Myths of GT Admissions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgia Institute of Technology
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The CDS list the relative importance of each academic and nonacademic factors in freshman admissions (table C7).
Racial/ethnic status is “considered”.

http://www.irp.gatech.edu/publications/common-data-set/

More fun with numbers!
Number of qualified applicants offered a place on waiting list: 3,397
Number accepting a place on the waiting list: 2,031
Number of wait-listed students admitted: 38

Percent in top tenth of high school graduating class: 81.17%

Percent who had GPA of 3.75 and higher: 87.25%
Average high school GPA of all degree-seeking, first-time, first-year (freshman) students who submitted GPA: 3.98

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MIT limits international students to 10% of the freshman class. So 90% of the freshman class must be US citizens and US permanent residents. Its a strict rule and the MIT admissions office follow it exactly. Other techy private schools, Schools like Carnegie Mellon take almost 20% foreign students and U of Southern Cal, a more well rounded but large private school with a lot of engineering students, takes about 20% international students as well. . MIT feels that MIT slots in the freshman class should be reserved for largely American students and permanent residents of the USA.

This could discussed at GT, how many international students are the right number for Tech? . This is the one lever arm the admissions office has, to limit international students if they choose to.

GT could also choose to limit the class to 70% or more Georgia Residents. That would solve the problem of the Georgia female applicant with ACT=35 getting wait listed, perhaps. Test scores have gone up a lot with all those training programs for getting 36s though! Its easy anymore for any bright student to take a high powered ACT course and get a 35 or 36. Whats college admissions to do to differentiate then?

Colorado has a state law that requires our flagship school take only 55% of Coloradoans, and 45% can be anyone else, international or out of state. But we do not have Tech’s problem with too many applicants, and we do not have Tech’s rank or reputation either.

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@InPursuit Well said!

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I am applying as transfer under the RETP program. I got rejected as freshman, but always wanted to attend tech for engineering. I have 3.63 overall GPA and 4.0 Math/science GPA, still waiting on my decision. I hope I get in :slight_smile:

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I’m not from Georgia. However, I do agree with you guys that admissions are becoming more unnecessarily selective with no effect on the the quality of the students. I feel that colleges through-out the nation are trying to boost SAT scores without looking at anything else. For those who didn’t make it to Georgia Tech, why don’t you apply to Clemson in nearby South Carolina. It has a pretty good engineering program, and it’s somewhat close to Atlanta. There’s also the University of South Carolina Honors College. They pay full tuition ,and they have a decent engineering/technology program. Don’t forget about U of Alabama Honors college

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We need to quit believing that getting into a particular college is a birthright. As parents, teachers, and school counselors, we are not serving our children well to believe that they should always get what they want. Some of mine got bad news Saturday, but by blaming out of state students, the people reading the applications, or whomever, we’re teaching our kids that if they don’t get what they want, clearly someone is at fault. No. Sometimes you try, amd you don’t succeed, and that’s ok. Many good schools in the state and country that your worth shouldn’t depend on going to a big name institution.

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I never said that going to a certain college is a birthright, and no one on this forum said that. However, there is an argument to be made that in-state Georgia students who have high scores and GPAs don’t get accepted into the school. Georgia Tech’s main mission is to serve the people of Georgia first .At the same time, I do agree with you that some people on this forum are unnecessarily blaming out-state students. Since Georgia Tech is taking in federal money through research grants, then a large minority of the student population should be out of state.

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Since 2000, there has been an increase in the number of in-state undergraduates enrolled at Tech. However, the state population has grown from about 8 million to close to 10.5 million (30%+ increase in state population).

Putting aside out of state students, the issue is a sharp increase in-state students who are competing for those undergraduate slots and have made admissions much more competitive. Georgia has also seen a sharp increase in the number of AP classes taken and passed, helping to build an even stronger group of applicants for Tech.

The state of Georgia simply has more well qualified engineering students, than Tech can enroll. That’s always been the case, it’s just far worse now.

In-state engineering students, do have the option of going out of state, and schools like Auburn and Clemson have always been popular options for Georgia residents, but you do have to pay OOS tuition and will lose any in-state scholarships.

The state of Georgia needs to build up 2 or 3 more engineering programs, to give in-state students better (and more affordable) options. Even Alabama (population less than 5 million) has more “good” engineering programs to choose from, including Auburn, UA, UAB, UAH, etc.

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Oh, it has been Georgia’s population increase that has been driving up competitiveness coupled with more out-of-state applications. Also, how would compare Clemson to Tech when it comes to CS and engineering. Are they both on equal grounds, is Ga Tech a little better, or is there a vast difference?

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Go to Georgia Tech, or go out of state. It’s a false choice. There are three other public schools in the state where students can earn an engineering degree. You may think you’re ‘above’ those schools. You may not like the other options, but you do have options. In my experience, people are just fine with perceived arbitrary metrics for admission until it’s their kid that doesn’t get picked.

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First of all, I’m out of state. Secondly, I know that UGA offers engineering degrees. Most public schools do. I know that my chances of getting admission into Ga Tech are probably low. That is why I plan to apply to these schools.

