<p>I was looking for info on Tech, and I happened across thisGeorgia Tech admissions information and links forum post. While it is very old, I was wondering if anything in it is true. </p>
<p>I have noticed that Tech gets low marks on studentreviews.com, and I was wondering if any current students would like to chip in.</p>
<p>It’s a forum post =/</p>
<p>Sounds like someone got disgruntled. I don’t think any of the GT students I know feel this way.</p>
<p>I have seen some of the “points” in your link directly contradicted.</p>
<p>I figured that most of it wasn’t true, but do you think the average Tech student is less happy than students at other schools of comparable quality?</p>
<p>I think some people applying to GT had MIT or Stanford as their first choice. If you’re going to the best engineering school on the planet (arguably MIT), you’d probably feel pretty good about it. This is just speculation though. Perceptions are a weird thing and there are a lot of variables that go in to people developing them.</p>
<p>Also, keep in mind that the people who write on students review have strong opinions (because they are either satisfied or dissatisfied enough to take the time to write a review). Yes, Tech is challenging school academically, but from what I hear from students and various web posts is that it is doable with proper time management and diligence. If you put in the work, good things will come. I’m choosing Tech because I am looking for an school that will challenge me and provide me with a highly marketable degree (not to mention the excellent location and various campus activities/facilities).</p>
<p>College Pr0wler’s Ga Tech site has a bunch of positive reviews.</p>
<p>It said the teachers were bad. I disagree.The teachers aren’t bad, but let’s be honest, science courses, unless you have a really good/creative teacher (or additional components to the classes), don’t get but so fun in terms of format. And then there are limitations imposed when class sizes get large. Private schools (and publics with an engineering school) deal with such issues much less. Last I checked, many Tech profs. were doing as well as they could to make learning active, even in such a large environment. I for example visited a biology class at Tech (seeing a friend and was w/another friend from Emory) and perhaps due to it being in a new auditorium, it was much more interesting than last year. The profs. tried to actually engage students (walked up and down isles to assist) and there was even an interesting case study to present the material. It was very similar to the way most teachers do intro. biology here (except some classes are completely case based). The only difference I noticed is that the engagement from the students was ridiculously low. I remember one student walking out mid-lecture to buy Starbucks (right upstairs from auditorium) and then returning. Other students had their laptops out on facebook or watching movies even when the learning activity (case study hand-out/problems) was occurring. Some students were going all the way across the auditorium to merely visit friends (and not confer about the activity). So honestly, if some students aren’t getting anything from their professors at Tech and then get a low grade on a test, it may be their faults. When the prof. makes huge strides to actually engage and the engagement is not reciprocated, what else can be done. And I could tell that the size of the class (the auditorium was HUGE, and even if the prof. was “reaching out”, if you sat distal to the isle or front of classroom, I can see how it can be kind of isolating) was an issue. However, peer institutions (not us, ours only have 50-80 per section, not the typical 200-250 at other top schools) have similar sized intros. and I doubt that level of disengagement exists on the students’ parts. Many of the students in that biology class for example, should have just stayed home. That behavior usually isn’t acceptable in ours (I know gen. chem doesn’t even allow laptops and it’s discouraged in other intros). And if you were to leave and return with coffee, you would be called out and put on spot, likely by name. And the auditoriums are designed so that random visiting of neighbors would create an awkward, distracting scene. I don’t know, the scene is just different there, and the profs. can perhaps only partially be blamed and often not at all (I’ve seen many bad apple profs. here get much more respect and engagement than that good prof. I saw there. I’ll say that I haven’t seen this in any of the upperlevel classes at Tech that I’ve observed though. Some of such classes would be somewhat disengaged, but not to an extremely rude level. And some were downright excellent.)</p>
