tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16108856843470836352024-03-13T08:36:40.230-04:00Advice about the UGA Admission ProcessHelpful Hints for Prospective Students and Parents from the Senior Associate Director of Operations and Selection.DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.comBlogger556125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-13140148370400362032019-07-09T13:16:00.000-04:002019-07-09T13:17:58.261-04:00Emergency CodesLast week, I volunteered for my 23rd year as a cabin counselor at Camp Sunshine, a camp for children with cancer. The campers during my week range from 7-12 years of age, and there is a wide range of situations with the campers, from ones who have been off treatment for years and having no challenges to campers missing limbs or going through medical care while at camp. Every year before the campers arrive, the camp staff goes over a list of camp rules to make sure the week goes by without any problems. This training covers a wide range of things, from important safety information from the medical staff (hydration and sunscreen are key buzzwords), to the codes for a variety of different possible emergencies. Here is the short list of the emergency codes from camp:<br />
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Code Red</b> - Fire emergency at camp.<br />
<b>Code Blue</b> - Possible bomb/active shooter.<br />
<b>Code Yellow</b> - Missing camper emergency.<br />
<b>Code Gray</b> - Thunderstorm spotted.<br />
<b>Code Black</b> - Tornado Warning.<br />
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When you're working with a large group of people scattered around a huge camp space, you need to prepare for any possible issue and quickly alert people to any issue. As you can guess, most of these codes never occur. The only code used this year was code gray, but thunderstorms are normal for summer afternoons in Georgia. I did have a code yellow once, but the camper was just hiding out in the snack shack eating candy bars prior to leaving camp. Emergency codes fit the idea of the quote from Benjamin Franklin "If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail."<br />
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A number of different organizations have "codes" in place for issues, from K-12 schools to manufacturing plants to hospitals, with each group aligning their codes to the possible emergencies at hand. My wife has been a nurse for almost 30 years, and I know that if we are talking on the phone and I hear "Code Blue" in the background, I need to get off the phone with her. Different codes have different levels of urgency and actions to take.<br />
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While there are no official Emergency Codes in Admissions, there are a few codes all of us in admissions would probably like to add. Please take these with a large grain of salt:<br />
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<li><b>Code Red</b> - Academic Implosion. When a student has an overall strong application, but there are areas on the transcript with seriously low grades (multiple C/D/F grades). This code becomes more serious the later the implosion occurs in the four years of HS, with little chance of survival if it occurs in senior year.</li>
<li><b>Code Blue</b> - Over-involved Parent Emergency. When a parent becomes the main conduit for communication about the student's file. The level of seriousness grows exponentially if parent pretends to be the student over the phone or in an email.</li>
<li><b>Code Yellow</b> - Missing application effort. When a student gives us almost no information about themselves in the application, especially in the activities areas. Extreme complications occur when a student writes "Sorry, I did not have time to do the essays." Code usually occurs in the hours leading up to the application deadline.</li>
<li><b>Code Gray</b> - Over-inflation of activities/essays. When an applicant embellishes on their activities/essays in describing their high school years. High level of alert can be found when the student's primary assistance in the essays is a thesaurus.</li>
<li><b>Code Black</b> - Extreme Overconfidence. When a student/parent does not understand that there are 30,000 freshman applying to UGA, thus causing a misunderstanding of the competitiveness of the applicant pool. Level of the code is raised with trophies/awards from elementary school years are mentioned.</li>
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I hope you have reviewed these "admission codes" with a sense of humor as intended, and Go Dawgs!</div>
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DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-41313816808036935672019-05-30T12:35:00.001-04:002019-05-30T12:35:36.468-04:002020 Freshman Essay Questions<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #444444;">Every year, our office reviews the freshman application for changes that we would like to see for the next year. During this review, we also look at the short essay questions that are required for First Year applicants. Based on our review of the essays from last year, we are keeping the essay prompts the same as last year. We require one short essay that all applicants must complete, and four additional short essay topics with the applicant selecting to respond to one of these. These two essays should be between 200-300 words and remember to focus on substance and not word count. Before submitting your application and essays, always remember to proofread and edit! The First Year application will be available on September 1, but we thought that some people would want to know the essay prompts earlier than that date. Based on the essays we read last year, we do have one suggestion - Please remember your audience. For some reason, we had a large number of essays about bodily functions this year, and while these might be good stories for late night gatherings with friends, they might not be the best admission essays.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">Here are the five essay questions, with Essay 1 being required and Essays 2-5 being four options from which the applicant selects one.</span><span style="color: #444444;"> </span></div>
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">(<b style="color: #444444;">Required</b><span style="color: #444444;">) The college admissions process can create anxiety. In an attempt to make it less stressful, please tell us an interesting or amusing story about yourself from your high school years that you have not already shared in your application.</span></li>
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<span style="color: #444444;">Essays 2-5, </span>Choose one of the following four:</div>
