Summer Suggestions

With the school year almost over and summer nearly here, here are a few suggestions for things you can do over the break.

• Send your test scores to UGA.  You’re not on our radar until you have contacted us in some manner, typically by sending SAT and/or ACT scores.   This means we can’t invite you to summer programs, send updates about admissions, etc.  You can send test scores to UGA as soon as you take the test, you don’t have to wait until you apply.  We super score the SAT and ACT, so why not go ahead and send your scores?
• Visit colleges you are interested in.  Summer is a great time to start looking at colleges you’re planning on applying to next fall.  Many of you will already have travel plans this summer.  If your travel happens to be near a college that you’re interested in, go ahead and schedule a visit.  It’s never too early to start visiting colleges.  You can schedule a visit to UGA online here.
• Read a book, or two or three.  Many of you are going to have summer reading lists that you must complete for school next fall.  Make sure you read all of your required books!  Reading isn’t just a way to pass time.  The benefits of reading include boosting test scores, building vocabulary and improving memory.
• Get organized.  Most students are going to apply to multiple colleges.  Each college can differ in what is required for an application.  Keep everything organized by starting a file folder for each college that you plan to apply to.  Start a checklist of everything you will need for each application and keep a calendar for important deadlines.
• Have fun!  It is summer vacation after all.  You’re going to have a very full year ahead of you with college applications, rigorous senior schedules, school activities and final exams.  Take some time to relax and enjoy your break so that when it’s time for school in the fall, you are focused and ready for your senior year.

Go Dawgs!

Final Wait List Decisions Are Made

Based on the large number of “Yes” responses we have received from wait listed students to whom we offered admission last week, we have determined that we cannot offer admission to any additional students.  Built into our decision is the assumption that some of these admitted freshmen, as in previous years, will decide not to attend UGA.

The 700 or so students remaining on the Wait List will receive an email in the next 24 hours letting them know that we are not able to offer admission.  For this group of students and all others to whom we shared this negative decision, we are sincerely sorry that we could not offer you admission.  We wish you well at the college you have chosen to attend.  We have tried to move as quickly and carefully as possible with this process and hope that by completing the process earlier than we projected, this will allow you to move forward with your other plans more easily.  Please remember that this blog cannot be used for comments regarding why you or other individuals did or did not get admitted in this final round of consideration.

Updates about the Fall Transfer Process

We are continuing to work as quickly as possible to review the remaining Fall transfer applications.  At this time, we have made roughly 1700 decisions of the 2500 applications we received this year.  The majority of Fall Transfer applications should be processed by the end of the month.

Please remember we cannot tell you when you will have a decision as this depends on many factors.  Applications are generally processed in the order in which the last required transcript was received.  Your myStatus will let you know when we received your last transcript.

Most applications completed in the beginning of March or earlier have been reviewed.  If you are transferring from an out-of-state college or a college we have not had many students apply from, your application may take a bit longer to review.  Transfer decisions are updated on the status check as they are made.

If you have been admitted and want to see how your courses transferred, log on to DegreeWorks.  Visit the Orientation site as well to learn about your next steps and to register for a session.

Congratulations to the University of Georgia students graduating today, Go Dawgs!

Wait will be over next week, hopefully sooner

Starting today, we begin offering admission to almost 100 students who had accepted our offer to be on our Wait List.  Since we have filled our Fall class from those admitted and who paid their deposit, the few offered admission from the Waiting List will begin their UGA First Year enrollment in January for the Spring 2014 term.  The day each of these admission decisions are made, we will email the good news with attached information about their two-week Commitment Deposit deadline, campus housing, Orientation and other pre-enrollment issues.  At the same time we will update their Status Check.

The good news for the University is that spots for Fall admission were totally filled by admitted students who sent deposits by the Commitment deadline.   But that left only a handful of Wait List spots, almost all for the Spring term.  As soon as possible in the coming days, we plan to email the rest of the 700 or so wait-listed students who cannot be offered admission and update their Status Check screens one final time.

For those many good students we were not able to admit from the Wait List, we thank you for choosing us as one of the options for your higher education.  We wish you the very best of college success.  We understand that this is not the news you were hoping for, and we very much appreciate your patience “waiting on the Waiting List.”  Also, please remember that there are a number of complex reasons why the University made the final decisions it did, and we respectfully remind all that this blog cannot be used for comments about why you or other individuals did or did not get admitted in this last round of consideration.

First Year Decisions, May 1 and Mid-May

As the Wednesday, May 1 national commitment deadline for accepted First Year students approaches, we are receiving a flood of questions from UGA applicants who had agreed to join our Wait List.

Our advice to all is to remember the key word in Wait List is wait.  Just as airlines can’t assign standby passengers to seats until they are sure there are seats available, we cannot admit students from the Wait List until we know if there is space available for them.  Commitment deposits from already accepted First Year students are by far the most solid predictor for how many of them will enroll.  But it’s important to understand that their May 1 deadline is a postmark (i.e. “snail mail”) deadline.

