Interesting conversation, but I have to agree with @threeofthree here based on what I’ve seen. Yes, there are smaller scholarships, but they are also very competitive. The best option for a GA resident is UAH, a great engineering school with generous scholarships. I think very qualified GA students who unfortunately are turned down from GT should look there.
Firstly, many congratulations on your son’s Admission to Georgia Tech. I am sorry to hear about your son’s negative experience with GT Admissions. Your son is obviously a talented and hard-working student, but not only that, he is an asset to our state being from Atlanta. The problem with GT Admissions now, is that they are trying very hard to build a look where they want it to seem that the applicant wants them, rather than GT wanting the applicant. Additionally, GT is trying hard just to build number statistics right now. In 2013, GT was already being very selective, at 41%, and in 2012, it was more reasonable since GT was still building a very strong class, but with a 55% acceptance rate. Still, in 2013, GT Admissions decided to switch to the Common App. Why? GT wanted to bolster is applicant pool to compete with other institutions, even while it was turning down qualified GA residents already. Keep in mind that even pre-2012, with more reasonable acceptance rates, GT was still a top ranked school.
My point is that GT Admissions doesn’t seem to be very concerned with recruiting GA students like your son. GT Admissions counselors, like you observed, already know that GT is a highly demanded school. Thus, they feel (wrongfully) that the need to go out of their way to recruit is a waste of time. For them, its about building numbers and numbers, and not about bringing GA students into STEM fields, or about building GA’s Engineering workforce, or anything like that.
I will say this though, don’t let the GT Admissions office deter you our your son away from GT. I have been at GT for a long time, and I will tell you just one thing, the admissions office doesn’t represent the school at all. GT is a great institution, and there are a lot of great people here, and a lot of amazing opportunities for job placement, etc. I feel bad that GT Admissions isn’t actively recruiting your son, because they really should be. The Admissions office at GT has other priorities, and the work they do is very low quality. Recruiting in-state students like your son should be a priority. I hope your son will still consider GT though. GT will open up a lot of opportunities for your son, and the price tag is the most reasonable it can get. GT is an amazing institution, but its a shame that GT Admissions has to open the door to it. I do believe that if your son found somewhere else that he likes more and is a better fit (as well as affordable), then he should no doubt go there. I hope that people like myself can somewhat fill in that void of a bad admissions office to deserving students.
Anyways, best wishes to your son in this decision! I would like to see him go to GT (of course) 
But I’m sure he’ll do well wherever he chooses. I strongly believe that a student should go where he/she thinks they can succeed the most, because that is where they will do the best.
As far as UAH goes, I would advice a student to realize, that even though they have worked to improve their student experience, UAH is still mostly a computer school, with older students. It does not give the same experience as an Auburn or GT. I would obviously say you should check out both schools. Both have good engineering but, highly different college experiences.
Do other world class public engineering schools (Berkeley, Michigan, etc.) have mandatory in-state percentages? Maybe that diversity helps GT?
To the best of my knowledge, yes. This is being debated at Berkley, but in Texas Engineering schools (UTA, TAMU, TTU) this is highly apparent. Are TAMU and UTA still world class engineering schools? YES. Residents are given first priority into these schools, and specifically their engineering programs. Also, Texas and California (for example) have multiple reputable and affordable engineering schools (for their residents, of course), How many does GA currently have? Just one. UGA is coming up and I hope that state will fund it more, but that will take some time.
@Momof3kidsau Yes, you are so right about Tech sending several emails after being accepted. They’ve sent a good bit more in the last few weeks. You also reminded me of some other things that other schools have done. I drew a blank when I was typing my post, but some of these schools have gotten very creative with their marketing ideas and it’s impressive. Even a simple phone call is really nice.
@college450 Thank you so much for your very kind words! I appreciate your insight with what’s going on in the admissions office because it completely backs up the impression I’ve gotten of them. Without question, Georgia Tech is an excellent school and is producing top-notch graduates that are highly sought after. I truly have the utmost respect for the school itself. I hope I didn’t sound like a whiny mom whose kid didn’t get enough special attention! Realistically, I absolutely know it’s all about the numbers and stats and there’s a lot at stake from the admissions perspective. If anything, it never occurred to me that ANY school would go out of their way to do anything special as far as marketing and recruiting. I’m a first-timer to all this so it’s been a learning process! Back in the old days when I was coming along, Tech’s approach was the norm. It’s just been interesting to me to see the difference in each school’s marketing and surprisingly, Tech’s efforts have been non-existent. I think it’s a shame they don’t place any emphasis on this and other schools are outshining them in that area (by a lot). However, they do have an excellent reputation and I know that speaks for itself. Thank you again for your kind response. I think the admissions office needs to hire you!
Not a problem at all. I’m happy to know that GT Admissions has started reaching out to your son, and I really appreciate your kind comment. I’m not sure the GT Admissions office and I would get a long very well though haha. Best wishes to you and your son in what I can imagine as what is going to be (or what was) a tough decision in choosing the right college.
@Momof3kidsau Actually, that is not so accurate about UAH any more. We just returned from a UAH orientation, and we learned from the vp of enrollment services that they will be forced to use overflow housing this fall. When I questioned him about it later (as I didn’t yet apply for son’s housing as I thought there was no rush), he said they have had such an increase in enrollments last year and this year (likely due to their terrific merit awards), that they will need to build another dorm soon. And these students are increasingly from outside of Huntsville. At our session, there were families represented from CA, VA, NC, GA, FL and of course the states surrounding AL. The current president has done a good job of transitioning UAH away from a commuter campus.
@gertyberty - I loved UAH when we visited - glad to hear that.
