I just got accepted to UGA and Georgia tech and I’m having a hard time choosing between them. My major would probably be MIS for uga and either business or industrial engineering at Georgia tech. I am worried about the difficulty of engineering since I’m not a big fan of calculus. I also am worried about the social life at tech because I’ve heard that all people do there is study. On the other hand I really enjoyed ugas atmosphere but am worried about the strength of the degree and the starting salary.
Industrial engineering at Tech is a great program. It’s hard of course.
Business degrees I have no opinion on that would be useful in this thread.
As a Tech alum I’d say it requires hard work. However there is plenty to do too.
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Have you done a tour at GT? We just did yesterday (my dd is accepted to both schools as well). The tour was fantastic and should calm your fears about no social life.
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I have done tours of both schools and enjoyed the atmosphere of uga and Athens more than tech and Atlanta. I want to pursue a career in business rather than engineering but I heard IE opens more doors in the business field than a traditional business degree
I think your decision is made.
What do you mean?
To me, first is where do you feel comfortable - they are vastly different.
Secondly, I’d look at the coursework - you’ve already expressed concern on one side of it - so which overall (four years) would you prefer?
Both are fine schools.
meaning this:
You seem to be comfortable with UGA. Go there and make the most of your opportunities.
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MIS majors at UGA do very well. I would not worry about starting salary. Both UGA and GT are excellent options. It just depends on where you feel more comfortable.
Imo, you will have more fun at UGA. My DD played a club sport at UGA and the GT girls rarely ever had time for the post-game mixers.
My son is a current ISyE major at GT. Great program but tough. You could major in business at GT instead. Less stressful.
You don’t like calculus and prefer UGA over GT…by a lot.
Congrats. Go to UGA and don’t look back.
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The biggest red flag is, “I’m not a big fan of calculus.” Be very careful picking engineering, especially at a notoriously difficult program, if you don’t enjoy calculus. Engineering is very heavy in math and physics. Your high school level calculus is beginning math compared to what the engineering field will have you master.
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I’d pick UGA all day, every day. Tech is a tremendous school but from all I’ve heard, it’s still has the “weeder” philosophy. Your GPA will be much harder to keep up, not because the education is so much better, but because Tech makes it a point to try to prove it’s elite— this can result in very good students feeling terrible about themselves. Plus, Tech is right there in the middle of ATL and UGA is in Athens, one of the coolest college towns in America. Just my take (having been born in ATL and spending a lot of time in GA my whole life)
The weeder philosophy is not the experience my son (and many of his friends) is having so far at GT and GPAs are definitely inflated at GT.
Definitely a big difference in going to school in Athens v Atlanta though.
UGA is a very good school but it’s not elite. GT is — in fact, it’s ranked #1 in the US for industrial engineering. If you can get through it, your job prospects are golden. Yes, it’s really hard. That’s one of the reasons it’s so good at what it does. GT biz school is now in the top 20 for biz schools and the administration, wishing to capitalize on this, is putting considerable resources into Scheller.
It’s not true that GT kids don’t have fun. They frequently party and participate in activities, especially the Greek kids, and many maintain high GPAs while maintaining an active social life. The difference is that they also study very, very hard. I think it’s fair to say that some serious sleep deprivation results. But most GT students think the trade off is worth it, and would pick GT over UGA in a heartbeat. It would be a no-brainer for me to pick GT— you’re very lucky to have gotten in.
This is not meant GT in any way, but golden needs to be in perspective. A GT IE grad’s prospects are very good, but engineers of all stripes have good prospects from most schools. GT is one of the best for IE with average salaries at two years of $76K. There are 25 programs though where that number is $71K or higher.
The difference won’t be that you chose UGA or GT. It will be what MIS option you choose versus an engineering degree.
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I’m glad to hear that it hasn’t been your son’s experience. My family members who have gone to GT felt differently.
If you don’t like calculus take any engineering degree off the table.
So it’s UGA MIS vs GT business?
My son started in Scheller and transferred to ISyE. He definitely studies more now. He has a social life but not as much when he was in Scheller. You still will need some calculus in Scheller. AP credits could take care of that or you could take it at a local CC in the summer. GT has been fairly generous with transfer credits. Academic advisors have no issue recommending CC summer classes.
As for the culture at GT…if you’re CS/Engineering it can be stressful. It’s just tough. No way around it. Scheller not as much. Lots to do in Atlanta, lots of intern/job opportunities and the GT name probably carries a little more weight than UGA in certain circles. Also, probably 8k business undergrads at UGA. Probably less than 1500 at Scheller.
If you you’re interested in grade inflation/deflation here you go.
https://lite.gatech.edu/lite_script/dashboards/grade_distribution.html
My son is an engineer at Bama and takes math I’ve never heard of.
My daughter is a social science at Charleston (International Studies) and needs calc (business calc) and Stats. She could have tested out with AP Calc AB but bombed the test last year - so if you don’t have that, you’ll likely need calc in college.
I was a journalism and history major 30 years ago at Syracuse - and I needed calc.
I don’t think calc is avoidable although today you can test out.
At GT there is no business calc. It’s basically Calc 1 and Calc 2 for everyone. GT admits kids they they think can handle any program. S20 jumped from business to ISyE. If you’re a business student the key is to not take the sections with CS/Engineering kids.
That said, you can test out with AP credits or take them at a local CC. It’s not an issue.
Wow, they’re generous with As! I though GT had a reputation for grade deflation. Boy I was wrong!
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