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<span style="border: 1pt none; color: #444444; padding: 0in;">UGA’s 2017 Commencement speaker Ernie Johnson (Class of ’79) told a story from his youth about what he refers to as blackberry moments. He has described these as </span><span style="color: #444444;">“the sweet moments that are right there to be had but we’re just too focused on what we’re doing …, and we see things that are right there within our reach and we neglect them. Blackberry moments can be anything that makes somebody else’s day, that makes your day, that are just sweet moments that you always remember.” Tell us about one of your “blackberry moments” from the past five years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">What is the hardest part of being a teenager now? What is the best part? What advice would you give to a younger sibling or friend (assuming they would listen to you)?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">Describe a problem, possibly related to your area of study, which you would like to solve. Explain its importance to you and what actions you would take to solve this issue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">I have also included a sample essay from this past application cycle to give you an example of what we consider a strong essay, and it is from "interesting or amusing story" prompt.</span></div>
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<b>January appeared bittersweet. Exhilaration filled my body with new year jitters and reminders that half a school year remained. Sadness marinated as winter break ended, and 3AM bedtimes became nonexistent. I walked through my home in fuzzy socks, hoping school would delay itself one more week! My Christmas presents no longer had much of my time, and I struggled finding the coziest jacket for ice-cold temperatures. As Christmas time floated away, I began to cherish the moments.</b></div>
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<b>The night of January 2nd, I was wide awake as if Santa would arrive. I shared stories on FaceTime with my friend and smothered myself in warm blankets. The night grew old, and I dozed off into a cozy slumber. Around 8:30 AM, I was awakened by my 21-year-old brother. Confused and half-awake, cranky was an understatement, because my 3 AM bedtime never fibbed. He informed me that someone was outside to meet me!</b></div>
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<b>Immediately, I stumbled from my bed to get dressed. I raced down the stairs to meet someone special to my heart. I slung the door open and embraced the gorgeous sight. A neat blanket lay on the grass, as if for a picnic. Words were not spoken, but soft whispers tickled my ears. I heard the echo of a pale, booming voice. On January 3rd, he swaddled me, and cold air trickled down my spine. Chill bumps ran vigorously around my body, and shrieks escaped my lips as he tickled my face. We danced on the ground like there was no tomorrow. South Georgia had been invited to a party hosted by the snow!</b></div>
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<b>Although sixteen, I felt six years old on January 3rd. I threw majestic snowballs, named my snowman, and created beautiful snow angels. Snow had not met Baxley, Georgia in eight years. I was more than elated to attend the meeting! I embraced the moment that I knew could possibly never happen again. Abnormal but beautiful, many memories were made. Jackets were warm enough, and winter break concluded beautifully. I am not so sure that the beginning of January will be bittersweet ever again. - Jahnae N., Baxley, GA.</b><br />
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Good luck with your essays, and Go Dawgs!<br />
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DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-41815771042050936042019-05-21T15:15:00.000-04:002019-05-21T15:15:15.191-04:00Test Scores and Air Bags<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This past weekend, I was driving my father to the Atlanta airport, and as is usual, the topic of college admissions came up. There was a recent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal which discussed the SAT. In one section of the op/ed piece, the writers stated "the SAT is still the best objective measure of student aptitude and has proven to be a good predictor of college performance." While discussing the editors knowledge (or lack of ) about grades/course rigor vs test scores, the sunlight hit the windshield just right and I flipped down the visor to block the light. On the back of the visor was the airbag warning sticker, and it got me to thinking about the interplay between different systems in trying to solve a problem. Putting aside the other variables of a college admission review (essays, activities, recommendations), how can a college best utilize grades/rigor and test scores?<br />
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If you actually read the airbag warning, you will see that one of the key points is "Always use seat belts and other child restraints". In other words, while airbags can help in an accident, seat belts are the actual key factor in auto safety, while airbags are secondary safety devices that, along with the seat belts, help to best avoid serious injuries. In looking studies on the effectiveness data on seat belts and airbags in possible fatalities for drivers, three-point seat belts alone had a 48% effectiveness rating, airbags alone had a 14% effectiveness rating, while the two together had a 54% effectiveness rating. Effectiveness data for passengers was slightly lower, but the same concept of seat belts being the primary safety factor and using the two devices together yielded the best results. <b>In other words, seat belt usage is the best individual predictor of surviving a crash, but using both seat belts and airbags gives you the best possible survival rate.</b> And as the sticker (and other statistical data) shows, the airbag providers understand their products role as a supplemental safety feature, not a stand alone one.<br />
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In the same vein, multiple studies have shown that the best individual predictor of how a student will do in college is their performance in the classroom (grades/coursework) during their high school years. Even the ACT and the College Board begrudgingly admit this fact, while also noting that looking at grades/rigor and test scores together can give even more insight, similar to the modest increase in safety that airbags add to seat belts when used together. At UGA, we recognize this in our review process, and use test scores as a supplemental part of our review, but not as a primary or dominant factor. Of course, there is still a great amount of debate on how much different factors actually predict college success, but I think the results are pretty clear that the Wall Street Journal's op/ed conclusion that test scores are the best objective measure is just plain wrong. And just like the growth in safety features, colleges now have so much more information available to use in their reviews, from multiple recommendations to writing samples, volunteer work to activities and leadership roles.<br />