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Your in-state engineering options, outside of Tech, are limited.

Georgia Southern University, which has a small program that offers degrees mostly in Civil, EE and ME.
Kennesaw State University, which offers Civil, EE, ME (and very small programs in CS and Systems engineering).
and UGA, which is expanding it’s programs, but just started to offer degree programs in EE and ME (they are still seeking ABET accreditation).

In comparison, Tech awards BS degrees in 11 different engineering programs, not counting CS.

If a student is competitive for Tech, they most likely will be offered merit at Auburn, Clemson, Alabama, etc., which offer a far greater range of programs. Clearly Auburn or Clemson can offer far more to an engineering student than GSU, it simply comes down to cost (like most things).

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I’M NOT FROM GEORGIA!!! LOL

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But thx for trying to help

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UGA and GT are competing with each other. UGA has started up an engineering program and GT is building up things like International Affairs (a strong point for UGA). Kennesaw State is flying under the radar. I know a CS guy who went there and hit it big.

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So Georgia has a shortage of good engineering colleges?

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Things have changed since I posed this original thread.

UGA’s engineering program has since improved significantly - even more programs ABET accredited. Along with that, MS and PhD engineering programs are also moving along.

KSU has also improved significantly. No more are they just limited to Engineering Technology degrees. They have strong ABET programs.

UGA has a strong presence in GA, being our flagship institution, and due to that, we are fortunate that they are in our GA government strongly. That presence was the difference when GT tried to stop UGA’s Engineering program from expanding. At the end, had GT won, they would have expanded their own GT engineering program indeed, but most likely given the spots to whatever quotas they wanted to fill to look good on paper, and left the in-state students having to transfer.

Times have changed, and a UGA engineer, as they start to come into the market, are starting to prove their mettle. For GT liberal arts grads for example, they are able to be competitive for jobs due to GT engineering’s strong rep. The same way, UGA’s amazing rep has leaked down to its engineering grads

I started my career at GT; and spent many years there. It has a special place in my heart. I love GT, but Admissions really ruined the school tremendously. Let’s be clear, its not GT that’s bad, it’s the undergrad admissions which has really really caused much damage to our in-state students, in the sense that it failed our young generation.

In my opinion, the state realized this, and GT lost its monopoly to GSU (southern), KSU, and UGA.

There was a time I (being a Jacket) was really against UGA and KSU Engineering vs GT. But now, when I speak to new extremely competent engineer’s (or aspiring engineer’s) in our state, and hear that they came from UGA or KSU, I am indeed happy. I feel like the quality of education is the same if not better.

I recommend UGA and KSU engineering the same, if not more than GT. I have seen what they can do.

There was a time I couldn’t see myself saying this, but with a full, due, and grateful heart for all that they’ve done for our state and students:

GO DAWGS!!!

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Very true and well said. UGA has picked up considerably in engineering. there students are on par with GT now. I couldn’t imagine saying that just 10 years ago.

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@Gator88NE

Your comment:

“Your in-state engineering options, outside of Tech, are limited.”

Is not relevant (anymore).

UGA (especially), and KSU have really changed this dynamic. I’d say UGA is on par with Auburn/Clemson, etc., but honestly, it feels like to me that their students are starting to compete with GT. They are a competent bunch indeed.

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@college450 First, UGA has gotten very selective, and it has great students, including the engineering students.

However, It’s still in the process of building up it’s engineering program. It’s program offers are still limited (especially graduate school).

Undergraduate programs offered at UGA:
BS Agricultural Engineering
BS Biochemical Engineering
BS Biological Engineering
BS Civil Engineering
BS Computer Systems Engineering
BS Electrical & Electronics Engineering
BS Environmental Engineering
BS Mechanical Engineering

The number of BS degree’s awarded at UGA in 2016:

Agricultural Engineering: 36
Biochemical Engineering: 19
Biological Engineering: 21
Civil Engineering: 17
Computer Systems Engineering: 13
Electrical and Electronics Engineering: 0
Environmental Engineering: 17
Mechanical Engineering: 0
Unspecified - Engineering: 0
Totals: 123
UGA also awarded 11 Masters and 7 Doctoral Degrees.
Research Expenditures: $5,359,000
Number of Teaching, Tenure-Track Faculty: 52

Compare to Clemson:
Total # BS degrees: 940
Masters: 440, Doctoral Degrees: 97
Research Expenditures: $36,245,649
Number of Teaching, Tenure-Track Faculty: 208

UGA still has a ways to go before it’s engineering program is comparable to Clemson’s or Auburns, even though it’s students are at least the equal of those at the other two institutions. Note that UGA is building up it’s program, so the number of BS degree’s awarded is going to significantly go up over the next few years, as the new students work through the program.

A lot of this data can be found at:
http://profiles.asee.org/

Now, if I was a Georgia resident, I could very well pick UGA for mechanical engineering over Clemson or Auburn, but it would be a choice driven by cost (which is not a bad thing).