New Students Guide
Congratulations on your acceptance to Virginia Tech! We look forward to welcoming you to our community. This webpage is designed to provide you with a brief introduction to graduate life at Virginia Tech in the D.C. metro area.
Online resources
Graduate Students are strongly encouraged to review all the resources available at Virginia Tech, online on the Hokie One Stop webpage. This page includes information on onboarding and academic services, student services and community engagement, learning support and professional development, parking, and housing.
New graduate student orientation
All new graduate students are strongly encouraged to attend New Graduate Student Orientation. Orientation will include information to help you get started at Virginia Tech as a new graduate student and allow you to meet faculty and staff from across the university who can assist in your graduate school journey.
Online Orientation**
Thursday, August 20th at 6:00pm via Zoom webinar
**This session is specifically designed for students in fully online programs. Students who will be attending classes in-person should attend the in-person Orientation listed below.**
In-person Orientation
Saturday, August 22nd from 8:30am until noon
Location: Academic Building One, 3625 Potomac Ave., Alexandria, VA
Please contact the Graduate School at DCgradschool@vt.edu with any questions.
New graduate students are strongly encouraged to attend New Graduate Student Orientation. Orientation will include information to help you get started at Virginia Tech as a new graduate student and allow you to meet faculty and staff from across the university who can assist in your graduate school journey.
Save the date for spring orientation:
Online Orientation: Thursday, January 14, 2027 via Zoom.
Greater Washington, D.C., area in-person students: Saturday, January 16, 2027 at Academic Building One in Alexandria, VA.
Additional information and schedule will be sent directly to new students in December. Please contact the Graduate School at DCgradschool@vt.edu with any questions.
Hokie One Stop
The Hokie One Stop serves as a multi-model servicing arm of Virginia Tech to promote academic success, provide convenient and centralized access to student business related services, enhance the student experience, and support learning and professional development for students in the greater Washington, D.C., area. Information about student housing in the D.C. area can be found on the Hokie One Stop website.
Getting started as a new student
- Create your Personal Identifier (PID). A PID will give you access to Virginia Tech online services such as:
- HokieSPA (Course registration and student records management system)
- Canvas (Course management and communication system)
- OneCampus (The university's portal system)
- University library databases
- Contact your academic department for information about advising, funding, class registration, and orientation requirements. Program advisors for each department are listed at the bottom of this page.
- Register for classes and pay tuition on Hokie SPA.
- Keep track of important academic deadlines (exams, commencement, thesis or dissertation).
- Login to OneCampus to setup your email, network, and 2-factor accounts.
- Order your textbooks from the Online Bookstore.
International Students please also see the Orientation & Arrival page.
More information for new students can be found on the Graduate School website.
The Hokie One Stop (2nd floor of AB1) handles the processing of Hokie Passports. Students have to be currently enrolled and in our database for us to make the ID.
Please bring photo identification. We will take your photo and print the ID while you wait.
The Graduate School - D.C. area serves as a coordinating and governing body to all the Virginia Tech graduate programs and their students. Some of the services they provide include:
- Processing of all Graduate Student Forms
- Updates to your Student Record
- Student Advising Appointments
The greater Washington, D.C., area Graduate Student Assembly seeks to nurture graduate student community across departments by providing social events that foster inter-department, interdisciplinary conversation. The representatives liaise with the VT-GPSS (Graduate and Professional Student Senate) in Blacksburg to improve scholarly development and graduate community by creating and implementing goals based on the issues and concerns of graduate students across the university.