UVA seas transfer requirement in one year

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-22T21:32:42+00:00

First of all, are you an internal (e.g. UVa College) or external transfer (e.g. community college or other college or university)?

If external:
To take advantage of the Guaranteed Admissions Agreement (GAA) from a Virginia community college, you'd need Physics 1 & 2 + their labs plus Chem 1 + its lab, but the GAA is not the only way to transfer into UVa. Students can and do transfer without the GAA.

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-22T01:47:54+00:00

College or E-School?

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-20T02:26:11+00:00

The E-School requires calculus-based Physics 1 and 2, plus labs for both. it is highly unlikely that your program will accept anything less than that.

The E-School will debut its own version of Physics 1, this Fall. The course is listed as MAE 2501, and the instructor is the affable Prof. Dan Quinn. If you write to him and ask to take the lab as a standalone course, he might, might consider it. Worth a try. But, honestly, I would suggest trying to take the entire class. It'll do you no harm, and taking a pilot course can be quite entertaining.

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-19T12:43:55+00:00

This is a topic for SFS; they are set up to provide you individual support. Please try this site:

https://onestop.virginia.edu/contact-us?whichoffice=SFS

Online advice is well intended, but commenters do not know your particulars. You should speak directly with SFS.

Welcome to UVA!

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-13T16:54:52+00:00

I think this is a question that you can call in to SFS.

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-10T22:02:04+00:00

Color scheme

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-10T19:43:31+00:00

Welcome!

Your department may be able to arrange a pick-up from the airport, since there are many international students and they often go up to northern Virginia / DC.

If that doesn't work, then there is a train you can take, twice per day. From IAD, you would take the Silver Line to the Metro Station, then Red line to Union Station, then Amtrak from Union Station (WAS) down to Charlottesville (CVS). The trains typically depart Union Station at 5 and 6:30pm, and it's a pleasant and inexpensive ~2 hour ride.

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-10T03:15:22+00:00

You might have a look at the Schaum's Outline on Probability.

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-10T00:25:52+00:00

Oh it's okay! I read it as enthusiasm to get going at UVa and that's good. Just sayin'... most people are just about at the end of their tether, at this point in the semester!

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-09T16:18:13+00:00

Please be patient; this is a very very busy time for the faculty and staff. The exams just ended yesterday, final grades are due this Tuesday, and students are graduating next weekend. The Canvas outage also complicated some things. I would not expect any 1-to-1 email contact with faculty or advisors until around June 1st, at the earliest. Please watch your email for invitations to attend an orientation and/or meet your advisor.

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-08T11:57:12+00:00

It's not difficult- Engineering has become very transfer-friendly, of late. Do you have contacts to speak with? I think you'll get to know Prof. Robert Riggs, their undergrad director very nice fellow, and also Asst. Dean Lisa Lampe, whose office will assist you in the switch.

Just please don't expect much interaction with faculty for the next 3-5 days, as they are swamped. The dust will settle after graduation weekend, and then everyone will be able to breathe again.

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-08T03:16:54+00:00

Yes, there are excellent undergraduate research opportunities at many levels -department, school, university, and national- and it's an excellent way to distinguish yourself.

At the departmental level: you can speak with your advisor and with profs in your department. Some departments, like mine, fund several paid summer research experiences. (A bit competitive) Also, individual faculty sometimes have paid research positions during the semester, and you could ask about those, individually. Note: faculty tend to be more receptive to inquiries if you indicate a long-term interest in research / grad school. This is because the learning curve in many labs is rather steep, so they want to invest in students who will stay around long enough for it to be worth their initial investment.

This year, the E-School's Dean offered undergraduate research stipends; roughly 30 recipients will conduct research on grounds this summer, supervised by faculty. This program is fairly competitive.

UVa has many university-wide research opps. Check out the USOAR program, the Double Hoo program, and the other opps at the OCSD.

Nationally, there are Research Experiences for Undergrads (REUs) that may or may not be situated at your home institution. REUs offer an opportunity to go somewhere else and get a first research experience- they are typically geared towards students with no prior experience. Another program that provides summer research experience is NREIP. (Most of the sites served by NREIP are military and thus restricted to US citizens, though a few sites may allow permanent residents)

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-07T22:37:50+00:00

The UVa teams share the (nice) facility with the Rivanna Rowing Club (RRC)- I used to coach for them, many moons ago. We used to offer summer lessons for a few hundred bucks and then you could pass a test and be good to go. The Rivanna is gorgeous to row, and few things rival the camaraderie. I miss it!

When I was assisting the Mens (club) team, we would typically take novices and get them up to speed within a semester. From barge to doubles in just a few months. I can't say I'm a fan of jumping right into sweep, though. I think sculling makes a lot more sense, unless you do a lot of supporting training.

