Jump-start your journey toward a master’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-Master's participants become independent researchers and leaders in their fields, we have developed a curriculum that prepares them for the academic rigors of top-ranked American university graduate programs while also helping them improve their English language skills. AdvantageVT-Master's also provides the skills students will need to succeed at a top-tier American research university.

All AdvantageVT-Master’s students are required to take advanced English for Academic Purposes classes, as well as participate in University Success Seminars (only in Levels 3 and 2). All AdvantageVT-Master’s students are required to take their English for Academic Purposes courses on the main Blacksburg Campus.

Mission

The AdvantageVT-Master’s program prepares promising international students to succeed as full-time master’s degree 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 program that supports participants as they progress from advanced English training at the Language and Culture Institute through master’s-level discipline-specific engineering, business, and science courses.
• Assist participants in becoming self-sufficient university students who are both familiar with and able to use available academic support resources
• Support participants throughout the AdvantageVT-Master’s experience by providing workshops and seminars in academic and soft skills, including leadership and intercultural competence.
• Introduce participants to U.S. culture, particularly university culture, and provide the skills they will need to succeed in both their academic and social lives.
• Facilitate academic and social activities that integrate participants into university life.