<p>KamelAkbar: Most people at Emory wanted to go to Harvard or some Ivy/Ivy plus, yet normally students are hardly disgruntled. Most get over it pretty quickly. Something else happens at Tech, and I don’t think it’s necessarily Tech’s fault. Nor is it disgruntlement from getting turned down from elsewhere. I would assess why many of them are there and why they attend or take certain classes (especially the freshmen classes). Is it because they are genuinely interested (or obligated to learn it or else), or are they going through motions thinking it’ll be easy so they can make an A/B and then move on to upperclass work (I mean, for example, how can a professor suck the life out of material that you really don’t want to learn in the first place). Because how they do and approach freshman year classes can leave a mark on how they view the quality of teaching and the education there (and then their attitude in those classes may persist in upperlevels. Are students at Tech legit engaged in the academic process or trying to “get out”/“get by” in hopes that the degree puts them in an excellent position. This may explain differences between it and its peers and the way students rate the education. The peers have more of the former. Students at MIT, for example, are quite intellectual. Would the Tech student have actually enjoyed an MIT education better or would it merely be a school that makes “getting on” harder?). If they were disengaged and didn’t do well or even did poorly, Tech will get bad reviews in certain areas. We have, for example, the pre-meds, who are often disingenious in terms of actually wanting to learn a subject or course, but feel obligated to learn it anyway. They thus tend to reciprocate engagement efforts (sometimes the intro. classes can become quite vibrant academically despite the large size, do to this) in the classroom and also tend to perform decently. It’s like the students are less apathetic about what they are getting out of a prof (and if they are, they get lower grades, very simple).</p>
<p>That site is full of it, plain and simple. It’s probably a student that failed out (they even call out that poster as a parent of a student who was expelled for cheating and is a known problem poster).</p>
<p>There are a few actual arguments in the article:</p>
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<p>Georgia Tech did not have an MBA program in 2002. 2003 was the very first MBA class. And the MBA program is first tier.</p>
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<p>Georgia Tech graduates the most African American engineers in the nation (and individually the most PhD’s and most BS’s) and has one of the highest percentages of black enrollment of any engineering school in the country.</p>
<p>[Black</a> On Campus Blog Archive Georgia Tech #1 for Black Engineers](<a href=“http://blackoncampus.com/2007/07/19/georgia-tech-1-for-black-engineers/]Black”>Black On Campus » Blog Archive » Georgia Tech #1 for Black Engineers)</p>
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<p>Go read my other posts comparing actual crime data at GT to other schools. The post comparing GT to UGA:</p>
<p>In 2010:
GT burglaries: on campus = 26, off-campus=16
UGA burglaries: on campus = 44, off-campus = 38</p>
<p>GT vehicle thefts: on campus = 12, off-campus = 3
UGA vehicle thefts: 26</p>
<p>GT assaults: on campus = 2, off-campus = 4
UGA assaults: 38</p>
<p>GT Weapons violations: 0
UGA weapons violations: 7</p>
<p>GT to Purdue and Michigan:</p>
<p>As far as crime goes, you can compare schools (these are on and off campus of students in 2010, as reported by campus police):</p>
<p>Crime ---- GT----Purdue – Michigan
Burglary-- 42---- 46------- 54
Assault---- 6---- 25------- 34
Robbery— 3----- 1------- 13
Weapons-- 0----- 1-------- 2
Car Theft-15----- 2-------- 27</p>
<p>[GT</a> | Police Department](<a href=“http://www.police.gatech.edu/]GT”>http://www.police.gatech.edu/)</p>
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… is worthless. They ask a few hundred students “on a scale of 1 to 10… how are your professors?” Their flawed method is why BYU is #1 for most alcohol on campus one year and #1 for most sober campus the following year.</p>
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<p>GT: 94% freshman retention rate, 80% 6-year graduation rate
Illinois: 94% / 84%
UT-Austin: 92% / 81%
Texas A&M: 92% / 79%</p>
<p><a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/data/spp%2B50/page+1[/url]”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/data/spp%2B50/page+1</a></p>
<p>There’s no quantitative measure for student satisfaction. Freshman retention is usually used for that because the vast majority of freshman that leave do so voluntarily.</p>
<p>Alumni Donations: Ranking by percent of alumni giving:</p>
<p>GT: 28% and #1 Public School in the country
Illinois: 13%
UT-Austin: 15%
Texas A&M: 17% </p>
<p>[University</a> Planning & Analysis](<a href=“http://www2.acs.ncsu.edu/upa/peers/current/research_intensive/alumgiv.htm]University”>http://www2.acs.ncsu.edu/upa/peers/current/research_intensive/alumgiv.htm)</p>
<p>Regarding teaching, I have had very few classes where I actually thought the professors were just plain bad. Any research university is going to have a few bad ones.</p>
<p>You have to take that website with a grain of salt. My advisor complains constantly about students failing to do the assigned work or not coming to class and then complaining to him in person (or via their parents!) about their low grades.</p>
<p>here is my advice: DONT LISTEN TO WHAT OTHER PEOPLE SAY!!!</p>
<p>honestly, it’s all random and different for everybody. some people will vehemently disagree if i say tech is worst school in the world cuz professors dont give a flippin **** and this place is boring and full of work. some people will also go ballistics if i say you should come to tech because tech is not that bad and all the haters are just simply lazy dropouts and you will get a co op and research in tech easily and everything will be dandy and butterflies everywhere. </p>
<p>if you want the specifics:
one of my friends was top 10 in his high school. in tech, he has crap gpa and he almost got an academic probation. on the other hand, my other friend barely got into tech and now he has above 3.3 (deans list).