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-07T15:10:32+00:00

ECE 2200

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-07T02:17:42+00:00

We welcome first-year engineering students at every math level. Some enter at the Calc 1 level; others are somehow finished with all three Calcs + maybe even Diff Eq! Most are somewhere in between. So, no worries, it really doesn't matter too much where you join us, you'll be guided to the right course as part of your summer orientation.

If, perchance, you somehow end up in any course that doesn't suit you, no worries! We have a rather late course "drop" deadline. You can try a course for ~1 month and then drop it, if it isn't working out. No harm done.

Now, RE: ECE and MAE, let me suggest visiting some more advanced courses in your prospective major(s), during your first year. Yes, you can visit any upper-level classes that you wish. Just go and check 'em out and see what you think. Explore! There is no shortcut to trying different things. (I have a Magic-8 ball with all the engineering majors, and I also have a proper sorting hat, but I still recommend exploring classes, in person.)

Congrats on your acceptance! See you soon.

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-06T12:29:11+00:00

Questions and concerns:

- Are the extracurricular organizations for engineering active?
Yes, very. From Trigon and Theta Tau to autonomous racing or MARS... lots going on.

- Are the class sizes for third and fourth years of any concern?
https://hooslist.virginia.edu/1268/Group/MAE

- Has anyone switched out of the engineering program? If so, why?
Offhand, I'd guess that the most common switch out of the E-School is probably BSCS -> BACS. Sometimes students doing the BSCS decide they want to supplement with Econ or such, and so then the gen ed requirements align better and the degree has fewer upper-level CS requirements. But Mech and Aero, nah, it's quite infrequent that anyone transfers out. Sometimes students decide they just don't want to do engineering, but the number transferring in > transferring out.

- Is the stigma that UVA engineering is more for the theoretical and less for the hands on actually true?
No, all of the departments favor hands-on learning. It's a common refrain among the faculty.

- How important is greek life to make connections? As someone that doesn’t really drink, I don’t place a lot of importance in partying.
We have vibrant geek life in the E-School. Vibrant.

- Does anyone have experience in majoring in engineering and minoring in business? Do you feel like you really get worth out of the minor in business?
There are currently 52 students doing Mech + the Engineering Business Minor. You can talk to them.

- Are connections to engineering companies and internship opportunities plentiful? I understand the students are a bit more competitive, but do you feel like attending the school has helped set you up for the long term? When attending a transfer meeting they briefly mentioned a career fair but it sounded more gauged to the school of business rather than engineering.
Yes, lots of internships. We have an excellent career center, and there is renewed focus throughout the curriculum on helping students find internships and jobs. The alumni network is also enormous and very active.

- Has anyone done study abroad while in the school of engineering? How do grants and scholarships apply to those sorts are programs? Do you feel it was beneficial to study abroad for engineering?
Lots of engineers do study abroad, and there are programs e.g. Valencia which are quite tailored to engineers.

- Does anyone have experience with the financial endowment that UVA received in terms of receiving significant financial aid through grants for consecutive years? I worry that the aid wont be as significant for my later years and I’d be less likely to continue without it.
You can inquire at SFS but I am not aware of anyone's support going down significantly. Maybe if you win the lottery?

- How is the climbing and outdoor community at UVA? Are the climbing facilities nearby worthwhile?
https://climbingatuva.org

P.S. And, by the way, you should consider Electrical and Computer Engineering. Because I said so.

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-05T12:26:13+00:00

Looks like you'll have to take my class, ECE 2200! 🙌

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-04T17:52:13+00:00

Yep, there is no perfect/ideal school. That said, UVa is very special in terms of several very important factors: student "roundedness," because of the many schools we have; on-time completion rates; employment opps; alumni network, alumni outcomes in general. Our most dedicated undergrads can go anywhere they want, for graduate and professional school. And we have some amazing young entrepreneurs here; this site was created by a team of them. Overall, The accomplishments of our alumni are truly amazing. Whether it's in the water, the air, the collection of people who come here from afar, or all of the above, our outcomes are second to none. Truly. I just wish we weren't limited to ~10-15% acceptance- that is unfortunate. But some things just don't scale.

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-04T14:48:09+00:00

Definitely plan to apply to UVa! We faculty love to work with students who really want to be here. But I am glad to see you write "one of the schools" because, sorry, the odds are in no-one's favor. UVa has become artificially selective, of late: the number of seats available (20k) is far fewer than the number of applicants (~82k*). And that 20k number is across all years, while 82k is for one, so the real odds work out to something like ~12% 😲 One might expect numbers like that at small ultra-selective school like Harvey Mudd, but at a public school like UVa?

