Here are some tips for selecting schools, based on an analysis comparing each school to all others across dozens of factors:
Schools Concentrating On Network And Systems Administrators
- Focus: For schools with a focus on this career area, look at Northern Virginia Community College, Centura College, James Madison, and Christopher Newport University.
Fastest Response From Schools
- Request Info: For the fastest information for prospective students, look at the Spotlight schools on this page.
Student Body
- Part-Time: For schools emphasizing part-time studies, consider James Madison, Bluefield, Virginia State, and Old Dominion University.
- Female: For schools particularly welcoming to female students, consider Mary Baldwin, Centura College, and Centura College.
- Diverse: For a diverse student body, consider Virginia State, Hampton, Ferrum, and George Mason.
- Adult Learners: For lots of adult learners, consider Bluefield, Shenandoah University, Northern Virginia Community College, and George Mason.
School Setting
- Out of State: For geographic diversity, take note of Centura College, University of Richmond, Hampton, and Roanoke College.
- Dorms: For a residential campus environment, take note of Ferrum, Bridgewater, Roanoke College, and Virginia Union University.
Excellence
- SAT: For students with high SAT scores, look at University of Virginia, University of Richmond, Virginia Tech, and Christopher Newport University.
- % Accepted: For selective institutions, look at University of Virginia, University of Richmond, and Bluefield.
- Class Size: For small class sizes, look at University of Richmond, Roanoke College, Virginia Union University, and Bridgewater.
Spotlight Schools Search
Spotlight Virginia Schools Related to This Career
- Locations: Arlington, Chesapeake, Manassas
- Programs: 6 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate, Bachelor
- Locations: Alexandria, Arlington, Ashburn, Chesapeake, Fredericksburg, Glen Allen, Manassas, Midlothian, Newport News, Virginia Beach, Woodbridge
- Programs: 19 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate, Bachelor, Certificate, Diploma, Master, Post- Bachelor's Certificate
- Locations: Arlington, Fairfax, Manassas, Reston
- Programs: 6 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Bachelor, Master
- Locations: Chantilly, Norfolk, Richmond, Salem, Springfield
- Programs: 19 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate, Bachelor
DeVry University's Keller Graduate School of Management
- Locations: Arlington, Chesapeake, Manassas
- Programs: 3 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Master, Post- Bachelor's Certificate
- Locations: Arlington
- Programs: One relevant program; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Doctorate, Master
- Locations: Chesapeake
- Programs: 2 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate
See these schools on a map
Study from Anywhere at Online Schools Related to This Career
- Programs: 7 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate, Bachelor
- Programs: 7 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate, Bachelor
- Programs: One relevant program; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate
- Programs: 18 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Bachelor, Doctorate, Master
- Programs: 8 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate, Bachelor, Master
- Programs: One relevant program; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Bachelor
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
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GMU • Fairfax, VA
Studying Information Technology (completion in 2010)
• 6/26/2011
"Again, GMU is pretty good. I hear other places are much worse."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | I don't know. I'd recommend whichever school teaches IT closest to them, it probably doesn't matter much where they go. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | GMU isn't particularly known for IT. It's known more for economics. |
| Program Quality | 5 | Some courses were taught well. Others were not. |
| Instruction | 5 | Some courses were taught well. Others were not. |
| How Difficult | 4 | The degree is fairly technical. At least it's not Computer Science. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Yeah, it's a good mix of hands on and book learning. I wish it had been more hands on, but theory is important too. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 8 | The school's schedule flexibility is pretty good. I hear at some places it's much worse. |
| Academic Facilities | 4 | Staff tend to be helpful, but the electronic resources are extremely faulty and disorganized. |
| Social Life | 10 | GMU students are very sociable. It's easy to make friends here. |
| Placement Services | 5 | I don't know. I haven't used it much. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | I don't know. I haven't used the alumni network much. |
Radford University • Radford, VA
Studying Computer Science (completion in 2010)
• 7/24/2011
"I was satisfied with the results and experience that I received at RU. I also graduated on schedule and landed a job at graduation."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | Yes, I would recommend a friend to attend RU if they were in the area and wanted to pursue a degree in CS. I would recommend RU because of the overall excellent experience that I received at RU. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | I would say that the CS program at RU is about average. This is because RU is not that well know outside of the state of Virginia. |
| Program Quality | 9 | Overall, the program was great and I got a lot of hands on experience. However, it would have been a little better had the lab equipment been a little more up-to-date. |
