While I did apply to University of Georgia, Georgia Tech is basically the “safety school” I am using right now.
Caltech, and MIT are my dream schools which I applied to early. I am also applying to Carnegie Mellon and Cornell.
I know that Georgia Tech isn’t an easy school, but statistically I think I can use it as a safety?
I really like Georgia Tech, so I’m not applying to any safety schools out of state. Should I not assume I will be accepted to GTech and apply to safeties out of state?
In-State Georgia
2310 SAT score (800 Math, 800 Writing, 710 Reading) (took once)
Ranked between the top 5% and 10% of high school class (About 75% of grades were As, 25% Bs)
800 on Chemistry and Math 2, 680 on French
Female, Half-white/Half-indian
Filled up all ten activities on common app (mostly math/research-related)
Siemens Semifinalist in a previous year, AIME Qualifier, 2nd place at state science fair, National Merit
Submitted letter of rec from math teacher
I was pretty busy in the last few years so I took 10 AP classes but only 2 AP tests (Calc BC, 5 and Physics C, 4). I hope this doesn’t raise any red flags (I didn’t take the AP English/History/French/Biology tests).
I applied as a computer engineering major.
In the essay, I talked about what inspired me to learn computer programming.
GT is probably nearly as competitive as the others if you have engineering or computer science in mind. English, not so much. Choose a different school as a safety, Georgia is not one for you. It is a top notch highly competitive school.
Your chances would be marginally better. The school is still tough - UGA would be more of a safety. What is your GPA? With 25% B’s that would put you at a 3.75 UW - making it more difficult for GT to be a safety
my weighted GPA is a 4.69 and my unweighted is a 3.78 (padded with electives). I’m in the top ten percent of my class because pretty much all my classes have been AP or honors. I took AP Calc BC my sophomore year, and the hardest curriculum offered at my school.
Hard to say what your chances are with the info you’ve provided. Your numbers are certainly good and fall above the average of the class admitted this past year. But, there are so many variables. My daughter is a first year at GT and she had similar stats to yours - though 14 AP classes AND 14 AP exams (National AP Scholar) and more diverse ECs. She is also instate and attended a very competitive high school. But, I personally know several of her (female) classmates with very similar numbers that did not get in this past year. Competition is very tough among Georgia students because so many very strong Georgia students apply. You really can’t consider GT to be a safety school. But, good luck!
Georgia Tech is not a safety school for you. Your test scores are strong, but your grades are not stellar. Most students admitted to Tech in recent history received very close to all A’s in high school. You note that you got 25% B’s and I’m assuming that means the majority of your more challenging classes are B’s, which doesn’t look great. Your ECs are solid, but I don’t see anything that would really wow admissions (i.e. strong leadership, starting something new, making a significant impact in the community, etc…) You also say you filled up all 10 of the EC boxes on the common app, but how involved could you really have been in ten different activities? Georgia Tech is a match for you. You are competitive but should plan for other options as well. You will almost certainly get in to UGA, but all of your other schools are matches or reaches.
I don’t think GT can be considered a safety by any student. I’m pretty sure they plan to accept a smaller class this year as last year’s was the biggest from what I have read so expect the acceptance rate to once again decline this year. Also they don’t base admissions on major. The other thing is it depends how you stack up against the other students at your high school in GA applying to Tech and look at how many students they generally accept from your school. Dual enrollment GT Calculus gives students a leg up in admissions from what I have noticed.
What is your GPA when you only take into account only math,science,lang,english & social studies? Is your weighted GPA so much higher because your school adds weighting to both AP and Honors classes? Both GT and UGA are only going to look at your core classes. 25% B’s doesn’t sound like a safety for GT unless you got the B’s in non-academic classes. While National merit could make the difference I don’t think you can count on either college as a safety.
Georgia has its own weighting system – core courses only and no extra weight for honors (but 1 point for each AP). I’m pretty sure that Ga. Tech. doesn’t follow that system, but they’ll still only look at core courses.
I’m shocked at the other comments. Georgia resident, female, 1510, 4.68 weighted GPA, 10 APs - it’s a safety. When my son graduated in 2014 from a high performing high school in north metro Atlanta, we had a female student admitted to Tech with less than a 4.0 weighted GPA.
Panthergirl, the responses should not be shocking. The average admit last year had a 1460 SAT, 9-10 AP classes, and made close to all As. The 75th percentile (which is generally a good gauge for a school being a safety) was a 1560 SAT score with 12 AP classes. Based on that data alone, the OP would have fallen around the median of the admitted class last year.
The OP has slightly above average scores and a slightly below average grades, especially once you consider that her 25% of Bs likely came in AP courses. Tech will not consider the non-core classes that the OP noted are padding her high school calculated GPA. Also note that weighted GPAs are not particularly useful since every school has a different system, which is why posters often ask for the unweighted average. The OP is competitive and reasonably likely to gain admission, which is why Tech is a match for her. However, it is not a safety school.
You’ll be fine getting into Tech as an in-state (that will help a lot).
I think a lot of the people saying it’s too risky don’t realize the disparity in admissions stats for IS and OOS applicants. No student from my school (IS) has been denied from Tech with a 2000+ SAT / 30 ACT, and that’s for 20 people over the past 5-6 years.
@Hermit9
That is true. GT is hard to get into if you are OOS but if you are IS, then yes. You probably can consider GT as your safety school with that kind of SAT score AND intending to major in non-competitive major. .