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Different college admission offices have different thoughts on how to balance the variety of different factors in an admission review, and I am fine with each college making the choice that best fits their situation and insight. College A wants to be test optional? I'm good with that. College B wants to use student submitted videos to add to all the other admission information? I'm good with that too. Every college admissions office needs to do their research and find the best balance of the different variables they will use in their review, and balance that with their staffing and timeline challenges to find the best process for their own institution. As our office has stated multiple times, what a student does over four years in high school (grades and coursework) plays a much more vital role in our academic review that an SAT or ACT score. We still look at both of these factors, along with a wide range of co-curricular information, but how a student does in the classroom is the main academic factor in our review.<br />
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When I am driving my 2004 minivan with 230,000 miles on it (yes, I am a dad with two kids who works in education), the first thing I do is put on my seat belt. I am glad to have the airbags, but I know that the seat belt is the thing I am relying on to keep me safe. <b>In the same way, when I am looking at an admissions file, my focus in the academic portion of the review is on how a student has performed in the classroom day in and day out, with the SAT/ACT scores to help provide context but not dominate this review area.</b> We are happy to have a wealth of information about our applicants, and we also understand the importance of each of the different pieces of data.<br />
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I hope this post gives some insight into our viewpoint, and Go Dawgs!DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-63780904102567478092019-05-03T16:02:00.000-04:002019-05-03T16:02:23.465-04:002019 Wait List UpdateStarting today (May 3), we will begin to finalize our decisions for students on the Wait List. I expect that all decisions will be completed sometime in the next few weeks, but I do not have an exact date. Due to the fact that our deposit numbers are very close to what we predicted for next year, we are very limited in the number of offers we are able to make. We will be making Wait List decisions in the same manner as our other admission decisions, where a decision will be displayed on the status page and an email will be sent shortly after a decision is made to alert the applicant that a status change has occurred. Admitted students have a two-week Commitment Deposit deadline from the acceptance date. We will be releasing a group of Wait List admits late this afternoon totaling 150 students, with most of these being for Fall 2019. <b>We are not finished with the Wait List yet, but will finalize things over the next few weeks. Only students who are admitted today will receive a decision and an email indicating a change in their status today.</b><br />
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In reviewing the students who we admitted off the Wait List, there were a variety of individual reasons for the offers that were made. As such, I cannot give an overarching reason for the decisions. We did take into account our earlier reviews of the files, along with a wide range of information that we had on hand.<br />
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For those many strong students we will not be 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 very much appreciate your patience “waiting on the Wait List.” <b>Please remember that there are a number of complex reasons why the University made the decisions it has, 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 the Wait list process so far.</b><br />
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We hope that our quick turn around of the Wait List situation will allow students and families to make plans on a much earlier time frame than initially projected.DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-57139680270100388862019-04-29T14:00:00.002-04:002019-04-29T16:14:53.060-04:00April/May 2019 Random Admission Thoughts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Late April/Early May is always a challenging time in Admissions, and it always brings about interesting questions. We are at the end of one cycle of admissions for the freshmen and transfers starting in Fall 2019, and we are starting to begin working with rising HS seniors for the following year. Throw in the anxious time surrounding the May 1 deposit deadline, working with Wait-List students and getting everything ready for orientation in the summer and you have a wide range of activities and emotions. As such, here are some thoughts on the upcoming days/months ahead.<br />
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<b>Admitted Students</b><br />
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<li>May 1 is the freshman deposit deadline. We have sent out a huge number of communications about this date to accepted freshmen, and it is important that you not miss this date if you want to attend UGA. We don't accept late deposits, so make sure to submit it on time to assure a place in the freshman class.</li>
<li>If you are not going to be attending UGA, we wish you the best at your future college destination. If you are able, go to your status page and reply to your offer of admission that you will not be attending. </li>
<li>Wait-List students, please be patient with us as we review the deposits that have come in, what our class looks like, etc. <b>Every year seems like a marathon race to get to May 2 (the day after deposits are due), so please let us catch our breath before asking about the WL.</b> We need some time to review everything before making any decisions on the WL. When we are ready to release WL decisions, we will reach out to the students who have decided to remain on the WL, and we try to move quickly on this process.</li>
<li>Accepted transfers, your deposit deadline is June 1, so make sure to let us know by then what your plan is for the future. As well, make sure you send us an updated transcript with Spring work so we can post the credit prior to your orientation date.</li>
