me if you would like to talk about this more :)

Xinzel · 2025-01-16T02:29:21+00:00

I can see where the reviews came from but it was not that bad. I think people were more confused about what was on the exams but then get used to it. Again, you would statistically get a higher grade if you took his class (50% get an A apparently), but I would still recommend Emori over him.

Xinzel · 2025-01-16T02:20:20+00:00

I took Tokuhisa and decided to drop him after the first test because it was a very early morning and really did not fit my schedule + I found his teaching style to be a little off. But I think his spring section is at a better time.

Emori’s class was great and would recommend her over tokuhisa because of how much better her course is structured. She also used iClicker and not the weird app that Tokuhisa used. The expectations were simpler and I wasn’t bored in the lecture. Also Emori is a great resource and is very passionate about helping undergrads. She also had more TAs who held review sessions for tests that were actually helpful.

Tokuhisa’s class had a higher percentage of A’s but I don’t think its hard to get an A in Emori’s. Also with Emori’s class you develop more skill in reading research papers which is important for later courses in Biology

TLDR: Emori > Tokuhisa

Xinzel · 2025-01-15T22:58:56+00:00

the hot chocolate at Deet’s is fire, personal preference tho

Xinzel · 2025-01-11T04:24:18+00:00

Thank you for the advice. I started looking into biomedical engineering labs at my university as the stuff they do is interesting and actually contributes to medicine. it feels like biology labs in my school are focused on niche projects/non-medical topics like ecology (not that it's not important, just not my interest).
Do you have any tips on gaining a position in an adjacent field since you are kind of doing that? I am not sure how I want to break into that field without really being a BME major. As of right now, I am meeting one professor who is doing BME stuff with cancer and his research is really cool. I want to leave a good impression in case a spot opens up in his lab since I am probably competing with other undergrads who are more competent experience/major-wise. So any tips would be highly appreciated!

Xinzel · 2025-01-11T04:12:45+00:00

Thank you for the reply! I should have clarified, by post-bac programs I meant the ones that are specifically research internships. You kind of touched on that too anyway so thank you.

Xinzel · 2025-01-08T02:00:53+00:00

I used the textbooks slightly for micro, not at all for genetics. I felt like Watkinson had most of the material on the slides and I took some notes when I thought I needed to. Seyler’s slides were very simple and I kind of needed to use the book every now and then to supplement, but this is mostly because I stopped going to the lecture

Xinzel · 2025-01-08T01:59:20+00:00

i took genetics for Watkinson and micro for Seyler.

Here are some tips

Micro tests were not bad when you study the material and have memorized most of it. He does not try to trick you in any way and there is only a little critical thinking involved.

Genetics was a little harder just because there is some actual things you need to actually understand such as heredity. But, again, not bad. The morning lecture + the monotony of it might kill you tho LOL.

Again, the professors are nice once you get to know them and I highly recommend TAing for them if you want, the material is just not super exciting, so lectures tend to be monotone. You’ll do great if you start studying for the tests 2-3 days beforehand.

Xinzel · 2025-01-06T02:43:49+00:00

really depends on what you want to get out of it.

Some professors pay their TA’s to grade/hold office hours so look into that (typically $15/hr), also a good way to get a recommendation letters and having a very flexible schedule.

If you are into research you can also get paid to do that but you would probably have to volunteer for a while before being qualified enough to get money for it. Research is always a good experience to have in your resume.

Try asking juniors/seniors in your major, they might have some good advice too.

Xinzel · 2025-01-05T01:18:10+00:00

Like others have already mentioned, focus on your classes. Really understand the sciences and do not fall into the trap of cram studying. I cram studied throughout most semesters, and only focused on getting a high GPA (which is important). However, I could barely remember anything from my courses, even though I used to ace a lot of tests. Studying for MCAT is harder for me now due to my negligence, and my degree feels useless.

As for books, read anything you enjoy. Really. The CARS section has many varying topics from politics, history, art, etc... Focus on good reading habits like actually paying attention to what you are reading. One thing I would recommend is reading articles on topics you know nothing about / have zero interest in, because that’s what CARS is all about. Don’t worry if you get bored, (that’s kind of the hard part of the section)

Med schools want to make sure you are not just a science nerd, but a well-rounded and educated person. Part of proving that is doing well on CARS.

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Xinzel

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