What You'll Actually Pay
Price after grants
$11,670 to $34,201 a year for in-state students, depending on income.
College Scorecard 2024 estimate · in-state rates
See the price at your income ↑Sticker price
Full cost before aid: $36,951 a year in-state. Average need-based aid package: $14,947.Aid and debt
$34,527
average debt at graduation
2,978
students got merit aid
about 10% of undergraduates
$3,559
average merit award
Not reported by this school: share receiving need-based grants.
Getting In
A note for out-of-state applicants
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University's out-of-state undergraduate share has already crossed a threshold set by Virginia's state budget law, which means the school can't let that share grow any further — though it isn't required to bring it back down. If you're applying from outside Virginia, this cap on further growth may affect your odds in ways the admit rate above doesn't show.
Key dates
Test scores
SAT, middle 50% by section: Reading 640–710 · Math 640–740. No combined range is published.
ACT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 28–32 · 9% of the class submitted
What they value
- Very important
- Course rigor (AP/IB)
- GPA
- Personal essay
- First-gen status
- Where you're from
- In-state residency
- Considered
- SAT/ACT scores
- Extracurriculars
- Special talent
- Character
- Volunteer work
- Work experience
- Not considered
- Class rank
- Recommendations
- Legacy status
- Demonstrated interest
What this means for you
Virginia Tech rates three things you can work on as Very Important: course rigor, your essay, and your first-gen status.
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Rigor means AP, IB, and dual enrollment carry real weight — make sure your mix of AP or IB courses is strong. The essay is weighted like your GPA. And being first-generation is a real plus in the decision here.
Virginia Tech doesn't consider demonstrated interest in admissions at all — visits and follow-up emails won't move the needle here.
Source: Common Data Set 2024–25, Section C7 (admissions factors)
Virginia Tech just showed you what it values in an application. Use that to write a Why-Virginia Tech essay that's actually about you — not a template.
Get sourced starting points for your essayStudent Life
33% of Virginia Tech classes have fewer than 20 students.
33%
under 20 students
45.9%
20 to 49
21.1%
50 or more
Every class section counts, labs and seminars included; first-year courses tend to be larger. Virginia Tech CDS 2024–25, I-3.
17:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus life
32.6%
first-years from out of state
~20%
in Greek life
Greek-life participation from Virginia Tech FSL (2025) — not reported in Virginia Tech's 2024–25 Common Data Set.
Who attends
- White57%
- Asian13.6%
- Hispanic9.8%
- Black5.9%
- Multiracial5.7%
- Unknown / other3.1%
Enrolled undergraduates; international students are counted separately and not included. Virginia Tech CDS 2024–25, B2.
Popular majors
Will They Graduate?
69.1% of Virginia Tech students graduate in 4 years.
69.1%
finish in 4 years
Entered fall 2018
86.3%
finish in 6 years
Entered fall 2018
93%
return after first year
Finishing late means paying for extra semesters, so the 4-year rate is the one that shows the cost.
Students with Pell Grants
79.1% finish in 6 years, against 86.3% of all students.
A 7.2-point gap: Pell Grant students finish less often than students overall.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Blacksburg.
Blacksburg is a town of about 45,000 built around the university, with a compact brick downtown of restaurants and music venues that students walk to rather than drive to.
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The setting is why many students pick it: the New River, the Jefferson National Forest and the Blue Ridge are all close enough for an afternoon, and a waterfall hike at the Cascades is thirty minutes out. The trade-off is isolation — Roanoke is the nearest city at 45 minutes, and Washington, DC is a four-hour drive. Campus carries the social calendar here, which suits students who want that and frustrates students who want a city.
The City
College town
Blacksburg, VA
Best For
Notable alumni
Notable Alumni
Chris Kraft
NASA's first flight director and the architect of Mission Control, who ran the room through Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.
Class of 1944
Regina Dugan
The first woman to lead DARPA, who went on to build advanced-technology groups at Google and Facebook.
Dave Calhoun
President and CEO of Boeing from 2020 to 2024, after a long run as a senior executive at General Electric and Nielsen.
Class of 1979
Homer Hickam
Author of the memoir Rocket Boys, adapted into the film October Sky, about a coal miner's son building rockets in West Virginia.
Class of 1964
Bruce Smith
The NFL's all-time career sack leader with 200, and a first-ballot inductee into both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame.
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
Traditions
Traditions
Hokie Stone
Nearly every building on campus is faced in a gray-to-pink limestone cut from the university's own quarry, and new central-campus buildings are still required to carry it.
The Corps of Cadets
Virginia Tech has kept a residential military corps since 1872, on either a military-leader track through ROTC or a civilian citizen-leader track — but joining is entirely optional and the large majority of undergraduates are not cadets.
Ut Prosim and the Pylons
The 1896 motto, Latin for "That I May Serve," is carved into the eight War Memorial pylons alongside Brotherhood, Honor, Leadership, Sacrifice, Service, Loyalty and Duty, and is used in earnest rather than as decoration.
Enter Sandman
The Metallica track has opened Hokie football entrances at Lane Stadium since 2000, with the whole stadium jumping — routinely named the loudest entrance in college football.
The Ring Dance
Since 1934, juniors have received class rings redesigned fresh for every graduating class, exchanged at a formal dance.
Weekend escapes from Blacksburg
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Blacksburg
Cascades Falls and Mountain Lake
30 minutesA four-mile hike to a 66-foot waterfall in Pembroke, with the lodge used as the Dirty Dancing filming location just up the road.
Roanoke
45 minutesThe nearest real city — a downtown market, the Taubman art museum, and the closest access to the Blue Ridge Parkway.
New River Gorge National Park, WV
2 hoursWhitewater rafting, world-class rock climbing and the bridge, in one of the country's newest national parks.
Asheville, NC
3 hours 30 minutesMountain-town breweries, the Biltmore Estate and the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Washington, DC
4 hoursA long haul up I-81, but the destination for free museums and the internship circuit many Hokie engineers end up on.
Getting there and game days
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport (ROA)
45 minutes from campus
For international flights: Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) — about 2 hours 45 minutes by car.
Pro sports nearby
- Salem Red Sox MiLBAbout 45 minutes away
- Carolina Panthers NFLAbout 3 hours away
- Charlotte Hornets NBAAbout 3 hours away
Internships and jobs nearby
Career Proximity
Blacksburg isn't near a metro, so the internship pipeline runs two ways: the Corporate Research Center sits on the edge of campus with roughly 180 technology companies across 40 buildings, and Virginia Tech's engineering reputation pulls recruiters from the Washington, DC defense and tech corridor four hours north. Expect to relocate for a summer more often than commute to one.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- Virginia Tech
- Torc Robotics
- Volvo Trucks New River Valley
- Moog
- Carilion Clinic
Roanoke — about 45 minutes; Washington, DC is roughly 4 hours
Who thrives here
Who Thrives Here
Virginia Tech is a big, hands-on public university — about 31,000 undergraduates, a 17-to-1 student-faculty ratio, and only a third of classes under 20 students, so this is a place where you go find professors rather than being handed small seminars. The culture is unusually service-minded for a school this size: the motto Ut Prosim, "That I May Serve," gets used in earnest, and a residential Corps of Cadets has been part of campus since 1872 — joining is optional and most students don't, but its presence sets a tone. Blacksburg is a real college town in the Blue Ridge, which suits students who want the outdoors and frustrates students who want a city. The trade-off is money: Virginia Tech meets 58.6% of demonstrated need and its graduates leave with about $34,527 in debt, both a long way behind the private universities it competes with for engineers. It graduates 86.3% of students within six years, but only 69.1% in four.