i had Bellissard for calc 2 and got a D for first time in my life, and my physics TA said bellissard was the easiest prof he ever had in his life and he made an A without even studying. there are alot more stories like these that i can pull but it wont really matter; im not trying to convince to you stand on any side.</p>
<p>here is the bottom line: im sorry but ONLY WAY you can find it out whether if this is right school for you is by actually attending this school and see if this is right for you.</p>
<p>if you can afford that chance(eg you live in georgia or you got tons of money or you wont mind transferring if tech doesnt work out), then go for it. if you cant, you are not worse off by not going to tech. there are other good schools. plus, if you want to be an engineer, it seems like masters is a must so you can apply to tech for masters.</p>
<p>as much as i want to talk about how horrible tech experience has been to me, to the point i want to transfer but i cant, how horrible the academics is, because professors litreally read the textbook off to me in the lectures (bad teachers everywhere) and dont do anything else then fail students and not acknowledge their efforts, and advisers dont give me good advice because i simply cant study every single hour in my weekend to get a C, and treat me like an inanimate object, and even tutors tell me they cant do this math problem when im stuck at this homework, </p>
<p>that just wont be fair because, simply that doesnt necessarily apply to you for 100% since tech is both good and bad for everybody.</p>
<p>Wow this thread is indeed very helpful !!
Thanks guys for all the opinions about Tech.</p>
<p>Also, most of those links were 10 years old. About that time, there was a rash of people found guilty in cheating in their CS class. One of them had a parent who went ballistic, taking it out on GT by telling anybody who would listen anything he could think to say about GT. </p>
<p>They have since redone the group work guidelines regarding academic integrity to avoid the issues raised back then.</p>
<p>Notice how much GT’s yield rate is up this year–>good sign.</p>
<p>My son is in Engineering ,and has heard great things about it ,if you want to be in Georgia .</p>
<p>As a current engineering student, I can tell you that most of those points constitute useless drivel. Yes, this school is hard, but everything is completely doable with good time management (most people that I know that fail and complain are the ones that have terrible time management). And no matter which school you go to, you will have some professors who suck, and you’ll have some professors who are wonderful. This is true of Tech. </p>
<p>As far as safety goes, judging from the Clery Act e-mail alerts I’ve gotten whenever a considerable crime occurs on campus, robberies/muggings generally happen to students who are stupid enough to walk around campus alone late at night. Otherwise, campus is safe enough during the day, with tons of people walking around everywhere. </p>
<p>And finally, to address student happiness, which always has people worried: Most of my friends and I are pretty happy with our lives on campus. The rigor of the academic curriculum aside, being around people who are just as interested in physics and math as I am is wonderful. There are clubs/activities for pretty much everything imaginable, and there’s always plenty to do on and around campus. Also, I feel like I’ve been given every opportunity imaginable when it comes to internships and jobs (recruiters LOVE Tech engineers), and also research (I got research as a freshman). So I’m not unhappy here.</p>
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<p>He brings up a good point. People who are at Tech just because engineering pays well are probably miserable.</p>
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<p>One of the most popular complaints I’ve heard about Tech is how bad the teachers are. I suppose it varies from person to person and their attitude/ level of engagement in class just as you mentioned.</p>
<p>Just a random question, I wonder whether profs read review about them on ratemyprof.</p>
<p>Most I know don’t read them, but they do read the CETL course reviews the students fill out at the end of the semester. Deans also read those reviews and they are considered as part of tenure review. A few complaints will be ignored (you can’t please everyone) but many poor reviews will be addressed.</p>
<p>@BanjoHitter: Do you go to Tech? =) You seem to be very informative about GT.</p>