Georgia Tech Class of 2025- Waitlist Thread

Too late to request a gap year unless they are international - deadline for all others was July 1. My GT son told me yesterday he got an email in early July, notifying him that due to changes in class delivery modes they were reopening registration for upperclassmen. It doesn’t sound like any email went out to those who had not registered yet (freshmen). My hope is that is that this does not foreshadow what may happen if cases go up. They need to be back in the classroom!

Do you think this will affect the waitlist. My daughter who just graduated from gt got that email too. Are they anticipating a rise in Cases. In the classroom is best unless it helps us get off the waitlist. Lol

Has anyone called and asked when they anticipate the waitlist will close?

Cases are going up in Georgia and we are majority unvaccinated so we will see how that will all play out. No reason hybrid/remote classes would affect the waitlist that I can see. Too late to change schools or take a gap year.

Unfortunately all true

Any other info about lack of housing for students coming off waitlist

For anyone still waiting for the waitlist, why would you even want to switch at this point? They are going to have hybrid and online classes AGAIN! While most other schools are fully in person and/or mandating they vaccine at least which would help a lot.

Stay where you are and consider transferring down the line. I wouldn’t be surprised if many kids wind up skipping out on GT altogether with this announcement and just take a gap year and re apply next year because online school does not work for most kids!

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Has there been an announcement about hybrid classes?

My son is in at UC Irvine’s Comp Sci school, in state. Not a bad situation, for a variety of reasons, including a plethora of intern/job/research opportunities in Irvine. He finished 2 of 400+ at a pretty good Silicon Valley public school and Irvine was definitely the best offer he received. He applied to most of the elite programs. Even this late in the game, and online classes at GT, he would consider switching to Tech.

Curious as to why? I would think Irvine would be as marketable (or perhaps more so) than a CS degree from GT, plus in state tuition would make it hard to switch. UCI has a very good CS program.

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I do hear some CA schools, like UCLA will be mostly online for the large classes (the huge freshman class rooms for the generic subjects will be replaced by online classes). Not sure about UCI, but the online classes may become more common with the delta variant increasing, with the crowded and diverse LA region being not highly vaccinated.

For 100+ student classes, online and in school big auditorium has little difference.

That has not been my son’s experience at all.

Probably all true Belle, but like many people, perhaps especially those his age, he is impressed by prestige. Around the world, Tech certainly has that in aces. It’s not MIT, Stanford or Berkeley, but it’s most certainly more well known than Irvine. If he were to go to GT he’d be footing the extra cost himself in increased loans as he has already decided to do when he turned down a lot of money when he passed on UC Davis and a Regents Scholarship. I am happy for him whatever he decides, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was pulling for Davis, which to me was prestigious enough, cheaper and only 90 minutes from home :wink:.

Completely disagree. Both as an educator and parent.

Prestige isn’t all its cracked up to be and taking out loans isn’t worth it in the long run, especially if he’s ready in at a school that has a decent CS program, etc.

3 of my 4 kids are in CS and their backgrounds have not made one bit of difference. They were fortunate that they had no restrictions on them and could go to any school they wanted to as long as they at least were accepted. One blew off a Top 5 CS program at the time to not even go to college at all and had multiple offers including from FAANG companies, one is at Top Ivy and while she loves it, it is definitely not the be all to end all with the exception of the phenomenal job they have done with Covid. The last one the jury is out on as he will be a freshman but his classes are all smaller than the one at the Ivy’s were her freshman year (she had a CS class with 1000 people!) with around 100, all in person, and has had great advising but not sure how things will pan out with covid as only 65% or so students are vaccinated with not a full mandate for all.

Their experiences will all be different. It’s what they do with those experiences and internships etc and that knowledge and how they use it. They also will learn a ton on the job and at those internships as well. Often more than in a class.

So you’re smart that you understand that but it’s too bad your son is hung up on prestige. Sometimes it’s a good thing to be the big fish in a small pond. You (he) can be a rockstar by being so!!

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@srparent15
Learning via remote online is like watching basketball playoff on TV.
For big classes, learning while on site is like paying $10 to watch life broadcast in stadium with other fans. There are universities uses 2 auditoriums where students in the 2nd auditorium watch TV monitor only.

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No classes (big or small) that any of my kids have ever taken in person have ever had any sort of “overflow” (which seems to be what you’re describing) of some students in person and others in another setting watching on tv with the exception of last year when they were specifically set up as hybrid classes. So again to reaffirm, in person learning is always going to be better than remote or online. Even if schools had what you were describing that’s still not in person. One of my kids had 900 people in a CS class and the professor was still amazing in person. And that was in the biggest lecture hall in the entire campus.

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Also hybrid/remote leads to lack of engagement in classes by the professor and students, many of them are pre-recorded, the professor cannot judge whether the class is understanding the material or not so just keeps moving, many have no way to ask questions except there may be an ongoing chat which is distracting etc. Not to mention the detachment you feel from the class. I guess it depends on the material, but higher level math and engineering courses do not translate well to online . I think at first professors were giving grace with grades, which is a double edge sword because how well did they learn the material? Now no grace is being shown, grades are lower, students generally have a lower grasp of the material, etc. With respect to a top-tier school like Georgia Tech or Michigan, where everyone who is there no matter how smart agrees that classes are very difficult, it is just another barrier to doing well for entering freshmen who have a tendency to underestimate the amount of work and rigor required.

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Totally agree. Online classes are more difficult and especially for new incoming students.