@gertyberty - I am glad your visit to UAH went well. They are working to improve their college experience and get more dorms and younger students on campus. But, we live in Huntsville, are very close to one of their VP’s and former student body presidents, and know several kids who attend there, and the way we hear it described, is as a work in progress. Hope your child has a great experience if they choose to go. Huntsville is a very family friendly town!
Thank you–he has not committed yet. My son applied to 13 colleges, so we definitely know that UAH is a different animal than the typical large SEC school. I agree it is a work in progress–I hope every school thinks of themselves as a work in progress and never thinks it has “arrived”, but from my research and communications with many administration, staff, students and community members over the last two years, their growth has surpassed their forecasts, which most likely came from merit aid they instituted three years ago and new recruiting efforts in select regions of the country.
Additionally, with the exception of a lucky few, no college will be 100% perfect for most families; it is just choosing which one meets most of your priorities.
As a mother of an OOS student who hopes to attend GT, I hope that they do not raise the percentage for instate students. I understand the thinking behind this for those of you that live in Ga. Just because someone no longer lives in Ga does not mean that they have not at one point lived there. My entire family is from the Atlanta area. My brother and brother in law are graduates of Ga Tech. Due to job opportunities (and wanting to get away from the traffic) none of us live in the state anymore but we paid Ga taxes for many years. We are now spread over TN, FL and SC. Our dilemma is that the only school in TN that my son could attend for Aerospace Engineering is University of TN. Their program is not highly thought of for that major even though the Engineering school is fine. So my OOS son wants to go to Ga Tech since Atlanta area is his hometown and that is also where his Uncles went. We know the odds of a white, male and OOS getting in are even though he has the grades, scores and EC. We are also looking at Auburn, Mississippi State and Va Tech. Hopefully, this time next year (he is a JR now) I can say he has been accepted to Ga Tech. So think of those that do not have the opportunity of a great school in their state like Ga Tech. (We don’t here in TN for Aerospace Engineering.)
@futureGTmom - I’m fine with them letting your son in as long as they let my in state son in too. 
Interesting discussion on OOS vs Residents of Georgia. One factor not mentioned is the increasing international enrollment in colleges throughout the US, much of which is driven by economic interest. International students tend to pay full price. Colleges want and need the full price money that comes from OOS and increasingly international students. We are OOS, but I certainly do sympathize with those who live in Georgia, and believe their children can’t get into their state university, especially those who want to be engineers. One thing it does is drive more students to surrounding states. We are in Alabama and have noted an increase of Georgia students, which has allowed Auburn, in particular, to increase scholarship selectivity and decrease scholarship money in general. They have all the students they want and don’t need to market very hard. So, the effects of GT selectivity are being felt in surrounding states.
I am a former employee of GT, and hope that your son can fulfil his dream. I understand how you feel the raising of In State students at GT can be unfair, as there are people like you who are essentially Georgians who are living in other states. However, I would disagree with you on your comments about there being no great engineering school in TN for Aerospace Engineering. UTK is a top notch AE school, as well as TN Tech (Which has a ME degree, but it is very easy to make a switch to AE or go to AE grad school). Also, the ROI for GT for you, being from TN, wouldn’t be the same for a Georgia resident (as you would be paying OOS tuition, at least initially). If I can tell you one thing from my experience, its that if Georgia had schools like UTK, University of Memphis, and TN Tech, than GT itself wouldn’t be as competitive. However, if one is a GA resident, where will they study engineering for a reasonable price? The answer is that they can’t. UTK engineering is very impressive, and your son can easily come to GT for a M.S. or Ph.D if he wishes, essentially for free (with a GRA/GTA).
Additionally, people (I’m not saying you, but in general), have a sentiment that where one goes for undergraduate matters a lot. Don’t get me wrong, it is significant, but as long as the undergraduate engineering program is ABET accredited, it doesn’t really matter. Why? Because the value of a B.S. degree is not what is used to be. Yes, GT students are easily able to find 60K jobs after the graduate with a B.S., but a lot of times, these jobs just aren’t stable. Getting an M.S. is essential, and GT doesn’t care where you went for undergrad, as long as it is reputable and you got a good GPA, did an REU or something, etc., UTK, University of Memphis, and TN Tech are more than reputable in this regard. Indeed, I personally think that if one gets their graduate degree from a school like those, they will be just as competitive.
Finally, I think you should look at the profile of a current professor at Georgia Tech, Dr. Dewey Hodges. He went to UTK for undergrad (albeit a long time ago), and now is a professor at GT in Aerospace Engineering.
http://www.dhodges.gatech.edu/
UTK is a very very respectable engineering school, and so I think it’s a good option. Nevertheless, I do hope the best for your son in terms of GT.
I heard that they are estimating an admit rate of 60% instate, 30% out of state and 10% international. Is this documented anywhere?
The head of Aero Engineering at Auburn came from UT - unfortunately my son has a prejudice against TN (don’t know why) or he would have considered them as well.
http://getschooled.blog.myajc.com/2016/03/12/who-got-into-georgia-tech-today-and-who-didnt-due-to-rising-selectivity/ this is the current info on this years admissions. Doesn’t say OOS admission rate overall, but it was 28% RD.
It’s not the OOS % admittance that’s upsetting the instate kids that didn’t get it - it’s the instate kids that did get in that had lower, sometimes quite a bit lower, stats and few quality EC’s that are getting admitted. If GT wants to be holistic in their admittance, that’s fine but they need to spread some of that integration across the entire OOS as well. Lots of instate kids were admitted attending the lower ranked high schools and rural schools over the high end high schools. If most of the high stat instate kids weren’t engineering students, it wouldn’t matter but because most are - it is an issue.
I noticed on the common data set that the average gpa for incoming freshmen was 3.95. Now, is this unweighted or wieghted because if it is unweighted, that’s crazy good and hard to get, but if it’s weighted, then that’s kind of dismal.