<li><b>Orientation registration will occur in early May, and you will receive an email soon with dates and instructions for signing up for the event.</b> Among other things, orientation is when you will meet with an advisor and sign up for Fall classes.</li>
<li>Remember to check your status page to see if you have taken care of a few required steps for enrollment: Verification of Lawful Presence (VLP), Proof of Immunization (through Health Center) and a final HS transcript for freshman. The final transcript should be sent in shortly after it is available from your HS, as we know different schools/states have graduation at different times.</li>
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<b>Rising HS Seniors</b><br />
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<ul>
<li>Spring is the perfect time to start working with college admission offices. <b>The first step is to get on the college's radar. </b>This is as simple as completing their online Information Request form, sending them official SAT/ACT scores, or setting up a visit to campus. Most colleges have different on-campus and off-campus events in the summer and fall, and they can't invite you if they don't know you exist. </li>
<li>On the other side of the coin, you will be receiving a huge volume of emails and mail over the next 10 months or so from colleges across the country. The best way to manage this is, especially if you are not interested in a college, is to open an email and Unsubscribe from their mailing list. This helps both the college and you narrow down the list of possible matches.</li>
<li>As you probably know, late Spring and Summer are great times to visit a campus and take a tour. Remember to check the weather prior to the visit, dress comfortably (<b>you do not want to tour UGA in the summer in khakis and a blazer</b>), and let the college know if you cannot make the tour (there should be an option to cancel in the confirmation email). </li>
<li>During the summer, get a copy of your HS transcript with junior grades included. This will help you in remembering your previous three years of grades, it will let you know what admission offices see in their file review, and it will help you understand your school's grading system.</li>
<li><b>For HS students in Georgia, make sure you know how your school adds weight to your grades on your HS transcript, as this impacts how colleges review your grades.</b> If your school adds points to your actual teacher grades on a transcript (so an 88 is changed to a 98 on a transcript for an AP grade for instance), know what this means for a review. For instance, you can find out how UGA calculates a GPA at <a href="https://ugaadmissions.blogspot.com/2013/11/calculating-uga-gpa.html">https://ugaadmissions.blogspot.com/2013/11/calculating-uga-gpa.html</a>. We have heard from a number of HS's who are considering changing how their grades are shown on a transcript, so make sure to work with your HS counselor.</li>
<li>When looking for advice on what courses to take senior year, some families call our office. <b>Don't</b>. We have no idea about what courses are offered, how prepared you are for certain classes, or what you are ready for overall academically. Talk to your HS counselor.</li>
<li>Enjoy your summer! Connect with friends, find the perfect senior quote (I suggest Calvin and Hobbes), read a book or two, and get ready for an exciting senior year.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-54046410233695221332019-03-15T10:48:00.004-04:002019-03-15T10:48:40.139-04:002019 Freshmen Final Admits<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We plan to make the final wave of freshman decisions available today, March 15th, in the late afternoon time frame. For those of you who have been admitted to UGA, here is a post for you and a chance to comment. Please remember that this is not a blog where you should post statistics or throw fellow students under the bus. These types of comments will be deleted.<br />
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Congratulations to all of the freshman who were admitted and we look forward to you becoming part of the Bulldog Nation. The next steps for a new student can be seen in the flyer in your admission packet, so please go ahead and review what you need to do next. In addition, there will be a great deal of information you can access off of your Status page. When you have the time, please review this, as there is key information in the Next Step materials. <b>Please remember a small number of students will be admitted to start in January 2020. You will find specific information on your Status page and in your admissions packet.</b><br />
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Here are some rough statistics on the Entire Freshman Admitted Class for 2019-November, February and March waves, where we admitted 13,050 students total, which is slightly above last year's offers of admission (I do not have separate data on just the final group, sorry):<br />
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<b>UGA Calculated Grade Point Average mid-range/average</b>: 4.00 - 4.27, with a 4.10 average<br />
<ul>
<li><i>Please remember this is not the GPA students see on their high school transcript, but rather the GPA that UGA recalculates for everyone based on the core academic courses taken in high school and looking at the actual grades posted on the transcripts. Roughly 88% of the HS core grades were A's, and 11.5% were B's.</i></li>
</ul>
<b>AP/IB/Dual Enrollment course mid-range/average: </b>6-11 courses, average of 9<br />
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<li><i>We determine academic rigor based on all core classes a student has taken (CP, Honors, Advanced, AP, IB, DE, etc.) as compared to what is offered in the school/community. This is not based simply on the number of AP/IB/DE courses, but instead we look at the overall coursework over four years in the core areas and the progression of rigor over the years. The AP/IB/DE information is the most specific data I can give on it, but the numbers do not cover all of our curriculum review.</i></li>
</ul>
<b>SAT Best Score SAT Total (Using SAT or converted ACT) mid-range: </b>1330-1460<br />
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<li><i>Best score data is the strongest of the SAT or the converted ACT for each admit</i></li>
</ul>
<b>ACT Best Score Composite </b><b>(Using ACT or converted SAT </b><b>mid-range)</b>: 29-33<br />
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<li><i>Remember, UGA focuses on ACT E and M. For reporting purposes, we give out the best score overall ACT score, but the ACT E and M are very similar to the overall score.</i></li>
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For the small group of Spring 2020 admits, this decision is final. We are not able to change students to Fall and we are not able to consider them as Wait List students. An email will go out explaining the Spring offer in more detail.<br />
