Virginia Tech

Background

Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college named
Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, Virginia Tech is now a comprehensive, innovative research university with the largest number of degree offerings in Virginia, more than 125 campus buildings, a 2,600-acre main campus, off-campus educational facilities in six regions, a study-abroad site in Switzerland, and a 1,700-acre agriculture research farm near the main campus. The campus proper is located in the Town of Blacksburg in Montgomery County and is 38 miles southwest of Roanoke, in the New River Valley. Through a combination of its three missions of teaching and learning, research and discovery, and outreach and engagement, Virginia Tech continually strives to accomplish the charge of its motto: Ut Prosim (That I May Serve).

Enrollment

28,259 on-campus; 83.2 percent undergraduate students; 16.8 percent graduate students; 58.4 percent male; 41.6 percent female. Total enrollment on and off campus is 30,739.

Admissions

Virginia Tech received 20,756 applications for the fall 2008 freshman class. The student who was offered admission had a high school grade point average of 3.86, with the middle 50 percent being between 3.62 and 4.08. The average cumulative SAT reasoning test score was 1238, with a middle range of 1150 to 1320.

Full-time Instructional Faculty

1,371; 63.4 percent are tenured (fall 2008).

Mission Statement

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University is a public land-grant university serving the Commonwealth of Virginia, the nation, and the world community. The discovery and dissemination of new knowledge are central to its mission. Through its focus on teaching and
learning, research and discovery, and outreach and engagement, the university creates, conveys, and applies knowledge to expand personal growth and opportunity, advance social and community development, foster economic competitiveness, and improve the quality of life.