Have to tip my hat to the people who had the foresight to coordinate & build the Virginia Community College System. Before that, all were separate 2-year schools, and most didn't offer common courses. They sort of did, but there was no standard across the 2-year schools. They eventually set common standards for courses that would transfer to any Virginia University. Now some odd classes, like welding or basket making wouldn't transfer, but all of the basic classes would.

My recommendation for anyone who wanted to go to VT, but their grades weren't quite good enough to be accepted, is to go do a hard, physical manual labor job for a year or two. That will (a) make you a little more mature to want to work harder in school, and (b) show you your options if you don't get your degree. Take that motivation to your local community college, and kick the crap out of every class. Graduate with a 4.0 GPA and transfer to VT, UVA, W&M, etc.

When I was a freshman, I was already tired of being in school, and really wanted a break. Because of that, I didn't put as much into my education as I should have...I just did enough to get by. Eventually I got back into the swing of things and was making good grades as an upper classman. But I look back and wonder what I would have done if I had followed my 20-20 hindsight above... Dean's list every quarter? Probably close to it...