Therefore it’s unlikely that we will know whether we can offer admission to our increasingly anxious Wait List students and, if so, how many we will have space for until the middle of May and possibly later than that.  We should add that we are just as anxious and hopeful as they are.

Remember to review our Wait List FAQs for answers to many common questions.

Go Dawgs!

First Year Academic Merit Scholarships Awarded

 Over the last several weeks the Admissions staff has carefully reviewed all our newly admitted First Year students to consider them for University of Georgia academic merit scholarships.  (See the list and our discussion of merit and need-based aid at our website, https://admissions.uga.edu/article/scholarships-at-uga.html.)  Virtually all scholarships available through Admissions have now been awarded, and we have contacted each of the recipients.

At UGA, academic merit scholarships have become increasingly competitive.  This is mainly due to the limited funding we have for these awards and the high number of extremely capable students who now gain University of Georgia admission.  Nonetheless, we have somewhat increased the total number of these scholarships this year.  For example, this year we inaugurated the Classic Scholarships which are offered to academically superior out-of-state first year students.   

At this point, if you have not received notice that you have an academic merit scholarship to attend UGA, it is highly unlikely you will receive an offer of one from us in Admissions.  We are still finalizing a literal handful of specialized scholarships attached to very specific guidelines set by the generous donors who provide their funding.  You can see if you have been awarded a UGA scholarship by checking your online application Status Check.   Also, some UGA academic departments may also be awarding some scholarships which will not be reflected in the Status Check.

If you have been selected for any of our Academic Merit awards, congratulations!  Please be sure to read your offer letter carefully.  Keep it for your records.  In this letter you will see what requirements you must maintain to renew your scholarship each succeeding year and, in general, how much the scholarship is worth in relation to your overall costs.  The UGA Office of Student Financial Aid may also need to send you a revised Award letter if your scholarship was awarded after their preliminary awards were released.   

3 April QuickNotes: First Year Students, Transfers, and New Transient or Study Abroad Applicants

• FIRST YEAR STUDENTS:  Have you changed your mind about when you want to begin your freshman enrollment at UGA?
• May 15 is the last date for Accepted Fall 2013 freshmen to request a switch from starting in Fall Semester to starting Summer Semester. 
• The big deadline:  Your acceptance deposit must be received no later than the postmark deadline of Wednesday, May 1!  Another check to write, sooner than later, is for Campus Housing. 
• Are you on our Wait List?  There is still no answer as to when we will make the decision for you and a little over one-thousand other students waiting to hear.  We know “As soon as possible” is not a comfort, but it is true. Our best advice continues to be what we’ve shared with you on the Wait List FAQ, https://www.admissions.uga.edu/article/waiting-list-faq.html . 
• TRANSFER APPLICANTS:  Have you met the deadline to get your Transfer Admission documents to us?
• April 1 was the deadline for Fall Transfer student applications as well as the target deadline for us to receive all transcripts upon which we’ll make your admission decision.  Remember, we must receive current, official transcripts (not grade reports) from every college you have attended.   This includes those in which you may have been Dual Enrolled while in high school or colleges you attended only for a fraction of the first semester.
• Your Application Status Check should indicate the date we received your transcripts.  Within reason, our office will be flexible for official transcripts that arrive as late as this week or early next week.  If you have questions or special situations, you may email us at admproc@uga.edu.
• What about a transcript for courses in which you are currently enrolled?  We cannot use the credit or hours on transcripts which are not received by the deadline in order to make our transfer admission decision for you.  Decisions are based on your overall transfer GPA and the number of course credit hours you have attempted.  Subsequent transcripts following your UGA admission offer will be evaluated and the extra courses and credits will be added to your UGA files.
• So far, over 95 percent of our almost 500 completed Summer Semester transfer applications have been fully processed.  The pool of Fall Transfer applicants is five times larger.   As of April 9, only one-fourth of the Fall applications are both complete and processed by members of our documents and evaluation teams.   We are hard at work! 
• SUMMER TRANSIENT and STUDY ABROAD APPLICANTS:
• Summer Transient and Study Abroad applicants are those students currently enrolled at another college who wish to attend one term at UGA and transfer the credit back to their home institution. The credit may also be used towards meeting future Transfer Admission Requirements at UGA.
• Summer Transient applicants must submit a Letter of Good Standing or Official Transcript from their home institution along with their application. Summer is the only term Transients may take On-Campus UGA courses.  The deadlines for Transient applications and receipt of all required documents are May 1 for the “Maymester” term and May 15 for Summer term.
• Study Abroad applicants must be accepted to their UGA Study Abroad program, in addition to a Letter of Good Standing or Official Transcript from their home institution and application. For more about UGA Study Abroad and its deadlines, contact the UGA Office of International Education at http://www.uga.edu/oie/.

Go Dawgs!