Georgia Tech -- Is it worth it?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgia Institute of Technology
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<p>I recently applied to GT as a transfer student. Drawn to the high engineering rankings I thought GT would be a good choice. Now I am not so sure. For me it has always been about the school and the people who go there. I've been reading these forums and see that the general consensus of GT is:</p>

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<li><p>A large portion of the students were lazy "intellects" (if you want to go so far as using that word) who didn't try in high school. Now that they are at a university that has been deemed to have a "heavy course load", they are now struggling to maintain a C. I am not ok with this. I want to be around people who got somewhere because they worked hard and consistently do so up to graduation.</p></li>
<li><p>The male to female ratio. This is totally not a problem for me at any university. What I do have a problem with is the attitude towards it. I can't tell you how many times I have read that the girls are "hideous". Who cares? What's really amusing is all this TBS stuff. So.....the girls are hideous and if any reject you, then they are stuck up b******? Wow. You can't win.</p></li>
<li><p>Why so much negativity towards GT? Right now the students are ruining GT for me. The staff has been nice and helpful. Is it because GT was your second-third-fourth-fifth choice?</p></li>
<li><p>Why do people have a problem with the 60% admit rate? Education doesn't have to be Ivy League selective. Everyone deserves an education.</p></li>
<li><p>I hate to say it but the city. A city is the last thing I look at when deciding on universities but GT is quite the exception. Exactly how bad is this crime rate? What have been your experiences?</p></li>
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<p>If anyone can send a different experiences than what I have described please do so. If I am half right or 100% right elaborate. I want to pick the best place to go. I am not shelling out a bunch of my own money to be miserable.</p>

<p>Lastly, give me a general overall post of your GT experience and why you chose to go there.</p>

<p>Thank you for your time.</p>

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<li><p>I’d say 1/4 the people are just plain hard workers and the remaining are smart (but also have to work hard). But if you want to find people who are working hard, you’ll have no problem.</p></li>
<li><p>I don’t know about that…I think you’d have to experience to make any sort of judgement on the ratio.</p></li>
<li><p>There are people who hate Tech and people who love Tech. You can find comments from either side. But take everything with a grain of salt. Go to the school and experience it yourself.</p></li>
<li><p>Dunno, but there are a few good schools that have to admit in-state students.</p></li>
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<p>5.City isn’t bad at all. Some times it feels like you’re not even in a city. Although there are stories of crime every so often and if you live at NAA you’ll see a homeless guy every now and then.</p>

<p>Overall Experience- I came to Tech because I saw the rankings and a bunch of people who I thought were smart were coming there. I was really excited and felt I stumbled upon good fortune. I’m not really sure what happened in between that time and now, but I’m now glad I’m out of that place and don’t want to think about going there again. That place is a black hole for all things good.</p>

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<p>I think you misunderstood this. Tech isn’t full of “lazy intellectuals”, it’s full of people intelligent enough that they weren’t challenged in high school. When they get to Tech, they are challenged. About 2/3 are up to the challenge and succeed. About 1/3 aren’t up to the challenge, and complain (when it’s really their fault). It’s like that at most public technical schools.</p>

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<p>Again, complainers that misdirect their anger when they fail. People at top technical schools tend to be more socially awkward than the general population. When they can’t get a girlfriend (because they are socially awkward and do not put in an effort to correct the situation), they complain. It’s as simple as that.</p>

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<p>Because people want to be snobs. The phrase “look at the exclusive university on my sweater. I’m better than you.” only works when no one else can get into the school. </p>

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<p>For at least a decade, the area around Tech has been very safe. In the last year or so, crime has spiked (all over the city) as the mayor furloughed police. There’s now a new mayor that has promised to get the police force back to full strength. We’ll see how that goes.</p>

<p>Regardless, campus is very safe. You’ll hear about petty theft at worst. It’s off campus that’s the problem. And even then, it’s usually students ignoring common sense (e.g. walking alone at night through a bad neighborhood, stopping to talk to a seemingly crazy homeless person at night and alone, etc).</p>

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<p>The 60% admit rate is not because they admit dregs. It’s because the dregs don’t apply. There is no forced admission based on Georgia residency. I know someone with a 1470/1600 and 3.638 as measured by GA Tech who was not admitted early.</p>

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<p>The high admission rate is solely because it’s a state university. Tech is at around 59%, UIUC is close to 70%.</p>

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<p>Thank you everyone.</p>

<p>G.P.Burdell – I can see what you’re saying. I was thinking the same. Not enough initiative is taken. Hmmm. I’m going to go through the process and see what happens. This is definitely a tough decision. Let me ask you a question. Would it be best for me to wait it out another year and apply to schools like UCLA or Berkeley (I’m from California) or go to GTech upon acceptance? I guess anyone can answer that question.</p>

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<p>That’s what I would do, especially since you’re OOS</p>

<p>Really in my opinion, that tips the scales. If you really want to be an engineer, you can do it somewhere else. Don’t pay tons of money to get branded so you can get your first job. Plus you have a chance to go to UCLA and Berkeley which would be much cheaper. </p>

