Earn university credit while improving your English

Jump-start your journey toward a bachelor’s degree at Virginia Tech!

Virginia Tech’s AdvantageVT (AVT) programs for undergraduate and graduate international students combine intensive academic skills training and language training with credit-bearing coursework.

Program description

In order to help AdvantageVT participants become self-sufficient, responsible university students, we have developed a curriculum that prepares them for the academic rigors of a top-ranked American university while also helping them improve their English language skills. The program also provides the skills students will need to succeed in both their academic and social lives.

AdvantageVT combines advanced English language training (English for Academic Purposes) with Virginia Tech undergraduate credit-bearing courses. Completed Virginia Tech credit-bearing courses count toward the undergraduate degree curricular requirements. The program is one to three semesters in duration, depending on a student’s English language proficiency upon entry.

Level 3 placement

For students placed at Level 3, English for Academic Purposes 300 and University Success Seminar make up the first semester of AdvantageVT. Two credit-bearing courses pertinent to students’ intended majors are introduced in the second semester. Students will also take English for Academic Purposes 400 and part two of the University Success Seminar during the second term. In their third semester, students placed at Level 3 will take three credit-bearing courses and English for Academic Purposes 500.

Level 2 placement

Students placed at Level 2 begin taking credit courses relevant to their pathway (engineering, science or business) in their first semester. Two credit courses make up half of their first semester program, with English for Academic Purposes 400 and the University Success Seminar making up the balance. In their second semester, Level 2 students will take three credit courses plus English for Academic Purposes 500.

Level 1 placement

Students who place at Level 1 will have one semester in the pathway program. Over the course of this term, they will take two credit courses, English for Academic Purposes 500 and the University Success Seminar.

AdvantageVT students can choose from pathways to degrees in three of Virginia Tech’s renowned colleges: Business, Engineering, and Science.

Each pathway includes courses that will prepare you for your chosen degree. Whichever path you choose, you will find continuous support throughout the program to help ensure your success.

Mission statement

AdvantageVT prepares promising international students to succeed as full-time undergraduate students at Virginia Tech. This is accomplished by helping them advance their English language and academic skills, fostering their successful integration into the Virginia Tech and local communities, and developing their intercultural competence to become exceptional citizens in the spirit of Ut Prosim (That I May Serve).

Goals

• Provide a rigorous, intensive preparatory year program that supports participants as they progress from advanced English training at the Language and Culture Institute through university freshman-level English, mathematics, and discipline-specific engineering, business, and science courses.
• Assist participants in becoming self-sufficient, responsible university students familiar with the academic support resources available to them and how/when to engage them.