My son is a rising senior who is considering applying to Georgia as a history major. My son would be an out of state applicant. Can you guys honestly tell me what you think his chances for admission are?
GPA: 3.79 weighted / 3.4 unweighted
Rank: Probably top 35%
SAT: 2070 as follows 790 Critical Reading; 590 Math; and 690 Writing
SAT II World History Subject Test: 680
SAT II US History Subject Test: 740
ACT: 31 (E 34, M 27, R 31, S 31) - April 2015
ACT: 31 (E 36, M 24, R 34, S 28) - June 2015
AP World History: 5/5
AP US History: score to be released July 9
AP Human Geography: score to be released July 9
Senior year AP course load:
AP Economics
AP Environmental Science
AP English Lit
AP Psychology
AP Sociology
AP Statistics
AP US Govt.
Hook: African-American Male
EC: Track freshmen year; Basketball manager sophomore year; running cross country junior year.
Job: Working at Chick-fil-a since June 2014
Residence: Texas
Thanks in advance for any advice or input.
Hi! Just a few points of advice:
- Follow Dr. Graves Admission Blog: ugaadmissions.blogspot.com you will find lots of very helpful information.
- IGNORE HIS GPA AS CALCULATED ON HIS TRANSCRIPT! Calculate his UGA gpa. If your school does not add weight to the actual letter grade then calculate those actual grades in core academic courses adding 1pt to all the AP grades, not honors!! If your school adds weight to the actual grade on the transcipt (very few do) then do not add the 1pt for AP. Detailed information on how to do this on the blog.
- Is the score on the SAT the only available test? UGA superscores so he may have an opportunity to increase the score.
- Course Rigor is very important. From what you have posted it seems as though he will not have a problem in this area.
- The class coming in for Fall 2015 is extremely strong. If you son is somewhat competitive then I think he should go ahead and apply for early action. It certainly is nice to get that admission decision in December. If that doesn't work in his favor then he would complete the second portion of the application, essays etc. and hope for an admission in Feb or March. Those admitted in February are generally early students who have increased their stats and now meet the early admissions level (ie increased their gpa or SAT score) or regular admission people who meet the early average. The balance of admission in March are looked at on a more holistic view.
My daughter is an incoming freshman from OOS. I am very curious to know the number of OOS freshman this year, it seems that people from around the country have found UGA and are applying more.
Hope this helps!
Thanks @3anddone for the very detailed info and tips. I thought I read somewhere that due to the generous in-state merit scholarships, Georgians make-up over 80% of UGA’s student body. I agree with your statement that due to the balance of the great academics and engaging cultural (Athens music scene) and athletic pursuits (competitive SEC football program), its likely to attract more and more OOS applicants.
Impressive stats for your son! I’m sure he’ll have no problem!
I’m also a rising senior and will be applying to UGA OOS from Missouri. I’m also pretty worried because that we are OOS that we won’t get as many scholarships…
Have a look at the stats in this press release
http://news.uga.edu/releases/article/UGA-incoming-students-2015/
His GPA is going to hurt him.
I think he should retake the ACT. Get it to a 33 or higher. That will increase your son’s chances
If anything would keep him from being admitted, it would be his GPA. However, his course schedule looks as if it is very rigorous and competitive, which could work in his favor and make his GPA not seem so low.
@guccigarlic yes he was admitted during the regular admission (not EA) period, might have helped that he raised his ACT score to 32. However, he did not receive any merit aid from UGa and Ohio State offered him their Morrill Distinction Scholarship which is equal to the full cost of attendance ($44,950 per year for OOS students) so he’s decided to be a Buckeye.
Interesting. Do you have any idea what the requirements for the scholarship are? I just searched it but could not find any numerical information. Thanks for the reply.
@fatherof2boys While my daughter is at UGA I have another child at The Ohio State and I love that school!! Great choice! Go Bucks!
@3anddone thanks for sharing your insights respecting The Ohio State. We are Texans and had little to no familiarity with OSU; however, after visiting campus and seeing the facilities first-hand we felt like it was the right choice. It was difficult to say no to our in-state option, UT-Austin, but the generous scholarship tipped the scales in OSU favor. We are looking forward to the Buckeye experience. Go Bucks!
@guccigarlic The Morrill scholarship does not heavily weight academic credentials rather it is awarded based on the quality of an applicant’s Morrill essay and an evaluation of their extracurricular experience. To apply for the scholarship the applicant must apply by OSU’s early action deadline and complete the Morrill essay prompt on the Common Application. The scholarship has two levels - Excellence/Prominence and then Distinction. Excellence/Prominence is equal to value of tuition for both in-state and out of state applicants. The Distinction level is equal to the value of the full cost of attendance. The Excellence/Prominence level is based entirely on the evaluation of the essay/extra-curricular experiences. Those applicants who merit consideration for Distinction are then invited to campus to interview for that award. It is my understanding that only 10 Distinction awards are made each year. The scholarship (regardless of level of award) has other non-monetary benefits such as an early arrival program for first-year students, access to free tutoring and prior exams, and eligibility to stay at a special living-learning community for Morrill scholarship recipients. If you search Morrill on the Ohio State pages you should get a lot of useful info about the program.