<p>So I've been at Georgia tech for a semester now and I keep thinking back to how rough it was deciding where to attend college. If anyone's interested in knowing more about the academic or social climate, I'd love to give any info that I can.</p>
<p>Good luck with your apps!</p>
<p>It’s great you are doing this. Thanks a lot. What is your major at Tech and where are you from? I am having a tough time deciding if I should go over my in-state school (Maryland). The engineering classes and curriculum are supposed to be very challenging at Tech and, as much as I appreciate that, how is the academic atmosphere? Is it very cut-throat, laid-back? Is there a lot of time to pursue other things?</p>
<p>@Coder90 I am a Bio-medical engineering major from Georgia. I am going to be honest with you, from what I have experienced the georgia tech curriculum is very demanding and it is not laid back. However, it is very possible to achieve high marks here if you are willing to put in the time and effort. I came into tech not knowing how to study and I will tell you I definitely do now. </p>
<p>Also, with all that in mind I have had plenty of time to do other things, I am apart of two clubs, one in which I am part of the board. I also play basketball almost everyday at the rec center and just got done with an intramural season of it. Besides school affiliated stuff, I have had plenty of time to explore Atlanta and go to free concerts and music midtown.Atlanta is truly a really fun city to live in and it comes in handy when looking for internships and co-ops. And even though we are not that great, football games are amazing and fun to go to. If you are into Greek life there are many fraternities to choose from and because there are so many you are bound to find one with a group of people with similar interests as yourself.</p>
<p>A few Questions! Sorry!</p>
<ol>
<li>How is the GATech Area?</li>
<li>Is it safe? Fun?</li>
<li>How are the Internship opportunities? When can a student start?</li>
<li>How is the dorm life? </li>
<li>How are the recreational buildings? Clean?</li>
<li>How are your relationships with Professors? Do you attend Office hours?</li>
<li>How is the food? Are there any close by restaurants?</li>
</ol>
<p>Hey, I am a 4 year CS major so I thought I would answer too.</p>
<ol>
<li>The GaTech area is pretty nice. What specifically do you want to know?</li>
<li>It is safe if you are careful. There are many gatech officers who are always roaming around looking for suspicious activity. However, some of the areas off campus are a little iffy late at night.</li>
<li>Internship opportunities are great! Especially in CS! Lots of companies are always looking to recruit at the career fair and in your major building. Lots of free Swag. I interned over the summer at a top software company.</li>
<li>Dorm life is pretty fun. It depends on your personality. If you are planning on rushing, you can live on East campus with greek life. But west campus is really chill and always has many housing events you can attend to be social if greek life is not for you. When you are a 2nd year you can upgrade to an on-campus apartment which has a kitchen and living room. </li>
<li>The Campus Recreational Center(CRC) is definitely top notch. It’s pool was used for the 1996 olympics. </li>
<li>Your relationships with your professors can be what you want them to be. I try to attend office hours regularly and there are certain professors I like, certain professors I definitely do not like. Office hours can be essential to doing well in a class. </li>
<li>The food in the dining halls is ok. Just regular dining hall food. There are plenty of close by restaurants no matter where on campus you decide to live. The student center has chickfila, subway, a burger place, taco bell, and a large variety of other stuff stuff. There is a also a starbucks right next to the library. Atlanta is a big city so there are many cool places to eat if you have a car available, you can always order food straight to your dorm building.</li>
</ol>
<p>@cool1234 thank you for the help, it was much appreciated, especially since you have been on campus much longer than I have.</p>
<p>@Motheshow @cool1234… i am an international applicant from pakistan… how many indians or pakistanis do u get to see at Tech… i mean like Too much or a few only? How is the life for international students?
If you had a chance to choose between between Tech, UW madison, Purdue and stony brook, which would you choose? (its hard to stay unbiased, right? :P)
And last question… can a good essay, good high school grades and being an international applicant from a small country make up for a ****ty sat score(1750)?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Knock.knock?</p>
<p>Any thoughts on the Chinese flagship and/or the ROTC? My son is not interested in ROTC but would want to do Chinese at a school that has exceptional CS opportunities.
Any opportunities to play/perform music?</p>
<p>@BHhazy I do actually see a lot of Indians and Pakistanis, however I do not necessarily know how many is too much. The life for an international student is the same as a regular tech student except for the fact you can not readily go home to visit your family. I have a lot of friends that go to tech who are international students and they seem to enjoy it just as much as I do.</p>
<p>I will try to stay impartial, but the only schools I know anything about are Purdue and of course Tech. Purdue because my best friend goes there, from what i hear from him Purdue is right up there in difficulty with Tech, however the weather is harsh and he says the lifestyle is more cut-throat. My friend is an international student as well technically, but he spent senior year in high school with me. The only reason he is not at tech is because he did not get in and Purdue is another fine engineering establishment. My verdict is you could not go wrong with either.</p>
<p>Speaking from someone who had a lower SAT and got in (1820), my high-school grades were almost perfect, and my essays I spent a lot of time on. Granted, I did have over 700 hrs of community service. However, If very few people from your country go to Tech then I can only see that as a plus, good luck to you on your college choice.</p>
<p>Thank you so much! @motheshow …</p>
<p>@apollo6 I do not know much about Chinese flagship, but I do know a lot about ROTC since a lot of my friends participate in it, it is pretty demanding program with 5 am drill and 6 credit hours a semester of it.
