If I were a Michigan resident, I would be putting my foot down! I think essentially every college-bound kid should apply to at least 1 in-state public, if for no other reason than you can’t predict what their health situation will be 6 months from now-- what if they unexpectedly need to stay close to home?
If I were NOT a Michigan resident, I would be 100% fine with my kid refusing to apply to Michigan. It is outrageously expensive OOS.
I figured as I’m sure we’ve discussed before!!
UGA is a great school. Period, end of story.
If you told me your kid was going to WVU, UF, Wyoming, Colorado - frankly for 99% it wouldn’t make a hill of beans.
I know i’ve said it too many times - my kid went to Bama over Purdue for engineering. And my other is at Charleston (and making an impact on campus; helping refugees in the community). Charleston was the 16th of 17th schools rank wise she got into.
I’d have loved for them to choose pedigree. But guess what - it’s their lives. And frankly, the job action my son has at Bama was on par if not higher than top 20 engineering schools.
So the pedigree thing is in large part made up. Schools use it to do exactly this - make you feel not great.
When she’s in Athens, she’ll have kids that got into Ivy League and Ivy like schools - you can be assured. Georgia doesn’t let their smart kids escape. And she’ll have access to world class academics if she wants them.
Is US News going to move UGA to the top 25? Unlikely.
Do any employers out there care about that? OK - some do - but you can probably count them as a percentage on one hand.
If she’s happy, it’s a wonderful school - and she and not the school will make the impact she has on campus and in life.
I thought UGA was more comparable to Ohio State. Michigan is difficult to compare. I’m guessing only 50% of students actually come from Michigan. More like a private school.
BTW, for at least one CC member in last year’s cycle, they chose Ross BBA over Wharton, so Michigan isn’t always for Ivy rejects.
Ya, but the law quad sure is “purdy” tho. 
Harvard and Michigan certainly have a lot in common. For instance neither will win a football national championship this year😀
My staff gave me a similar shirt just before I left my company in Michigan for HBS. I still have it:
Funny how many don’t know the “M” in HYPSM stands for Michigan. Harvard is littered with Michigan rejects.
Not every person living in a state is close to the colleges. Many students attending U of Wyoming actually live closer to Idaho or Montana schools than the 9 hours it takes them to get to Laramie. Those NE states are so small they have to share a puzzle piece on the old maps. Students can get to many OOS schools fast, even 5 states away.
I did tell my kids that they had to apply to one instate (Florida) school, but they both got into other schools early, with money to bring them lower than the Florida publics would have cost, so they never applied to the ‘safety’. One did go to a private school in Florida and used her BF and other state grants. So much for my ‘rules’.
39% out of state at Michigan vs 13% at Georgia
I can’t find the source, but I remember seeing that two of the top ten individual HS sources of UM students annually are Bronx Science and Stuyvesant (NYC).
Last year UGA had higher than expected OOS yield and ended up enrolling something like 24% OOS. So starting with this year’s admission cycle they will take residency into consideration with the goal of enrolling at least 80% residents. They are also legislatively mandated to admit students from all across the state, not just the highest stat students. So while their current enrolled stats are impressive compared to a decade or so ago, the goal to educate the whole state’s residents will keep stats lower than if they simply admitted the most academically accomplished applicants.
Since UGA joined the common app a few years ago its OOS applications have increased exponentially. Having a champion football team hasn’t hurt either. So over time I do believe UGA will have more of a national uni reputation than the regional one of the past. More OOS applicants = more OOS familiarity… yada yada.
As far as comparing to Michigan, I think that is silly and apples and oranges for multiple reasons. But for the OP, UGA is a very good uni and continues to move up the rankings, if that is important to you. I’m not sure if you mentioned your kid’s major or if she is interested in the Honors College, but that could make it even more reputationally appealing.
Bottom line, will your kid be happy there and thrive?
Based on Fall 2019 data:
Although, Michigan in the last two admissions cycles, 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, judging by the postings here on CC, appear to be diversifying their freshman cohort more.
That is woefully out of date!
The information is from UGA’s current Common Data Set.
UF is easier for some to get in than UGA. We know several who got into UF from Georgia who did not get into UGA. Stats are basically identical. The difference is that UF weighs honors classes and UGA does not. The kids we know who got into UF but not UGA had plenty of honors classes but not as many APs.
My senior for example has a 4.37 UGA GPA but a 4.68 UF GPA using core classes only. Test score ranges are the same for both schools and these two GPAs are comparable - both over 75th percentile of admitted students. I do think weighing honors classes puts kids in admission range for UF that would be out of range for UGA.
Not sure the date of the CDS or year covered but here is the admitted student info from last year - class of 2022.
GPA - 4.0 - 4.3
SAT - 1350- 1420
ACT - 31 - 34
Number of APs 7-12
Links are helpful when posting data.
The most recent CDS is from 2021-22, so for Class of 2025/current college sophomores…two admission cycles ago. UGA was test optional that year, 36% reported SAT scores and 31% reported ACT scores.
For Class of 2026, acceptance rate was 42%.
Mid 50% SAT-1340-1480
Mid 50% ACT - 31-34
Curious test data as UGA required tests for Class of 2026.
IMO, UGA’s intense focus on APs hurts them in attracting/admitting strong students from OOS. Many top high schools across the country limit APs, or don’t offer any at all. Some students from these type of schools don’t have good admission results at UGA, yet these students had highly rigorous educations and would run academic circles around some of the UGA students who are coming from less rigorous schools (even though the students take many APs). It doesn’t seem UGA understands these OOS schools’ curricula, or maybe something else is going on that I am not aware of.
@VirginiaBelle and @Mwfan1921: You both posted statistics for students accepted to UGA, of whom the majority are attending college elsewhere.
Ahhh, that is correct, UGA hasn’t provided enrolled data yet for class of 2026. So, acceptance rate won’t change, but test range data should come down a bit.
But, We are at a point in college admissions where data from two years ago is less than helpful, and potentially misleading. (Which is where we are at right now with 2021/22 CDSs and IPEDs)
This is all I could find on Class of 2026.
ETA: Reminder that Class of 2026 was required to submit test scores. I expected scores to drop from the previous TO year, but according to the article that was not the case.
More info in the article linked above but some stats… The rigor of students’ high school coursework relative to what is available at their school remains a key factor in admissions decisions at UGA. The first-year students arrive with an average of nine Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or dual-enrollment courses. The class has an average high school GPA of 4.12, the sixth consecutive year that the average weighted high school GPA of the entering students exceeds 4.0. The class of 2026 also posts an average ACT score of 32, tying last year’s record, and an average SAT score of 1384.
I don’t disagree about the focus on APs. It is a problem in-state as well. Many privates limit APs. Many rural areas offer few, if any, so kids there will often use DE to show rigor. However, UGA gives no boost to DE grades so that hurts the UGA GPA.
But this is probably going off topic. 
