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New student information

Arrival
It's recommended for new graduate students to arrive at least one week before the start of classes. This allows time to settle in, complete any necessary orientation activities, and prepare for the semester. Additionally, the Virginia Tech Academic Calendar provides important dates and deadlines, including:

  • first and last days of classes
  • exam periods
  • university holidays
  • deadlines for course registration, withdrawals, and graduation applications.

Tuition and fees

The Office of the Bursar, located in the Student Services Building manages all billing, payments, refunds, and financial aid. Explore the cost of attendance.

Funding

Students are eligible to receive funding for graduate studies in the form of teaching or research assistantships (GTA or GRA), scholarships, external fellowships, fellowships tied to a specific institution, or loans. Explore funding offered through the Graduate School.

Graduate Research Assistant (GRA)

Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) provides graduate students with the opportunity to work on research projects under the mentorship of a faculty member. GRAs engage in research-related activities such as data collection, analysis, grant writing, and contributing to published works. Their work environments may include labs, research centers, or other on-campus facilities.

Before Arriving

I just got admitted. What should I do next?

I am still looking for funding. What should I do?
For details information about funding, see here. The short answers are: M.Eng students are not normally funded by our department. Most M.S./Ph.D. =students either get a Graduate Research Assistantship directly from a faculty member, or a Graduate Teaching Assistantship from the department. GRAs are between you and the faculty member. Apply for a GTA here. Be aware that we make funding offers right up to the start of classes and sometimes even during the first week of class. Unfortunately, new students on the waiting list are not likely to be given an offer until after they arrive in Blacksburg.

I am funded on an assistantship (GRA or GTA). Will I have to pay tuition and fees?
Students on a full GRA or GTA assitantship (20 hours/week) have their tuition paid in full. While many fees are paid, students on assistantship must pay some fees. For the latest and complete tuition and fee schedule, please visit the bursar’s website.

Where can I find more information about tuition and fees as well as information concerning types of assistantships and compensation and insurance?

When should I arrive on campus?
There are orientation sessions and events throughout the week prior to when classes start. So you need to be on campus and ready to attend by Monday prior to the first week of class. New students are expected to attend an orientation held on the Wednesday prior to the start of classes.

How do I sign up for classes? How many should I sign up for? Or any question similar to that.
For students being admitted for fall semester, you will typically be able to sign up for classes around the beginning of August using the standard online drop/add process in the usual way for enrolled students. If the class is full or you are blocked for some reason, there is a process called force-add that allows you to request enrollment in the class. For details on mechanics of adding/dropping courses online, see here. 

We discuss how many classes you should take during orientation. But to give you a bit of an idea on what to expect: For M.S./Ph.D. students on support, a full time class load is two regular (three-credit, for a grade) courses. Do not plan to take more than that. To reach full-time status (12 credits), you can sign up for things like a credit of graduate seminar or the graduate school's GTA training, which is a one-credit course, and then fill out your schedule with research hours (5994 and 7994) as needed. M.Eng full-time students will typically take three or four courses per semester.

What is the deadline for adding classes?
Your last day to add classes is the Friday of the first week of classes.

How do I find an advisor?
There are generally two types of advising: academic advising and research advising. Academic advising can be done by any of the program directors or the appropriate graduate coordinator. Master of Science and doctoral students must find a research advisor from amongst the faculty.

The research advisor is one of the most important people in a graduate student's degree program. It is the responsibility of each M.S. and Ph.D. student to contact faculty and find a suitable match. You can also discuss the process with the associate department head for graduate studies. Some students start the program already knowing who their advisor will be. Many others will interview with possible faculty advisors during the course of their first year.

Some students find it difficult to find an advisor. The first step is to decide what research areas are of most interest to you, and which faculty seem to be doing that work. Two resources that can help are the research areas list, and the spreadsheet of faculty status. For advice on how to succeed as a research graduate student, see these presentation slides.

Where can I get more information?

  • Blacksburg campus students, visit the Graduate School's new student FAQ.
  • Northern Virginia students see here.