Acceptance Rates

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgia Institute of Technology
1

<p>This isn't really a question, more of an observation and inquiry.</p>

<p>I'm a senior at a competitive public high school in California and I've been doing a lot of college research lately. After learning everything about every Cali college like the back of my hand and was encouraged by my school guidance counselor to start looking OOS.</p>

<p>And after getting an email from them, I was surprised to find out the for a school with such a high reputation, Georgia Tech has a surprisingly reasonable acceptance rate (50-60%)</p>

<p>This is really good for kids like me, who went to a competitive high school, didn't get all the classes I wanted and didn't do as well as I would have liked to, but ultimately want to do well in the future, but I was simply curious; is there a reason GT's acceptance rate is so low for such a reputable school?</p>

<p>Again, I'm not putting the school down, I'm from California and I know about it. But I was just curious I guess.</p>

<p>Any thoughts?</p>

2

<p>You have to look at more than just admissions percentages. Private schools have higher yields. Your safety is usually your state’s flagship.</p>

<p>If you’re a Georgia resident and competitive for MIT, you’re most likely still going to apply to Tech. You probably won’t be applying for Purdue (or something) as a safety when you can save a small fortune AND go to a better school.</p>

<p>Simply put, you might get admitted to Cornell and rejected from GT despite the difference in admit rates.</p>

3

<p>The size of the freshmen class has grown lately, making it harder to get more selective. However, it’s gotten much more competitive in-state. The credentials of the average student overall at GT have risen significantly in the last 5 years as more emphasis was placed on grades and curriculum. You’re in a good position.</p>

4

<p>There is a simple way to put it. Tech is a mostly engineering school. And it is mostly only known in the engineering community. And usually only people interested in engineering apply. These people who apply know the rigor of Tech and the high standards it expects of its applicants. Therefore, usually only the people who think they will get in actually apply. Whereas at a place like Harvard, everyone applies so they have the opportunity to reject more people and have a lower acceptance rate. People who apply to tech know what theyre getting into so they’ll have a better chance of getting in. Point and case, its just as hard to get into Tech as it is for Berkeley for example</p>

5

<p>Its a matter of self-selection. Forget your competitive california school (Monta Vista ? Gunn ? Lynbrook ? ) but look at average high school in Podunk, CA. Now think how many will apply for engineering vs non-engineering. I can bet that less than 10% will apply and these students are most likely to be qualified based on their GPA, course rigor, SAT, APs, etc. So, dont think you think that atleast 1/2 of the 10% will eventually get accepted in top tech colleges ?</p>

<p>I don’t understand why people give so much importance to acceptance rates. If the acceptance rate is low, all it means that lot more students “think” that they deserve to be admitted to that college vs “reality” admittance. Just because, say generic college XYZ has a lower acceptance rate vs tech college ABC has higher acceptance rate, college XYZ is not necessarily BETTER in the field of tech.</p>

<p>Look at the latest USNR ranking of tech colleges. Gatech is #5 in the US. UCB is #4 and UIUC is #6. IMHO, just a difference of 1-2 points is irrelevant. But the list should be used to compare say a rank 5 vs rank 20 college. The rank 20 may be highly selective in acceptance, but for tech, it is definitely ranked way behind.</p>

<p>So dont look at the college just based on selectivity and acceptance rate. If you want to do engineering, you can beat Gatech if as an OOS.</p>

<p>We are from San Jose, CA. My son (no he didnt goto any Cupertino/Saratoga/etc. His school API is about 775 and the racial mix is <em>typical</em> californian) got admitted to Gatech this year and he decided to join there. He had choices like UDub, CaseWestern,Purdue,UIUC(compsci),BU,UCSC,UCSB,UCR, etc etc. We went to CW and Gatech and he liked Gatech overall. So far 1month and he is really happy there :)</p>

<p>P.S.: Asian Indian Male - 3.6WGPA SAT 2220 - 6 APs in 2 yrs - not too many ECs (Volunteering, Summer Work, Black Belt Karate)</p>