Knoxville (WVLT) - Many students at the University of Tennessee are going through mixed emotions.

For most, the reality hasn't set in yet that more than two dozen people from Virginia Tech are dead.

Many UT students say they now find themselves asking what if this deadly shooting happened here?

Some say they can't imagine how they would cope with such a loss.
Others say what happened at Virginia Tech could just as easily happen here at UT.

"It makes me feel bad for Virginia Tech for sure, but I'm just really hoping that nothing like that would ever happen here," says Gabby Selenza, UT freshman.

"I don't know that being on a college campus makes any difference. This could happen anywhere, and it's a dangerous world that we live in," UT professor Jim Stovall says.

"It's definitely in the back of your head. I mean, you don't walk around and lament about it every minute of every day, but every once in awhile, you sit in the back of a classroom and look around and think this is where it happens," says junior Matt Hundley.

"There's no real preventative way to stop it from happening because there's always a will where there's a way," adds freshman Will Penfold.

Many students say they have been praying for those over at Virginia Tech. They say they can not imagine coping with such a loss and will do anything they can to help.