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The Housing and myID pages may need a few business days before your information will be available. Please be patient with these sites. <b>As well, we will continue to offer scholarships through late March. </b><br />
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You have until May 1 to submit a commitment deposit in order to hold a spot in our freshman class. We hope the next stage of the admission process is a little less nerve wracking than the decision process. As you celebrate, make sure to be considerate of others in your school who may not have been admitted.<br />
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Good luck in the next stage of the college admissions process. Go Dawgs!DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-17171971344885133192019-03-15T10:48:00.003-04:002019-03-15T10:48:32.901-04:002019 Freshman Wait ListWe plan to make the final wave of freshman decisions available today, March 15th, in the late afternoon timeframe. For some students, you will be offered a place on our wait list. Every year our office has to predict approximately how many students we can admit in order to enroll our freshman class, but we can never be sure how many students will enroll until after the May 1 commitment deposit deadline has passed. If the number of students who say they will be attending UGA is lower than we expect, we may need to go to our wait list group in order to get the size that we want for our freshman class. This year we have 1,542 students on the wait list. We carefully monitor the deposits coming into the University to see where we are in comparison to the predicted freshman numbers. The FAQ can answer information on Wait List numbers, past year Wait List data, and other details (such as no, the Wait List is not ranked).<br />
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For those of you who have been wait-listed, here is a chance for you to ask questions. Please remember that this is not a blog where you should post statistics or throw fellow classmates under the bus. These types of comments will be deleted. <b><i>Before commenting/asking questions here, please review the decision letter and the FAQ, as they give a great deal of details of the Wait List process.</i></b><br />
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The <a href="https://www.admissions.uga.edu/waitlist-faq">Wait List FAQ</a> can answer some questions, but the most important thing you need to do is decide if you want to remain on the wait list. Follow the instructions on the status check to let us know if you want to stay on the wait list or if you want to decline this option and move forward with admission at another college. If you decide to stay on the wait list, you should still move forward with an alternate college plan as we will not know about any wait list options until May at the earliest. If you select to stay on the wait list, we will know that you still want to attend UGA if an opportunity opens up. The key word in wait list is wait as this is not a quick process. So please be prepared to wait.<br />
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There are three options for the wait list reply. You can say no, please do not consider me for the wait list. The next option is to remain on the wait list, but only if it is for the Fall term. The third option is to remain on the wait list and be considered for both Fall and Spring terms. This is so that if there is space available for the Fall term, we will look at all of the students who have asked to remain on the wait list. If the only space available is for Spring term, we will only look at students who said Fall or Spring. <b>Once you select an option, you cannot change it so be sure to think about your decision before you make your selection.</b><br />
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<b>Things to Remember:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>UGA does not use the GPA from a HS transcript, but instead we calculate our own HS GPA based on core academic courses. For our admitted freshman, roughly 88% of their core grades were A's, and 11.5% were B's. In our holistic review, we also look at grade trends to see how a student has progressed through their HS years. </li>
<li>UGA looks closely at academic rigor, specifically what a student will take over four years as compared to what is available. This is not based simply on the number of AP/IB/DE courses, but instead we look at the overall coursework over four years in the five core areas and the progression of rigor over those four years.</li>
<li>When we are looking at activities in the holistic review (clubs, sports, pt work, artistic activities, etc.), we are looking at depth and time commitment in these areas in addition to the actual organizations. </li>
</ul>
We will most likely not know details about the wait list until after early May, and it may be well well into June before we make wait list decisions. Please be patient with our office and read the FAQ before asking questions as it can give you a great deal of information. If you do not feel like you can wait until mid-May through mid-June for a decision, it may be that the wait list option is not for you.DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-25599789309716038792019-03-15T10:48:00.002-04:002019-03-15T10:48:28.155-04:002019 Freshman DenialWe plan to make the final wave of freshman decisions available today, March 15th in the late afternoon time frame. Unfortunately, we are not able to admit a number of strong applicants as we are limited in the size of our freshman class. We know that you have a number of other strong college options and suggest you focus on the other great opportunities that are ahead rather than on a denial from UGA. If your ultimate goal is to graduate from the University of Georgia, then we suggest you look at transfer opportunities down the road. For now, focus on your current college options, find one that fits you best, and have a great freshman year there.<br />
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Please read our<a href="https://www.admissions.uga.edu/denied"> Denied Student FAQ</a> if you have questions. <b>If you decide to contact us next week, please understand that we will not be able to give you a specific "reason" for a denial, as in this process we have looked at everything within an applicant's file, and the overall reason is really that the overall applicant pool is very large and very strong.</b><br />
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Things to Remember:<br />
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<ul>