Also, I do know we offer Chinese classes and such, which I hear are fairly difficult. The CS department as you already know is top notch and your son could minor in music if need be. Also drama tech puts on many musical performances and there are many clubs at tech that should put him with those who perform or play the same instrument as your son.</p>
<p>Sorry I couldn’t be of much help with that, but I do know music is all around and your son will find many opportunities</p>
<ol>
<li>Were you a regular applicant, or a transfer?</li>
<li>How were the first few weeks at GT? Easy to make friends? Difficult transition?</li>
<li>I am an IB student at one of the best high schools in the country, so I am definitely used to rigor, but how can I prepare myself for the rigor of GT?</li>
<li>What are some things I can do during my freshman year that will help me later on? (i.e developing certain habits, applying for internships, research etc.)</li>
<li>Has the guy to girl ratio improved?</li>
<li>What can I do to ease my anxiety during this two week period before my decision?</li>
</ol>
<p>That’s all I can think of for now, I’ll let you know if I have any other questions. Thanks for doing this!</p>
<ol>
<li>I was a regular applicant.</li>
<li>GT can be easy to make friends if you put yourself out there.</li>
<li>The best way to prepare for the rigor of GT is treat your high school classes like college classes. Asking for help is something you do have to learn to do though or you could do poorly. This is how i made some 4.0 semesters. </li>
<li>The best thing you can do during your freshman year is figure out what you want to do. I changed majors so that put me behind (Engineering to Computer Science). Make sure you can see yourself doing a career in your major, but most importantly, make sure you know what people who graduate with your major actually do. </li>
<li>Im not sure, but people blame not being able to get girlfriends because of the ratio, but they also don’t put themselves out there as much. Spending all weekend playing league of legend will probably not result in you getting girlfriend.</li>
<li>If you are anxious about getting in just try to get excited about your back up schools. Try to have one you could see yourself going to. Also, Futurama is on Netflix. So you could do that. Or Once Upon a Time. Or Dexter. Netflix is awesome.</li>
</ol>
<p>Hello, thanks for being available to answer questions!</p>
<p>Like others in this thread. my son is waiting on GT results. He is finishing high school one full year early. Do you think it might be easy for him to adjust, being a bit younger than others. </p>
<p>(You noted in an email Purdue and GTech are very good. We just got back from Purdue and really enjoyed the school. Purdue Councillor even mentioned GT as a top notch school.)</p>
<p>@user1001 No, the adjustment should not be hard, I also no people who did graduate a year early and the age difference did not make much of a difference if any. I mean it is only a year. </p>
<p>Yes, Purdue and Tech are both terrific engineering schools, i have had a few friends go to Purdue (as mentioned earlier, one being my best friend). You can not go wrong with either, both will prepare you for life outside undergraduate, and both will land you into desired jobs, due to their names being known nationwide and even worldwide.</p>
<p>Do you have a lot of interaction with girls?</p>
<ol>
<li>Do you know how they recalculate gpa? Do they keep in the ten points for AP and then add the .5 or do they add the .5 to the raw grade?</li>
<li>Do they look at the SAT writing section heavily or mainly focus on cr and math?</li>
<li>Also, do you mind telling me what you think my chances are?
I’m a girl
mixed race (Chinese and white)
3.68 gpa unweighted
740 math 670 cr 630 writing
ten APs (human geography, world history, us history, English language, physics B, physics C, AB calculus, economics, government, and British literature)
decent extra extracurriculars including sports, volunteer, leadership, and work experience
decent essays
rec letter from an AP physics teacher who graduated from tech
and my brother is currently studying there, but I’m not sure if that’ll help in any way</li>
</ol>
<p>@AlacrityPain Yes, Im fine with females. Yes the numbers our low, which was what I was alarmed with first when I chose tech, however I have not had any problems finding girls. Frankly, all my closest friends at tech are girls.</p>
<p>@Mary1234 1. I actually heard somewhere that they stopped the old recalculation method and are now just accepting what is on your transcript. I could be wrong though.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>They mainly focus on a high math score and above average reading and writing, I had a pretty low writing. Actually fairly low SATs altogether. But as you know, every year more and more colleges are migrating to look more at writing than they have in the past, so writing is a factor, but your writing score is not low enough to hinder you.</p></li>
<li><p>I feel you have a fairly good shot, your GPA is lower than the average ( but I also do not know your weighted) and SATs are decent, granted the SAT average goes up every year and due to the switch to common app, I do not know how high it will go up since more applicants applied. As long as your extracurriculars are not all over the place and actually show an interest, you should be fine there. Your brother studying at Tech can only help your chances of gaining admission, because they can see familial ties and they will predict that you would actually choose tech and not go somewhere else. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I am not an expert at admissions, but I do not see anywhere you are just extremely weak, good luck to you on admissions, make sure you apply to safeties that you could imagine yourself going to, because I have seen how crazy admissions can get lol mine were all over the place.</p>