This could be a huge boost to In-State students, then again, Will the University find a loop to defer even more kids into the RD rounds in order to make it even more competitive in the EA rounds by perhaps accepting fewer applicants? Perhaps, this could also allow for lower stat kids to get into these two schools and affect enrollment at other regional Georgia State schools as well as Alabama, Auburn, and USC who are highly dependent for some of the other students
As it is, UGA only enrolls about 18 percent of OOS students. It is also not known to give a lot of merit to OOS Students. Many of the OOS kids accepted in the EA rounds will NOT choose to go to UGA due to the lack of Merit. GTECH stands at about 40% including international which is much much higher and again very little merit.
I don’t really understand the point of a 10% limit only in EA…if the 18% OOS/international cap is still in place then it seems OOS/international acceptances would just be a greater proportion of the acceptances in the RD round. And high achieving Georgia students can generally still apply to UGA EA even if they are applying ED or restricted early action.
I doubt they want the OOS/international % in toto to go below the 18% mark because that would likely result in a decrease in net revenues (assuming any OOS fin aid does not come close to equalizing costs between in and out of state, where OOS COA is $20K greater than in-state)
There is a lot of pressure on UGA to take kids from all over the state instead of just the highest academic kids which tend to be on the north side of Atlanta. GT doesn’t have the same requirement because it’s not as popular. GT is a great school, but when you walk around Atlanta it’s rare to see a HS kid wearing GT gear.
Personally I think UGA is smart to take high stat kids from OOS, give them merit, and hope they stay in state post graduation.
ETA: I didn’t realize the bill set the 10% limit for UGA, GT, Augusta, and Ga State. 10% limit will hurt GT the most.
@AlwaysMoving I agree with you. I do not mind that UGA and GTECH have higher standards for admission vs the other in-state regionals. I do not completely buy into the example of the student being deferred from UGA and being accepted by Vanderbilt and Tennessee in the sense that just because X student has those stats, it should be a guarantee for admission. Besides, it is not as if the student was denied. I think UGA makes it clear that they try to use a holistic approach to admissions. I also do not buy into the idea that due to tax dollars being used to educate HS students, these students need to be accepted to GTECH or UGA. There are plenty of other schools in Georgia where these kids can succeed and be accepted. In addition, UGA makes it clear that they use the same standards EA as they used for RD so I just do not see how this bill will help anyone. If anything, it might make it even more competitive to get into the EA rounds due to these schools accepting fewer students and causing even more stress, For those leaving the State which is some cases is by choice (my daughter being one) many gains are achieved as well. Those that came from OOS end up staying and contributing to the State. It is not as if the OOS kids are tapping into the HOPE or ZELL scholarship.
@AlwaysMoving - not sure what you mean about GT not being as popular? They had 10k more applications than UGA for half as many spots in the freshman class. High school students wearing school spirit apparel means nothing - think of all the kids walking around in Harvard sweatshirts . . . UGA is a state football school - hence all the gear. There is a lot of controversy about GT. It is one of the very highest ranked engineering schools in the nation (Top 5 in almost all disciplines). This results in only the very highest applicants getting in. I think the solution rather than “dumbing down” GT is to expand engineering programs at UGA, Kennesaw State, etc. for those who don’t get into GT.
Why in the world would they want to hobble Ga Tech like that?
Its stature has been rising to the point where it is a nationally respected institution, approaching the levels of Michigan and Berkeley in the areas where they compete. A large part of that is that it was getting strong applicants from across the nation.
This truly baffles me. Georgia Tech actually exceeds the levels of Michigan and Berkeley in most disciplines, and in some, even exceeds the likes of Stanford. Look up its ratings for Industrial Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, BioMed Engineering, and numerous others. I don’t get it. It’s hard for anyone to get into GT for CS or engineering, but the OOS accepted students are the cream of the crop. They are the ones driving this bus, so to speak, so to reduce their numbers seems preposterous. The proposal would close the doors of GT to many of these stellar prospective students while admitting a lesser quality of in-state applicants who are currently ineligible to attend because they can’t make the cut. That would surely diminish the quality of this institution. It seems that it would be in the best interest of the state to preserve and fortify it, not knock it down. Talk about ruining a good thing.
@mrminsky Because my older student is at Vanderbilt and my younger one has been very interested in UGA, ABSOLUTELY it’s possible a student was deferred from UGA EA round and accepted to Vanderbilt’s ED round or vice versa! The admission’s policies and what they value are VERY DIFFERENT for these two universities. First of all, UGA came right out and said that for approximately top 1/4 of academically performing students admitted in the EA round this school year they DID NOT HOLISTICALLY read their applications (from the UGA admission’s blog.) This means potentially students with ZERO, or weak, extracurricular activities could have been admitted to UGA during the EA round. By contrast, Vanderbilt states right on its admitted student statistics that “100% of admitted students held a significant leadership position or won a major award.” Additionally, Vanderbilt factors in demonstrated interest, diversity factors, and legacy status (including if a sibling has or is currently attending) and UGA claims it does not. Finally, UGA Fellowship Scholarships and Honors Program REALLY rely on the SAT/ACT as a pretty heavy deciding factor on awards. While obviously Vanderbilt also requires generally high SAT/ACT for admissions, merit scholarships are generally decided on factors beyond these test scores. Additionally, Vanderbilt has a TWO binding ED rounds where there are no deferrals - its an “admitted” or “denied” final decision for Vanderbilt ED, which will recruit over 50% of their incoming freshman class through this process. For this reason, Vanderbilt’s statistics for ED admitted students are generally lower than the students admitted to the more competitive RD round. However, Vanderbilt also locks in students using ED binding who generally commit to paying a high tuition which offsets that school’s “meeting 100% of demonstrated need” policy. The number of international Chinese students paying full tuition at Vandy is insane! By contrast, UGA does not have a binding early option, nor do they guarantee “meeting 100% of student’s financial need.” Therefore, UGA really has no huge incentive to commit to a large number of students during its non-binding EA round and uses deferrals liberally to just admit who they think is the best incoming class from both of their decision rounds.
@AlwaysMoving We live in a suburb of Atlanta and our high school has a STEM Academy included, and absolutely there are many students wearing GA Tech gear to high school here.
As far as the initial question about the law, I think it’s ridiculous if it’s only confined to the EA rounds. It will change very little except possibly make the percentage of students deferred to the RD rounds higher. It’s a very lame response to pressure to put in state caps like University of North Carolina (which note is still very highly ranked, despite the law.)
Not only that, he has caused the entire legislature to be quarantined because he went to special session knowing that he had been tested and was awaiting results. What a jerk!
So he was bitching and complaining that perhaps one of his kids or relatives did not get into UGA and he decided that it would be a good idea to introduce a bill and get everyone sick.