<li>UGA does not use the GPA from a HS transcript, but instead we calculate our own HS GPA based on core academic courses. For our admitted freshman, roughly 88% of their core grades were A's, and 11.5% were B's. In our holistic review, we also look at grade trends to see how a student has progressed through their HS years. </li>
<li>UGA looks closely at academic rigor, specifically what a student will take over four years as compared to what is available. This is not based simply on the number of AP/IB/DE courses, but instead we look at the overall coursework over four years in the five core areas and the progression of rigor over those four years.</li>
<li>When we are looking at activities in the holistic review (clubs, sports, pt work, artistic activities, etc.), we are looking at depth and time commitment in these areas in addition to the actual organizations. </li>
</ul>
<b>Please remember that this is not a blog where you should post statistics or throw fellow classmates under the bus. These types of comments will be deleted.</b>DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-44567032251308476602019-02-27T15:22:00.001-05:002019-02-27T15:22:43.641-05:00Admissions, Baseball and the Land of Statistics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When I was growing up in Connecticut, baseball was my passion. My sister was a NY Yankees fan, so naturally I became a lifelong Boston Red Sox fan. I lived and died (mostly died) with the Red Sox, and my hero was Jim Rice, the home run hitting left fielder for my beloved team. I can still name most of the Sox starting nine from the late 1970's, from Hobson at third, Scott at first, Evans in right, Lynn in center and Fisk behind the plate among others. And like any baseball fan in the 70's and 80's, I collected baseball cards. There was nothing better than getting a fresh pack of Topps baseball cards to see which players you got (and nothing worse than the cheap stick of gum with a texture like cardboard and flavor that lasted for three minutes tops).<br />
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The greatness of a baseball card was not just the photo on the front, but the wealth of each player's statistics on the back of the card. This information transformed a kid from a mere fan into a fountain of baseball knowledge, with the ability to magically produce statistics like rabbits from a hat, amazing your friends by knowing exactly what Carl Yastrzemski's batting average was in 1977 (.296 in case you are wondering).<br />
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But statistics are a funny thing. Data that at one time seemed vital to success now is not so important now, while lesser know pieces of information suddenly take on a much larger role in predicting success. The batting average of a baseball player (percentage of hits compared to at bats) has been overtaken by a players OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage), which includes walks, hitting for power, and total bases. It's no longer just about getting a hit, but instead about the most efficient way for players to get on base, score runs and win the game. In the same vein, the importance of stealing bases has dropped sharply, as in general the data shows the cost of being caught stealing exceeds the rewards of being successful stealing the base. We might never see the likes of a Ricky Henderson, the greatest base-stealer ever, again in baseball.<br />
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Just like with baseball statistics, admission statistics are not always static from year to year, and many times the information is misunderstood or the importance of data points changes over time. Here are a few examples of what I mean:<br />
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<ul>
<li><b>HS GPA vs UGA GPA</b> - If you look at your average high school transcript, you will see at least one field labeled GPA, with some schools getting up to three or four GPA's (weighted, unweighted, etc.). The GPA could be on a 100 point scale, a 4.00 scale, a 5.00 scale, a 6.00 scale, even up to a 10-12 point scale. Each high school or school system has its own way of determining a GPA, and my office has no control over this (nor do we want it). But the problem is that there is no sense of standardization in a HS GPA. A 4.21 could be great in one method (4.00 scale), but merely average in another method (6.00 scale). As such, UGA does not look at, use or care about the GPA on your transcript. We calculate our own GPA so we can have a standard data point that is the same for all applicants. If you ever see us list a GPA, it is a UGA GPA that we are listing (and I have several blog posts showing how we calculate it). </li>
<li><b>SAT/ACT test scores</b> - If you had asked most college admission offices 20 or more years ago about the importance of different factors in admissions, test scores would have been near the top of the list. But as universities have done research on the factors which predict success and strong grades in college, the impact of the SAT and ACT scores have lessened greatly. On the academic side, what a student does day in and day out in the high school classroom and the strength of the student's coursework have shown to be much better predictors of student success. This is why you are seeing a number of colleges go test optional for their admissions process. When I see "Chance me" comments on certain web sites, SAT and ACT scores are generally the first or second thing listed in their description. This is not the order in which I would put them at all.</li>
<li><b>AP/IB/DE Data</b>- When admissions offices talk about course rigor, it is almost impossible to convey things in a meaningful way. When we say that the average admitted student had a "Very Rigorous" schedule, this does not convey any real information, and leaves people wanting more details. As such, we have tried listing the mid-range data for AP/IB/DE courses taken over four years, but even this is somewhat misleading, as colleges are not telling students to shoot for a certain number of rigorous courses. What we are looking at is how a student has challenged themselves overall from 9th through 12th grade in their core area courses, and especially in the broader sense of their academic passion, as we want students to be prepared for the rigors of UGA's classes. We are not looking at a certain number of AP/IB/DE courses, but instead on how you have overall prepared yourself for UGA academic experience within the options at your school and in your community. </li>
