Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Top Questions

I would say some typical stereotypes about VT and VT students would be that it's a "country redneck" school and that it's not as prominent to our rival school UVa.

A lot of people think we're just a bunch of drunk, football obsessed rednecks.

Football town with a large white population

I'd say we have a great reputation as the world's greatest fans! But that stereotype is definitely true!

Rich snobs, or Ag hicks

that there are a lot of rich people that we are very friendly that we conduct ourselves like a large family extremely smart people athletes get off easy with regards to fulfilling academics

People think that everyone at VT is a math or engineering nerd.

Some people may think that VT is full of farmers and engineers, but there are other majors that rarely get any positive attention. Just because our university is in a small farming area that doesn't mean we're all farmers or engineers--there are other interesting pieces in the Virginia Tech puzzle.

Rednecks, farmers, dumb

Certain stereotypes about VT students include that we all just have to be complete football fans and go crazy over it. For certain majors its always heard that Engineers more or less have no idea and the hardest classes whereas things like Communication and Hospitality are the easiest to pass. About the school in general, whenever out in public everyone assumes you had to of been there even for a student, when yes there are 5,000 freshman students admitted each year.

We are all very proud to be Hokies. We loathe UVA students and their preppy exterior. We have many intelligent students, but we also know how to have a good time. Football is life. Everyone has an affinity for Blacksburg.

I think people sometimes label us as taking our football team too seriously. Another common stereotype is that at VT you're just a number because there are so many students.

Nothing bad! We love football and are family!

We are crazy about football. Tech is one of the most spirited campuses. All the classes are huge, your teacher never knows your name, and it's impossible to get individual help. Tech is easier than UVA.

People assume Hokies are a bunch of rednecks because we are located in the mountains...

Some stereotypes would be that we are all nerds, wealthy, and that there are no attractive girls at VT.

People say that Virginia Tech is all country, hick kids with missing teeth. They also say that they aren't the brightest people.

we are good engineers

1) We are all rednecks. 2) There is no diversity at our school. 3) Sorority girls don't really like each other.

Don't know

That we are a school out in the country and there are lots of rednecks

Down-to-earth, well-rounded

That we're all about football.

Most of the stereotypes I've heard come from UVa students or from people who tend to only know our school because of the UVa-Tech rivalry. Despite the fact that UVa students are supposed to more sophisticated than us and thus presumably above petty insults, there are many stereotypes about VT and VT students. The gist of these stereotypes is that our student body is composed of UVa rejects, rednecks who want to study agriculture, and airheads who only come here because we have a good football team. However, there are positive stereotypes too, and those include the perception we are very strong in engineering and that the students involved in this or a related discipline are very hard working, though probably not brilliant on the level an engineering student at Cornell might be.

Virginia Tech students love football and their school. While they love the idea of Virginia Tech and everything it stands for, they don't necessarily want to help continue it make it what it is. Most students won't volunteer or help others out. The stereotype is that Virginia Tech has hicks and a focus on agriculture.

I've never really heard sterotypes about VT students, i'm not quite sure if that's a good or bad thing?? It may just be because not a lot of people focus on attendening VT in my area....

Some people feel as if Virginia Tech is a "white school" due to the fact that about 74{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the students who attend are of the Caucasian race. However, these people fail to realize that although there is a large population of Caucasian students, there are still thousands of students who are of different races due to the approximately 26000 people who attend.

Stereotypes range from being "hippy, tree-hugging" liberals mixed with very conservative "back woods" hicks. There's also the stereotype of being slackers and less preppy than UVA.

It is unfortunate that people not familiar with the Virginia Tech community associate the campus' remote location with the school as a whole. Yes, there is a cow field adjacent to the main drive into campus and our school offers a strong agriculture and farm animal veterinary science program, but that does not mean every student is waking up at dawn to gather eggs from their own personal chicken coop. Blacksburg is the location of Virginia Tech, not the identity. We are proud to say that our school is located in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, but we are not all country folk. You are just as likely to see a student wearing designer clothes as you are to see one wearing a camo suit. We are just all different people and don't conform to any stereotype. That is probably one of the best aspects of being a Hokie. No matter how unique your interests are, there will be someone who shares them with you. Virginia Tech might have stereotypes, but in no way are we living down to them.

Having spent four years here, my best guess at a stereotype would be a southern drawl and an obsession with football. The scenery as you drive into campus seems to confirm these. The open fields with cows and Lane Stadium are among the first to meet the eye.

we are all jocks, alcoholics, rural, southern, hicks, etc. only good majors are engineering, architecture, and vet school

I honestly have not really heard any stereotypes about Virginia Tech...