Mission and Goals

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.
• Support participants throughout the pathway experience by providing workshops and seminars in academic and soft skills, including leadership and intercultural competence.
• Introduce participants to American culture, particularly university culture, and provide the skills they will need to succeed in both their academic and social lives.
• Facilitate activities which help to integrate participants into the university, such as matching them with undergraduate mentors and arranging introductory visits to classes in their chosen disciplines.