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In addition, as UGA has moved (and will move even farther in the future) to a more holistic review process to look at the entire applicant, there will be more focus on the context of the individual student's personal situation. What are the academic options for the student within their community, what challenges has this student faced in their personal life, what has the happened within the student's academic and co-curricular activities over the period of their high school years, etc. We are looking at the trends within the student's application (how have their grades and rigor progressed), and how they have challenged themselves in the five core academic areas over time. If a student has faced a hurdle, how have they overcome it? If a student has a passion (be it theater, fencing, birding or whatever), how have they pursued this passion (I have seen all three of these this year). </div>
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The overall admissions process at UGA has changed a great deal over the past 20 years at UGA, and the information and key data points have also changed. Just like with the baseball statistics, it is now a whole new ballgame.</div>
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Go Dawgs!</div>
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DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-19618212730341902072019-02-13T15:33:00.000-05:002019-02-13T15:37:55.397-05:00The Past and Present of College Admissions<br />
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You hear it all the time - "Back when I was applying to college ...". Yes, things have changed over the last 20+ years in admissions, but trust me, that is actually not a bad thing in many cases. I am currently reading a book titled "Factfulness" by Hans Rosling, and he writes about how, in contrast to what some would have us believe, life is a great deal better today as compared to the past. While there are still areas where the world can improve greatly, Rosling shows that in areas ranging from poverty, health, war, food, etc, the world is actually moving in a positive direction. From the admissions side of the table, there have been some amazing improvements over the years. Here are a few things I remember from when I first started working in the UGA Admissions office.<br />
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<li>There was a point in time when we only accepted paper applications. We would print them out and do a huge mailing in late summer to get the applications out to both students and high schools. This also meant that we needed a large staff of people who did one job, entering in a student's biographical data (name, address, school, etc.) into our record system. Every year, we would need to have the printing of the applications bid out (and of course, lowest bidder won the job), and that year, a printing company based out of a state prison won the bid. I can still remember driving to a high school in Louisiana when I got a call from my boss to see if I had heard about the printing issues. A riot had broken out in the prison, and our application print job was on hold due to the issue. Imagine explaining that to students calling in wanting an application sent to them.</li>
<li>When you have thousands of paper applications, you need to have a place to put them. Our office had roughly 20-30 six foot high file cabinets for all the application files, and we used "bankers boxes" (or open lid boxes) to route files by application submission date from one part of the process to the other. Every day when documents came in, we would have to either match them to existing files (by running around and finding the right box) or putting them in the orphan documents bins, which we would then check every day against the new applications for the day. </li>
<li>Old methods were not just relegated to the application process. For a long period of time, one state used to require admissions people to bring their own table to every college fair. Luckily, this state was within easy driving distance, and we would just have a card table ready for anyone traveling to that state. </li>
<li>The world of google maps on your cell phone roughly ten years ago was a break-through for admission travel, as we survived on three things; Old paper maps that were horrible to fold and did not function well while driving, Mapquest/Garmin, which seemed to get you lost as many times as it helped to get somewhere, and driving around looking for school signs or the lights for the HS football fields. It was even worse in some cities, as I clearly remember visiting schools in New Orleans and having the street dead end at one of the many canals in the city and seeing the high school just across the water.</li>
<li>Everything was paper. I mean we were overrun with paper. One record setting year, we came back from the December holiday time to 45 bins of mail. It was ugly. The applications were filled out by hand and sent in by mail, the recommendation letters were all done by hand, the transcripts were mailed in, and even a number of test score results were sent by paper. And then it became a game of find the file so you could add all the paper to the application. Then you add in all the paper we sent out, from postcards letting students know what was missing (and it was out of date immediately due to materials flowing in daily), brochures being mailed out, letters being sent, etc. The worst were decision letters done in house in envelopes that had to be licked. Paper cuts on your tongue are the worst. I almost cried when we got our first real recruitment system that sent out automated emails. I did cry when we got our first batch of peel and close envelopes for acceptance packets.</li>
<li>Admissions give-aways are so much better these days. Twenty years ago, the best you would get would be a bumper sticker for your car (not even a static sticker, but an actual bumper sticker) or a pen/pencil with UGA on the side. Now you're getting socks, shirts, backpacks, sunglasses, phone popsockets, stickers, etc. Enjoy it while you can.</li>
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While college admissions has its challenges, there was a whole other layer of challenges 20 or so years ago. Be glad that you can submit your application online, that test scores and documents can be matched in seconds to your file, and that you can see your admissions status page online. Like Billy Joel sings in <i>Keeping the Faith</i>, "cause the good ole days weren't always good, and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems".</div>
DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-53105149173173868882019-02-06T14:06:00.001-05:002019-02-06T14:06:05.753-05:00UGA Decision Dates for 2019<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The final two decision dates for UGA freshman applicants are now set (unless some major issue impacts our office), and the smaller February wave of decisions will be released on Friday, February 8, while the final decisions in March will be released on Friday, March 15. In addition, transfer decisions will begin being released on Friday, March 1. Decisions are all released in the late afternoon, but I do not have an exact time (so don't ask me for one).<br />