| Instruction | 10 | All of the professors were very helpful and willing to help you. Course material and textbooks were well chosen for the courses that I took at Radford University. |
| How Difficult | 8 | The work load for any IT course, I believe, is a little more than average. For most of the courses, I would say that the academic challenge was about average. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | This is a mix because some professors provided primarily book learning-based instruction, while others were more hands-on. Most of the IT courses were hands-on. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 10 | Most of the classes at RU have multiple sessions, meaning that if taking a class in the morning doesn't work, there is probably a evening or night session for that particular class. RU has classes throughout the year. |
| Academic Facilities | 10 | RU has a huge library with a lot of print material, as well as digital material, both online and offline. There are also many computer labs. Unfortunately, none of the computer labs are open 24 hours/day. |
| Social Life | 10 | Although the school doesn't have a football team, there are still a lot of athletic events that go on at RU. RU tries very hard to organize events for everyone. |
| Placement Services | 10 | RU has several methods to help graduates find careers. They have a dedicated staff to help students write resumes and cover letters as well as work on interview skills. RU also has a website that allows students to view and apply for job openings in the area. |
| Alumni Network | 10 | RU has a website dedicated to alumni. This site is to provide the university with updated contact information and career status updates. |
City University • Arlington, VA
Studying Business Systems Analysis And Design (completion in 1995)
• 9/3/2011
"I'm satisfied in the sense that it has prepared me for a solid career in IT. It could have been better in terms of facilities, more hands on learning, and so on."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | Not having had the experience of going to other schools means I'm unable to make a judgement based on my experience. I only know what others have said about their schools. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | Our school has a better reputation for commercial courses such as MBAs and so on. Technical courses are a rather mixed bag. |
| Program Quality | 6 | It wasn't really up to date with the technical skills that were needed in the work environment. In fact, after graduation I had to undertake more practical training at my own cost in order to land my first proper IT job. |
| Instruction | 6 | An example of being out of date: Java programming was one of the options! It should have been mandatory to have some technical skills. Also, it focused too much on theory, such as object orientation and so on, and not enough on actual coding such as Integrated Development Environments and software engineering. |
| How Difficult | 7 | Because it was more theory based it seemed to be hard going at times. Some of the concepts were difficult to understand on their own, but when seen in actual applications they were much easier to understand. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Not enough hands on work, I feel. Too much theory and not enough practice. This, I have already mentioned, was something I found that needed improvement. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 7 | I had the option to do the same course on a part time and evening basis. The flexibility was there if I needed it. |
| Academic Facilities | 5 | Not great, I'm afraid. They need to invest in facilities and equipment. I hear some of my peers in other schools were offered free iPads on enrollment. That would be nice! |
| Social Life | 6 | It was okay. Quite an international mix of people, too. Good mix of people from all sorts of socioeconomic backgrounds as well. |
| Placement Services | 7 | We have a good careers and placement unit at the school which as helped previous graduates. I think it's still very much down to the graduates themselves though, and most of us demonstrate good initiative when it comes to job searching. |
| Alumni Network | 7 | Our school continuously has very high rates of employment for its graduates. It hasn't done much to the school's ranking, though. |
University Of Virginia • Charlottesville, VA
Studying Computer Networking (completion in 2008)
• 9/29/2011
"Loved it, although very preppy and school oriented. Although if you wear Sperry's and Polos, you'll fit in."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | Trust me, if you do not learn anything at this school, you are not going to class. Every 6 hour week I learned a bounty of knowledge. |
| Program Reputation | 6 | They are mostly known for Law and Business, although networking is the hidden gem at UVA. |
| Program Quality | 10 | UVA is a very prestigious school - a top 10 public school in America. They also have a separate building dedicated to Networking. |
| Instruction | 9 | I learned most of what I needed to in my first three years at UVA. The last two were just the icing on the cake. |
| How Difficult | 8 | It's very hard if you have no prior experience with computers. I had been using them since I was 5 so it came naturally to me. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Very book learning oriented. We rarely did hands on work. This is because we mainly learned networking out of our handbook. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 8 | Classes are pretty hard to get into if you apply late. But you could basically pick your own hours when you wanted to go to class. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | Brand new building along with state of the art technology. Professors were a little hard to get in touch with because of class size, but that's college for ya! |
| Social Life | 9 | A lot of greek life, with football a top priority in sports. Parties were crazy with a full blown kegger every weekend. |
