Quote Originally Posted by Stech View Post
Since being in the ACC VT has seen their grads income, SATs and GPAs go up...what major you pick misses two things. One is picking your major is irrelevant to what conference you are in since you can do that no matter what conference your school is a part of. Second there are plenty of Hospitality and Hospitality like grads that make more than many accounting majors. It is more important you find something you are passionate about doing for a living and pursue that to get to the top of income world...if that is how you define success. I have had the good fortune of knowing some of these people...and all of them will say that is the most important reason they were way more successful than most. It is the passion they brought to their profession. In other words, they just love doing their profession and the money and success followed.

The bottom line though is the ACC academic brand carries weight when trying to get the best students and ultimately the most successful graduates. The numbers speak for themselves since we have joined the ACC. If things fall apart in the ACC we will be fine, but being in the ACC does have an association that is not as good but is similar to going to an Ivy league school.
Makes some sense, but I wonder exactly how much of that is the ACC affiliation. Are there any good sources out there on this? What were the trends prior to ACC admission? Were they increasing then? Could other forces, say increased exposure to the 'brand' due to football success, have played a part in increasing number of applicants, thereby allowing for higher standards?

Going by my personal experience, I never considered the conference membership when I chose a school, if I did I would have gone to NC state or Clemson instead of VT. I was much more focused on what VT brought to the game in the form of curricula and academic rigor.