General Engineering Academic Advising
We have a team of academic advisors dedicated to guiding students through the first-year engineering program, General Engineering. Your General Enigneering academic advisor is available to help you navigate the requirements for your intended major, academic policies, and campus resources while you are at Virginia Tech. Students can view their academic advisor assignment on Hokie Spa under View your General Student Information.
Students are encouraged to meet with their assigned academic advisor to discuss:
- registering for classes
- course support/tutoring options
- college success skills, such as time management practices and study strategies
- dropping a class
- withdrawing from a class
- resigning from a semester
- taking a leave of absence
- choosing a major and/or minor
- taking classes at another institution
- studying abroad
- completing undergraduate research
- accepting a co-op/internship
All General Enigneering academic advisors use the Navigate platform for scheduling appointments.
Navigate: https://vt.navigate.eab.com
Step 1: Click the Appointments Icon from the Navigate Homepage
Step 2: Click on the blue box "Schedule an Appointment"
Step 2: Select Appointment Details
Type of Appointment: Undergraduate Advising
Service: Underneath Engineering Advising, select General Engineering
Pick a Date: Choose a day you wish to have an appointment
Step 3: Select Appointment Date
Your GE advisor's name will appear at the top. Select a day and time for your meeting.
NOTE: Your advisor may have options to meet in-person or virtually. Before you select a date you can scroll down to filter appointments by in-person or virtual under How would you like to meet?
Step 4: Provide a Comment
Include a brief comment about what you want to discuss with your advisor and list your top 3 choices of Enigneering major. This will help your advisor prepare for your appointment.
Step 5: Click "Schedule Appointment"
This will confirm your appointment and you will receive a confirmation email to your VT account.
Additional Advising Appointment Information
- If you do not receive a confirmation email, you have not successfully scheduled an advising appointment.
- Specific details for attending your appointment can be found in the appointment details when scheduling your appointment, the appointment confirmation email you receive after confirming your appointment, and appointment reminder notifications.
- Be prepared for your meeting with a list of questions, the advising guide for your intended major(s), and something to take notes with.
- If you need to cancel your appointment you can cancel in Navigate or email your advisor.
- Students who are 15 minutes late to their appointment will have their appointment cancelled – it is important to arrive to your appointment either virtually or in-person in reasonable time.
One of the purposes of the General Engineering Program is to give you time to explore Engineering majors and make a decision about what Engineering discipline that you want to pursue based on your goals and aspirations. During your time in General Engineering you will have many opportunities, both inside and outside the classroom, to learn about all of Virginia Tech's Engineering degree programs. Students also have access to many resources they can use on their own to explore majors. Unless otherwise noted, the resources below are accesible to both prospective and current Virginia Tech students.
- Explore Engineering: A website designed to assist you with engineering major exploration.
- Engineering Degrees At A Glance: Provides a short description of the engineering programs and what they do.
- Explore Engineering Week: Explore Engineering Week occurs every September and is a series of four evening sessions during which students will listen to brief presentations from every Enigneering discipline. Students enrolled in ENGE 1215: Foundations of Engineering and ENGE 1414: Foundations of Engineering Practice are required to attend at least 2 of the 4 evenings. Recordings from this past year's sessions are accesible on the Explore Enigneering webiste.
- Departamental Websites: Every Engineering department maintains its own website specifically related to their undergraduate programs. Students can find more detailed information about each Engineering discipline by visiting these websites.
- Minecraft Museum of Engineering: Allows you to explore a variety of exhibits for every major right now. This is a student-built, ongoing project. It's all done in Minecraft Education Edition, which is free to Virginia Tech students (requires login with an active @vt.edu account).
- ENGE 1004: Explore Engineering: This 1 credit hour course is offered every spring semester. Throughout this seminar-style course students will learn about every different engineering discipline.
- Explore (More) Engineering Podcasts: General Engineering advisor Jennifer Chin has created a series of podcasts called "Explore (More) Enigneering" to help students do more major exploration. Each of these podcasts are 30-40 minutes long. Within each podcast students will hear from advisors, faculty members, students, and alumni from each of these majors. You'll learn: what the major is, career opportunities, skills learned in the major, how students knew the major was right for them, misconceptions about the major, what is unique about the major, and more.
- Episode 1: Mining and Minerals Engineering
- Episode 2: Chemical Engineering
- Episode 3: Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Episode 4: Biological Systems Engineering
- Episode 5: Construction Engineering and Management
- Episode 6: Materials Science and Engineering
- Episode 7: Ocean Engineering
- Episode 8: Biomedical Engineering
- Episode 9: Computer Science
- Check back for more Explore (More) Engineering podcasts to come!
