 15 university episodes and I've never had one day of bad weather. I think today might be the first day I'm not going anywhere right now I'm I'm getting wet The Chick-fil-A is always the most popular spot, isn't it? Yeah I've been to so many campuses now anytime. There's a Chick-fil-A. It's the number one destination on campus West Virginia University is located in Morgantown, West Virginia, and we're in the country people I mean we're up in the mountains. This is the Appalachia mountain range So everywhere you go, you're basically always on a hill. You're always kind of at an angle If you love nature, this is a university you absolutely have to check out. I mean just look around you There's more green than there is concrete. There's forests rivers, you know It's just nothing but nature around here So if that's the kind of environment that you're looking for I think you're gonna love West Virginia University Gary was nice enough to drive me all the way to the downtown campus so that I could start checking things out and I'm glad he did because honestly getting around here is a little bit difficult as you can see I'm already running across the street There's a lot of traffic here in Morgantown because it's a hilly city with lots of twists and turns It's not very easy for you to drive a car around here Which is why the university has invested in a public transportation system called the PRT Way better than this. We're gonna talk to Gary LaRuda about some of the different programs and what you can do to become a mountaineer My name is Gary LaRuda. I'm an international admissions counselor here for West Virginia University So we are located right now at Woodburn Circle home of Woodburn Hall One of our most historic and iconic buildings our visitors and our students also find themselves trying to come here Just to take that picture that poster picture basically majors WBU offers 355 different majors programs that tend to be more popular among international students engineering Mechanical engineering aerospace mining due to the prestige and the resources that we have here for those particular programs When it comes to engineering at West Virginia University What I think of is what I think most people think of with this state, which is energy coal gas petroleum This is a state that is long known for its history with mining coal and generating electricity And so the university is no different and while you might think that like you know coal is kind of old-fashioned There's a lot of research here going on into making it cleaner and more sustainable because Developing nations are going to continue to rely on fossil fuels for their growth And so we can either help them do it cleanly or we can continue to destroy the planet So there are a ton of great programs here for anything like related to mining and engineering or energy production and engineering If you've got an interest in mining and specifically you're gonna be right at home here Morgantown because of the geography with the mountains It's not exactly easy to just put row after row after row of university building So they've split the campus up into a few different mini campuses This is actually the first university that I've been to that has its own public transportation system Like they have these little cars that ride on these rails and I want to show you what it looks like Now the engineering programs here are great But there's one program in particular that West Virginia University is extremely proud of that's their forensic sciences program If you're interested in getting into the field of forensics You probably can't find a better place on earth because the FBI teamed up with WVU It is a one-of-a-kind crime lab center where you get hands-on experience in person With cases that simulate what you're gonna do on the job There's the rain because we can start heading this way though It is pouring rain right now as you can see and it's also pouring scholarships at West Virginia University Now this is a public institution Which means that international students cannot get need-based financial aid and most people you said it man Yeah, it's coming down hard I had to get out of here with this thing. Yeah, dude Yeah So since there's no need-based financial aid for international students The university has created a few amazing scholarships specifically for the international community to help you find a way to pay for this Excellent education Gary's office actually has two scholarships that they're offering to international students And I'm gonna let him tell you more about those and how much they're worth one is our merit-based office of global affairs Scholarship you would have to go through an application process for this one up to $8,000 a year We actually have also created an scholarship for Students through the you are welcome here program here at WVU. Our one is for $15,000 a year We offer institutional scholarships as soon as we have your GPA and we immediately start assessing you for scholarships institutional scholarships for up to $16,000 if you don't take the SAT up to $12,000 a year in the scholarships Now WVU as a whole may offer you an institutional scholarship And then the program that you apply to might also be able to consider you for additional scholarships earlier You start the application process the earlier. You can be admitted the earlier You can be considered for these additional scholarships if you apply too late those resources might have been exhausted by then So very important to apply early when you add those scholarships to the merit-based scholarships that you can get here You could get full tuition covered by the university and then all you got to do is pay your living expenses Which makes West Virginia University one of the most affordable options for international students in the United States? I'm getting wet just sitting here I've been getting a lot of very friendly vibes from everybody here Like people here just seem to be looking to have a good time and have fun People are telling me about all the student organizations that they join and it just seems like a really fun place to be This is a town that has a bit of a reputation for being a party town and you can kind of see why I mean it's West Virginia it's wild and wonderful and People live up to that. WVU right now has over 470 different student organizations. There is a Latin American student organization There's an African students organization like Cross Club for example or a soccer club indoor soccer club The weather is also wild and wonderful man This has actually never happened to me before I've never been rained out on a shooting day But first time for everything, right? I was about to start walking back to my car Don't know if that's happening Yeah, good luck out there man One hour later So if you're interested in the scholarships you like the programs here and you want to become a Mountaineer Here's what you got to do. If you may have any questions for me or my office again My name is Gary LaRuda. You can contact me at my email, which can be We can always coordinate a zoom meeting with students parents or counselors to answer your questions in more detail It has been an awesome day at West Virginia University I want to give a big shout out to Gary LaRuda for showing me around Taking me downtown today and just making it really easy for me to get to know this university Honestly, if you're looking for a university that's not in a big urban environment a place where you can go outdoors and enjoy nature And one that has really high-end programs and modern facilities at an incredibly good price West Virginia University is a place you should consider and I honestly had no idea that I would say that by the end of this video But genuinely speaking completely changed my perceptions of West Virginia and the state. I love me some Morgantown I love me some WVU and now it's raining on me again, and I need to get out of here Thank you all for watching and I'll see you next week