<p>Just my .02</p>

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<p>You’re absolutely right. My problem is that I don’t want to wait another year to finish all requirements. UCs require all reqs to be finished or your app gets tossed aside. Maybe it’s best to go with my current year’s top four transfer universities and the UCs next year if I get completely rejected.
I will still follow through with what GTech wants just to see what happens.</p>

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<p>I just came back from a Connect with Tech session yesterday. I was very impressed with the campus, but some things bothered me. </p>

<p>I wrote the whole thing out, but I realized that it was too long. I tried cutting some things out, but it’s still a bit long.</p>

<p>After registration, we went on a tour of the campus. My tour guide was a freshman in industrial engineering, and he seemed pretty knowledgable about the campus. </p>

<p>As I have been doing ballroom dance for a while, I contacted the ballroom dance club so that I could attend a lesson. I appreciate that the CWT program was flexible and allowed me to leave the tour early and arrive to meet my host a little later. </p>

<p>My host was in a sorority, and there was another girl in her sorority who was also a host. There were three students staying at this sorority, including myself, and it was more like a co-host event. After we drove to their sorority and dropped our stuff off, we went to see their sorority practice for the Tug tournament. I got the impression that a lot of the girls in this sorority didn’t enjoy learning.</p>

<p>We went to dinner at Brittain Dining Hall. It was a lot smaller than the Iowa State University dining hall I had eaten at during summer camps. There were less options, but I understand that Georgia Tech undergrad is about half the size of Iowa State. I picked up one fork, and it seemed dirty. The next fork I picked up was also slightly dirty, but I kept it. I didn’t like the food too much. Being a sweet-tooth, I was dissapointed with the lack of dessert options, but a little later I saw some eclairs brought out. I don’t really like soft-serve ice cream, so I wasn’t too impressed by that. I did notice a cooler of real ice cream, and that was exciting.</p>

<p>After a while we drove back to the Student Center for the social event. On our way in, one of our hosts mentioned that because some guys didn’t have very good social skills, a girl can just come up and ask for help. I can’t convey the way she said it, but it disgusted me. </p>

<p>Inside we went to play trivia. Our hosts didn’t really ask us what we wanted to do, but we didn’t say we didn’t want to play trivia either. It took a while to start the game, and our hosts said the questions weren’t as good as usual. After trivia, we went to the Tech Rec to get something to drink, but we didn’t stay there. I would have liked to at least walk around the Tech Rec, but I didn’t voice that, so I’ll take responsibility for that. We saw Glee Club sing, and then we headed back to the sorority. </p>

<p>We were invited to a fraternity to watch a movie, so we came over. No one was there yet, so we got a tour. It was a nice comedy. We got to bed at 1:15 am. </p>

<p>I haven’t had a lot of sleep recently because of my two college classes and the plane to Atlanta, so I was exhausted when we woke up at 7am. Once again, we drove to the Student Center for breakfast. This is where I noticed that the people working in the dining hall and food court had been mostly African Americans, with a couple of Hispanics and Asians. It’s not like I haven’t seen people of different ethnicities before, but the biggest minority at my school are Asians. I know we used to have an Asian janitor, but he quit. The women who work in our cafeteria are caucasian. So my question is: were there practically no caucasians working in service at Georgia Tech because of population percentages or because of education/income differences? As for the food, I didn’t like my breakfast too much either. </p>

<p>I chose to go to physics class because I took Physics 1 at ISU last semester. I wanted to compare them, and I think the professor mentioned a couple of points that I don’t recall my professor telling us. I can’t be completely sure because I was falling asleep. It looked like there were only twenty GT students in the room, and this was a large lecture hall. On the way back, the person taking us to the Student Center said that a lot of people skip class. What? Why? This was one of those classes were answering those clicker questions counts for (he said) 10% of your grade. Is every class like that?</p>

<p>After that I went on a tour of the ME labs, but it wasn’t too exciting. Apparently sometimes they do some guitar thing or something, but they didn’t show that to us. Several information sessions varying from boring to useful followed, and then it was time for lunch. Some more sessions followed, and we then went to see “booths”. It was a bit anticlimactic because I didn’t really have questions.</p>

<p>After the session ended, my mom and I had some time before our plane left. We asked my host if we could leave our stuff in her sorority, and she agreed. When we got there to drop off stuff we found out that she planned to put our stuff in her car so that she could drop us off at the metro later. That was very generous of her. </p>

<p>We walked around Centennial Park, and then we went over to the Barnes and Nobles. When we got back to the sorority, my host dropped us off at the metro like she had planned.</p>

<p>Overall, I didn’t have any experiences of people telling me not to come, but I got a bit of that feeling myself.</p>

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<p>that sounds so depressing :o, i know a lot of people who go to georgia tech though because i go to a georgia high school and they tell me its great</p>

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<p>Consider yourself lucky, took mr a couple years to figure that out.</p>

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<p>It sounds like you just didn’t like the host. </p>

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<p>That seems like an interesting logic jump. One thing to keep in mind: who joins a sorority? Someone very interested in the social aspect of college.</p>