| Placement Services | 10 | As soon as a manager sees a Top 10 Public University on a resume, he will be astonished. I got a job after one interview at Cisco. |
| Alumni Network | 10 | The alumni has donated millions to the department over the last year. Fully supported with brand new dual core computers. |
Old Dominion University • Norfolk, VA
Studying Business Administration (Specialization In IT) (completion in 2003)
• 12/1/2011
"I was very satisfied with my time at ODU. The one thing that I really would have changed was to get better descriptions of the classes ahead of time. If I had more information on the classes I needed, I would have better known how to test out of them or use real-work experience to become exempt."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I would say yes, because the instruction is provided by professionals of the industry. The BA classes are taught by professors, but they are a necessary background to truly excel in the professional IT workplace. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | ODU is known for being strong in Engineering and Physical Science. The BA program is available, but it's not a strong "business" school. |
| Program Quality | 5 | I felt the program was very average; the business classes were on par with what I expected. The IT-related classes were taught by professionals in the field instead of professors, which was nice, but still reflected the material of a standard certification course. |
| Instruction | 8 | The quality of the information was very good -- I'll admit to being mostly a student in absentia, though. I was employed full time while "attending" classes and used my existing knowledgebase to test my way through college. |
| How Difficult | 7 | The classes were not overly difficult, though not for lack of trying, based on the material being taught. I felt that the instructors played a strong part in making sure that the students who needed assistance were able to get it outside of the classroom, to not bog down the rest of the class. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | The business classes were fairly book-heavy. The IT classes (and especially the CS classes) required a lot of "lab" work and assignments that involved uploading completed work assignments, rather than turning in papers. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 10 | The class structure was extremely flexible, in order to accommodate full-time workers. ODU was also one of the first to offer distance learning via televised classes and full online-only instruction. |
| Academic Facilities | 10 | The ODU library and wide availability of computer labs were immensely useful during my time there. I never had a problem getting a meeting with a professor or faculty member if I needed one. |
| Social Life | 5 | Living in the area, I treated ODU as a commuter school experience. I was not involved in the school socially. |
| Placement Services | I did not require the services at my school. I also did not speak or work alongside anyone who used the job placement/career planning services. | |
| Alumni Network | 8 | The alumni program is very strong at ODU. It's nowhere near a Harvard or Yale by any means, but with a lot of graduates in the Hampton Roads area, it can be indispensable when looking to get employment in the area, especially when looking for a defense contractor (thanks to the strong Navy presence here). |
Virginia Tech • Blacksburg, VA
Studying Business Information Technology (completion in 2008)
• 11/30/2011
"I am pretty satisfied going to VT. It was tough overall, and being more mature helped me get through it. I observed many immature students there, but that is the nature of college."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | VT is great for those who want a balanced, challenging, and rigorous academic experience. It is not for those who simply want to learn a skill and get a job. |
| Program Reputation | 8 | Virginia Tech is the best university in the state of Virginia. It is essentially the MIT of Virginia. BIT is a very popular program, as most companies in the DC area hire Virginia Tech graduates. |
| Program Quality | 7 | BIT is a great business and technical program. I learned a lot of the basics for managing IT, and steps into graduate school IT programs. |
| Instruction | 8 | BIT is very hard to teach and the professors did a great job teaching it to us. Most of it is more from the perspective of a manager, and not systems administration. But it covers a lot of concepts to help you understand networks. |
| How Difficult | 9 | I spent many hours studying. I think the program is very challenging and is not for the fainthearted. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | BIT is hard to teach, period. We did a lot of hands-on and book learning. Not to mention the studying after classes. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 7 | I was able to take the classes I needed. I was not able to take the course load I originally wanted. |
| Academic Facilities | 7 | There were teaching assistants and tutoring for certain classes. When I was an upperclassman in BIT, there were limited resources outside the classroom. |
| Social Life | 7 | I was not very social at VT, as I spent a lot of time studying. I did some sports and went to all the football games and some basketball games. I was pursuing a tough program. |
| Placement Services | 9 | I received my first job offer from the career services system, Hokies for Hire. After being hired, I received no support, but I was able to navigate my career without difficulty. |
| Alumni Network | 8 | After graduation, there has been little support from the alumni, aside from networks. Although they exist, there have not been many opportunities developed from networking with alumni. |
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