Myths of UGA Admissions

Every year, UGA's Admissions Office works with a large number of prospective students (about 60,000 and growing for 2012), sending them materials, emailing them information, inviting them to campus events, and alerting them about our travel. A majority of these students come to our attention due to an action by the student (SAT/ACT scores sent to UGA, email our office, see us at College Fairs/School Visits, etc.), and we try to give both the student and the family the best information about UGA as possible. Last week, we received an email from the parent of one of these prospective students in response to an email announcing that we would be at a college fair in their area.

My daughter received this email message from you today via email.  We both laughed and laughed when we read it.

To be honest with you, (XXXX) kids from where we live in (Atlanta Suburb) County with 3.7x or higher grade point averages and above average SAT and ACT scores, as a general rule don’t get into UGA for Freshman admission.  If we are admitted at all, we are admitted in the summer, have to go to (XXXXX) State for a semester or get turned down outright or get "delayed" decision.

Frankly,  we really do not not have any intention of even applying to the University of Georgia.  She can be easily be admitted to any of the leading universities in the USA (UNC, USC, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Arizona, UCLA to name a few )  we thought it best to look beyond the University of Georgia!  Our perception of your admissions process is that you accept freshman from other parts of Georgia, other states, other countries and other races and religions so that you will be able to tout impressive diversity numbers, but how many of those admitted with lesser credentials than my daughter actually stay for 4 years?

We are not going to waste the time or money completing an application to the University of Georgia. 

I have removed the personal information about this student so as not to target any individual, and I am not writing this post out of anger or to make fun of this family. Rather, I am writing about this to show that even though my office tries its best to give you an insight into our admission process, and we dispel the myths and urban legends about UGA Admissions, they still persist and live on year after year.

What I would ask of all of you is to help spread the word about this blog, the Top Ten Urban Legends about UGA Admissions page, and about our office in general so that the reality of what my office does gets out to the public. It gets frustrating to have to stamp out myths again and again, much less from an individual who initially contacted us for information. In the email, I count at least 7 myths, from it being easier to be admitted if a student is out-of-state, international, non-Atlanta suburb, a different race (optional on the application and asked per federal requirements) or religion (not even asked on the application!), that summer is a forced option, or that these students do poorly in 4-year graduation rates.

My suggestion to everyone is to do your own research on each college's admission process, be wary when you hear someone start a sentence with "Well I heard that UGA looks at ...", and to please share this information with your counselors, your classmates, and your friends. I try my best to give you an honest insight into UGA Admissions, but I can only stomp out so many myths.

Thank you for helping, and Go Dawgs!