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<p>The silverware probably wasn’t dirty, it was old. I’m really surprised they didn’t take you to Woodruff (the other dining hall). It’s larger, much newer, nicer, and has more options. It’s still no French Laundry, but that’s why the dining hall is so cheap. Most non-freshman eat at the actual restaurants on campus/in the area or cook at home (even dorms give you a full kitchen). </p>

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<p>I’ve never noticed that, but it makes sense. Fulton County is roughly 60% African American, so when the Student Center puts out a job ad, it makes sense that most people interviewing would be African American. </p>

<p>Atlanta actually has a very interesting dynamic. I don’t know the exact percentages, but south of GT, the city is probably 80% African American, and north of GT, the city is probably 20%. People get along, though. Atlanta is “the city too busy to hate.”</p>

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<p>You’ll see that everywhere, especially in freshman classes. Many students are experiencing freedom for the first time and don’t comprehend the value of attending class. So in a 50 person class, it’s typical for only 40 to show up on any given day.</p>

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<p>You have to remember: it’s difficult being a Connect With Tech host. There’s no school organized program - it’s entirely up to the host to plan, schedule, and organize your time there. If the host doesn’t know anyone in the ME lab that can setup an experiment to show you, or how to get you into the Tech Rec without a Buzzcard, you’re going to be limited. This is especially true for a freshman host with no research experience.</p>

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<p>You passed through the most dangerous part of Midtown. Isn’t wasn’t that bad, was it?</p>

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<p>good read ipopova!</p>

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<p>I was just informed that they do now have a schedule available to the hosts. My information was a little dated.</p>

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<p>I’ve only ever seen those clickers in intro physics. It was like that at my alma mater as well. I hope someday the Physics guys ditch stuff like WebAssign (I know that how to teach intro Physics is a hot topic right now in the department)</p>

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<p>One of my hosts asked several people in the sorority their favorite and least favorite things about GT. The least favorite dealt with school related things most of the time. I was hoping they’d be interested in the social aspects and in learning. Are most sororities and fraternities going to consist of students who dislike learning? If I recall correctly, people in the greek system are about 30% of campus.</p>

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<p>Thanks for mentioning that. Although, if you’re already on east campus at night, you’d probably want to stay there and not go to Woodruff. </p>

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<p>I’m glad to hear that. I did feel pretty safe on campus, but it’s good to make sure. There was a slight problem on Marta. A homeless guy, I think, started talking to me, and I didn’t know what to do in that situation, so I did warily reply. </p>

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<p>I assumed that class would have been a 100 people class, but I’m not great at estimation. That would have been 80% of people skipping instead of 20%; is physics 1 atypical? Or was it really just a small class?</p>

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<p>Even further than that, someone who works in the ME labs showed us around. This was organized - it was an overall program thing where a group of up prospective students went on the tour instead of one student and one host. I didn’t really care too much about the lab tour, though. I guess I could have cut it out.</p>

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<p>Yes, it wasn’t bad. We were fine. It did look a bit dubious, but it was 4pm. I’d never been to Atlanta so it was nice to see how the city was.</p>

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<p>I didn’t really mind the clickers. We have them at my college physics course now for extra credit, but I guess it does make a slight difference if they are a part of your grade.</p>

<p>I suppose my main reason for posting my experience was to get assurance that most girls don’t use guys like that and that most people enjoy learning.</p>

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<p>If food is a big deal for you, you can live on West Campus.</p>

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<p>Either ignore them or learn to speak gibberish in a foreign language (I like French - avoid Spanish because it’s too common). And don’t make eye contact with people on subway trains.</p>

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<p>I’ve never heard of a class where 80% skip. Even when if it’s raining and the day after a Thursday Night football game, at least 50-60% will show up.</p>

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<p>I can probably name the sorority right now, but won’t. </p>

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<p>No, every house varies. </p>

<p>Keep in mind that some people go to college to learn, some go to party, some go to escape their parents, some go to get their “MRS degree”, it varies. What a fraternity or sorority does is create a place where like-minded people can socialize and get together. People with common interests tend to gravitate towards each other. So, naturally there will be a house that studies hard, a house where people party 7 days/week, a house where people push their freedoms (do illegal things), etc. All that should matter to you is that you find one that matches your interests (or decide that none do).</p>

<p>You’ll find that at every college. It’s part of the “college experience”</p>

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<p>If you go to Tech, make sure that you’re priority for going to college is learning. If it’s not by far and away number 1 relative to any other reason you’d go, then don’t come.</p>

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<p>I don’t want to disagree with this just for the sake of disagreeing, but mainly want to point out to the OP that Tech is NOT the same as every college. Classes at Tech really do suck, people would skip classes if they could (and by the way, physics clicker is worth 5% of your grade instead of 10%, and it’s in your best interest to go because you have to fight for those last points) and most are as boringly dull.</p>

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<p>I hate to be racist, but the last time I went through centennial park I felt as if I were in the jungles of Africa.</p>

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<p>It’s so sad to me that physics is boring. In both high school and college, it was my favorite science. There is no excuse for physics to be boring - much of our everyday life is easier because of the application of physics.</p>

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<p>Either that or bad teachers</p>