- Explore (More) Engineering Podcasts: General Engineering advisor Jennifer Chin has created a series of podcasts called "Explore (More) Enigneering" to help students do more major exploration. Each of these podcasts are 30-40 minutes long. Within each podcast students will hear from advisors, faculty members, students, and alumni from each of these majors. You'll learn: what the major is, career opportunities, skills learned in the major, how students knew the major was right for them, misconceptions about the major, what is unique about the major, and more.
- Episode 1: Mining and Minerals Engineering
- Episode 2: Chemical Engineering
- Episode 3: Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Episode 4: Biological Systems Engineering
- Episode 5: Construction Engineering and Management
- Episode 6: Materials Science and Engineering
- Episode 7: Ocean Engineering
- Episode 8: Biomedical Engineering
- Episode 9: Computer Science
- Check back for more Explore (More) Engineering podcasts to come!
- Carrer and Professional Development (CPD): Thist Virginia Tech campus office provides services, programs, and resources that empower Virginia Tech students to discover and pursue meaningful opportunities that lead to a fulfilling career. CPD supports students with exploration of self, majors, and careers; seeking work-based learning during college; securing post-graduation employment; and planning for graduate or professional school.
- Career Outcomes Data from the Virginia Tech First-Destination Survey: Review career destination and outcomes information for Virginia Tech graduates from any Engineering major.
- Career Insights with Stepping Blocks: This resource helps Virginia Tech students with career exploration and growth. With this resource students can choose their career interests to add to their profile feed, take a personality assessments to find individualized potential career paths, search Virginia Tech alumni outcomes, explore a variety of different career paths based on data from over a million people, use the tuition analysis tool to unlock the true cost of your education, and check out a job board for opportunities (requires login with an active @vt.edu account).
- Engineering Career Resources: Provides details about career resources and ways to find internships, co-ops, and full-time jobs.
- Career Fairs: Attend Career Fairs to network with employers and discover internship/job opportunities.
- Career-related events for students: Events hosted by Career and Professional Development (CPD), other Virginia Tech departments, employers, and other services for students
- What Can I Do With This Major?: What Can I Do With This Major? is a website featuring 106 major profiles with information on common career paths, types of employers that hire in the field, and strategies to maximize opportunities. Links to professional associations, occupational outlook information, and job search resources are included.
- Handshake at Virginia Tech: Apply for jobs, internships, schedule interviews, see events, schedule advising appointments, more (requires login with an active @vt.edu account).
In college, it is normal and expected for students to utilize support services. Success is defined differently by each individual. The tools below are intended to support you in achieving success in a way that is meaningful to you. Making use of these tools will prove favorable as you navigate through your college experience and continue to progress toward your personal success.
Course Support
The Student Success Center, as well as some academic departments and student groups offer tutoring and course support options, many at no out of pocket cost. Check out this page of comprehensive course support for engineering and non-engineering courses.
Learning Strategies and Study Skills
In addition to tutoring and course support, knowing how to properly learn and study is essential to thriving academically. Take a look at our study skills resources.
Peer Mentoring and Coaching
Whether you are looking to improve academically, connect with campus resources, or build relationships, there are a number of peer programs to consider.
GE Advising Newsletters
The General Engineering Advising Team values the delivery of accurate, consistent, and timely academic information to our advisees. During the academic year, you will receive a common newsletter on a weekly basis via email from your assigned academic advisor with information concerning upcoming academic deadlines, policies, and procedures.
Canvas Announcements
The advising team will also use the General Engineering Advising Canvas page to post time sensitive announcements. Make sure to set up your Canvas notifications so you don't miss anything important. Review this article for directions for how to set up your Canvas notifications in the app (Changing Profile Information > How do I set Notification Preferences) or on your desktop (Instructions > Setting Notification Preferences).
General Engineering Events Calendar
The General Engineering Advising Team maintains a calendar within the GE Advising Canvas page that includes important events for General Engineering students.
General Engineering Student Opportunities Page
The General Engineering Advising Team maintains a page of various optional opportunities that are available for General Engineering students. New opportunities are typically posted throughout the week during the fall and spring semesters. Review our GE Student Opportunities page.
Videos
Video content from the GE advising team is shared with students to explain complex concepts and processes. Weekly advising minute videos will also be shown in the ENGE 1215/1216 classes.