Congratulations to both of you!!! I am glad and anxious at the same time as I am still waiting, however I can help you guys with some questions that you may have about Blacksburg. While I do not live there, I live in Roanoke which is about 25 minutes away and have spent a decent amount of time in Blacksburg due to friends attending Radford University and Virginia Tech. As far as housing goes, I would start immediately looking for apartments or houses for rent because Blacksburg is a very busy college town. I cannot stress the latter, because Virginia Tech and Radford University alone have almost 40,000 students attending. I did not include other colleges near Blacksburg like the New River Community College as well. Needless to say, I don't want to create panic or scare anyone, however start looking for housing now because the program starts in July. Also, keep in mind that both Radford University and Virginia Tech both have a reputation for being party schools, at least in my circle of friends. I have personally attended a few parties myself over the years and the one at Virginia Tech was at an apartment complex. With that said, it is very fun and a very nice place to meet new people if you are extroverted and social and what not but I presume most of you will want a place that is very peaceful and quiet. I would choose wisely! While this was not in Blacksburg, I would not want any of you experiencing what my friend went through recently. He ended up sharing a house with two other people and lived in the basement of the house (my friend is your typical nerd who will spend most of his weekends studying). His roommates ended up partying almost every weekend and had random people over to the point where my friend would sometimes spend the night at my house in order to study in peace and quiet. Furthermore, I have a friend who attended the same undergraduate program with me and is currently finishing up the VCOM post baccalaureate program. I keep in touch with her and have talked with her over various topics like financial aid and her experience thus far with the program. From her experience, VCOM is a very nice school with friendly teachers and administrators who are willing to help! She stated that the first semester was hard for her because she did not know what to expect, however she still performed exceptionally and is doing extremely well this semester. I got the impression that the two most challenging classes of the first semester for her were Biochemistry and Neuroscience, however I don't think the remaining classes were cakewalk either. Lastly, my impressions from her experience is that VCOM is a great school and that this program will require a lot of studying for the most part. However, the latter will vary with each individual and is dependent on many different factors. I hope that my input has helped some of you and let me know if you have any questions or concerns as I will try to help any fellow student out to the best of my ability!
Once again, Congratulations and hope to see all of you soon!