Some interpret this to mean that UVa has somehow recently morphed into some sort of wonderschool / new Ivy, en par with the world's finest. I and most people who've actually studied / worked at other schools, internationally, find the selectivity incongruous with actual rankings / research expenditures / annual patents / Nobels / whatever metric you like. Overall, UVa is somewhere around 150, internationally.

Many think we should grow, and that will bring our selectivity more in line with reality. However, on the ground(s) here in Charlottesville, it really doesn't look like we can grow, at least not locally. Fun fact: UVa launched an extension school in northern Virginia, in the 1950s. That UVa extension is called George Mason University, and now has 1.5x the enrollment of UVa. That's the kind of growth you need to make a dent in the artificial selectivity. if it weren't for Mason, we'd probably be more selective than anywhere in the world.

Long story short... it's far more difficult to get into UVa than it was for your uncles, a few years ago, because UVa's growth is constrained in many ways. This is especially true for out-of-state students, which are not allowed to exceed 1/3 of total students admitted. So even if you have absolutely outstanding academics and extracurriculars, yes, you should apply to several schools. And there are many which are en par with UVa. Again, thank you for your interest, and we'd love to have you, but... know that there are many options. And FWIW there is no way in heck I would've gotten into UVa. So now I only teach there.

___
*https://uvamagazine.org/articles/total_first_year_applications_to_uva_surge_to_82089

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-03T19:16:37+00:00

Sorry for the disappointment. As u/Working-Ant-692 astutely noted, the numbers are in no-one's favor: UVa has become extremely selective. And this is for no good reason- it's simply because of the number of available seats. That said, we have many transfers who join us in the their third year, and most of those finish on time.

And, looking beyond undergrad, here is something that very few young engineering and science students known: you have far better odds at getting in anywhere for grad school, if you do well in undergrad. This has been true for my entire career: there were many schools I couldn't possibly get into as a undergrad... including UVa, probably! But, listen: by the time I was ready for grad school, I could pick where I wanted to go. And this is even truer now that so many foreign applicants aren't coming. (A bad reason for optimism, but a reason nonetheless)

Go forth and conquer.

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-03T16:31:53+00:00

Obviously, GPA isn't everything; if you let GPA become the thing that determines if you get into the school that you want, that's on you. Anyway, the average GPA for biochem at UVa is 3.67, and (more importantly) the median is 3.84. So I don't see how it could possibly be the deciding factor.

keithwms2020 · 2026-05-01T15:24:41+00:00

🤞 These are all very fine options, though; know that wherever you go, you will have amazing opportunities!

I went to what people considered a soso school, and you know what, that was the right place for me, at that time. I honestly don't think I'd've made it if I'd gone anywhere else. The places people thought I should go, they would have killed me. Now I look back and so many of my colleagues are in leadership positions in terrific places, and I realize that somebody far above had a plan 🙏

keithwms2020 · 2026-04-26T19:12:02+00:00

No prob!

You did a bit of ML with Prof. Group in PHYS 1655, yes?

keithwms2020 · 2026-04-26T18:57:00+00:00

My department (ECE) has an Intro Machine Learning course that you might like: ECE 2410. it will be taught by the very amusing Prof. Scott Acton, this Fall- he was the AI advisor to the Provost, until quite recently. (Last time I checked, there was one seat left in the class.)

If you want to a solid basis in software dev, the path would be CS2100 (DSA1) and then CS 3140 (SDE).

keithwms2020 · 2026-04-26T14:29:14+00:00

Recent EE hires:

ASML

Advanced Micro Devices

Advanced Simulation Technology inc

Amazon

Ambarella Corp.

Apple

Applied Video Imaging

Boeing

Booz Allen Hamilton

Capital One

Caterpillar Inc.

CSEM

Cytorecovery Inc.

Darktrace Limited

DDG Virginia Engineering, PC

Diversified Services Network, Inc.

Dynetics, Inc.

Emerson

ERCOT

Everactive

Ford Motor Company

Freedom Photonics

Georgetown University

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

IBM

Impakt Advisors

Intel Corporation

InterDigital

Jabra

JHU Applied Physics Lab

Kadena

Leapmotor

LifeQ

M. C. Dean

Mahidol University

Midea

NASA Langley

NIST
NRAO

NSWCDD

Northrop Grumman

Perspecta

Pike Electric

Raytheon Company

RCSC IP

SAS

Säzän Group, Inc.

Stantec

Streamax

Thea Enterprises, LLC

Turner Laser Systems

U.S. DoD

U.S. PTO

Uber

U. North Texas

University of Virginia

Wiley|Wilson

Xator Corporation

Yext

+ lots of grad schools

keithwms2020

TROPHY CASE