I’m wondering if a student from New England would feel comfortable at the Univ of Georgia.
My daughter loved UGA, applied and was accepted but ended up on the west coast with much better financial aid from USC. Have you visited UGA? I think you will be able to tell pretty quickly if you would fit in. Be aware that you would have to pay full price (out of state tuition) to attend. You would get a better deal at a private college.
It would depend on the individual student from New England, right? That’s a very broad question.
I think questions like these come from pervasive stereotypes about Southerners and the South, but in reality, Southerners are just as diverse as New Englanders and Northeasterners. UGA is just about an hour away from Atlanta, so it has a cosmopolitan student body from the suburbs of Atlanta (which in itself has lots of transplants from all over the country, particularly the Northeast) as well as students from more rural parts of GA. There’s really no one way to “be” a Southerner or a Georgia. For example, I consider myself ‘from Atlanta’, but I moved there from New York when I was 12.
I’m not saying that there isn’t a Southern culture - there is, of course. But there’s diversity and difference within that culture. So you(r kid) might fit in, or you/they might not - it’s hard to tell only knowing that you’re/they’re from New England. I agree that you should visit.
You should definitely visit, but UGA is very southern small country town. It is in the middle of nowhere farmland, and with Atlanta traffic at the minimum is an hour and a half away from Downtown/Midtown if you are ever looking to get out for a weekend. UGA follows in the stereotype of other big SEC schools/greek life/partying, but there are pockets of real creativity and individuality if that is what you are looking for.
I went to school in a small Georgia quasi-country town (actually right outside of one), and Athens is nothing like that. For starters, it’s not small. Over 115,000 people live there. Second, it’s a college town and thus has many amenities comparable sized isolated cities lack such as a number clubs, bars catering to the college age crowd (fake IDs expected), a plethora of cultural events, etc. Finally, it’s not completely encapsulated by farm land in the way some land grant colleges are. There are a ton of forests, rivers, and a botanical garden within a few miles of UGA.
Athens, GA is generally viewed as one of the best college towns in the country. http://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/the-best-college-town-14-reasons-athens-ga-is-the-best-college-town-in-america
Visit.
My daughter just committed to Georgia! We are from suburban Chicago and she just loves it! They also gave her a scholarship so it is much cheaper than our state flagship! Visit - it’s a great place! We toured a lot of southern schools and she was between UT Austin and Georgia.
I’m someone who moved from Miami couple years ago. Miami is essentially northern NYC-like culture. I still fit in quite nicely here.
UGA/Athens is in the metro Atlanta area, so it’s not that southern. You can tell you’re in Georgia, but it’s very “northern” relative to Alabama, Mississippi, etc.
Suburban Atlanta is basically a melting pot of northern/southern culture and behavior. Lots of immigrants, northerners, and southerners here. I doubt you’ll have a hard time fitting in.
We’re in Massachusetts; my daughter and I visited last spring and she loved the campus. To me both the campus and the city of Athens seemed like a real melting pot of different types of people. I think that just as for any school it really depends on the person as to how well they would fit in at any given place, but what we experienced on our visit was “southern hospitality” but not a major southern campus culture.
My neighbor’s daughter is a sophomore and loves it; her roommate is from CA and she said she has met many different people from a variety of places outside of the large GA population.
Thanks to everyone for your advice - we will be visiting in May
3anddone - do you mind me asking what your daughters GPA and SAT scores were?
Sure. She didn’t take the SAT, ACT score was 30. UGA gpa was 3.9 I believe. Her school gpa was 3.9/4.3 weighted. She applied ED and was accepted. She took almost all honors courses, dual enrollment and 5 AP classes. Hope that helps.
thank you it does help