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<b>February Decisions</b> - UGA will offer admission to just around 2,000 freshman applicants on Friday, February 8. This group of decisions is made up of only offers of admission, and if you were admitted, you will be able to see the decision on your Admission Status page (<b>so only admitted students will see a decision change on their status page</b>) and these admits will receive an email communication. Additionally, an admissions packet will be sent out in the mail the following week. Our office is too busy reviewing files for me to run any mid-range academic averages at this time, but the academic information should be very similar to the Early Action admitted students (it will not be exactly the same, as we had a large number of EA admits who were applying for our top scholarships, which slightly skews EA stats a little higher). My earlier blog post about Early Action decisions gives you more insight into the academic strength of this range of student. As we did in the November Early Action offers of admission, there will be some scholarship offers in this group, and those who have received them will see it on the status page. We will continue to offer scholarships through late March, so please be patient as we do these reviews. <b>These admitted freshman, made up of mostly Regular Decision applicants, met the stringent academic criteria of Early Action admission that we used with our much larger wave of November admission offers.</b> Do not panic if you are not admitted with the February group. We are still very much in the midst of carefully reviewing documents and data on a great many more files, and there are still lots of decisions to make.<br />
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<b>March Final Decisions</b> - On Friday, March 15, all final freshman decisions will be released. There will be three decision groups (Admit, Deny and Wait-List), and I will try to post some information on all three of these decisions during the week leading up to the final decision release. We will also have a small group of freshman that we will admit for the Spring 2020 term. We are still deep in the holistic read process, and I do not have any numbers on how many final admits we will make, what the statistics will look like overall, or how many students will be put on the wait-list. When we do release final decisions, I will have statistics on the overall applicant pool and admitted group the following week, but not broken out into the different release dates. After we make final decisions, we will continue to offer scholarships through late March, so please be patient as we do these reviews as well. Thank you for your patience during this review process.<br />
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<b>Transfer Applicants</b> - We have begun reviewing the Summer and Fall transfer applicants, and we will release the first group of transfer decisions on Friday, March 1. We will then continue to release transfer decisions every Friday. All applicants with a decision will receive an email alerting them to a change in their status, so you do not need to constantly check your admission status page. We generally review transfer applicants by term first (so summer decisions before fall if possible), and then roughly by the date the file becomes complete. This is not exact, as some transfer files are more complicated than others to review. As such, please do not compare application date to release dates with others, as it might vary due to other factors (included days when several hundred applications were received/completed).<br />
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Go Dawgs!DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-8856030644011555352019-01-22T08:08:00.002-05:002019-01-22T08:12:31.061-05:00Summer/Fall 2019 Transfer Application<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The Summer/Fall transfer application will open today, January 22. While the application opens today, please take your time completing it. Make sure you are applying for the correct program, the correct campus, the correct term, etc. Here are a few suggestions and updates for transfer applicants. </span><br />
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<li>We project we will begin reviewing transfer files in early February, and we will start releasing decisions in early March. Once we begin releasing decisions, we will do so every Friday afternoon. If a decision is made on your application, you will receive an email late afternoon on that Friday notifying you that a decision is available on your status page.</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">Review our transfer procedures and requirements, as well as our academic consideration levels. The summer and fall deadline for both the application and the materials is March 1. </li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">Select the term you wish to attend, not one you have heard is easier to get in (this is a myth). If you select summer, for instance, we expect you to attend for summer, and if you do not, you cannot then attend in the fall.</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">We are fine if you send in transcripts before or after you apply. As well, we need all transcripts from colleges ever attended as an undergraduate, even if you attended a college during HS.</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">If a transcript has a different name than the one you applied with, please make sure to let us know so we can match up documents. The "other last name" filed is the place to put any other last names, and this will catch any transcripts.</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">If you started a freshman application earlier to set up an account, you will need to select the Freshman application you started on your admissions dashboard and change your application type to Transfer.</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">It is much better to get everything correct before applying rather than try to fix things after you submit an application, so triple check everything.</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">Once you apply, be patient. Review the timelines page on this blog, give us time to match up things, and relax. For document matching purposes, we suggest you give us 10 business days from when you apply or submit transcripts, whichever one comes last.</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">Make sure to monitor your status page after sending in transcripts, but give us time to complete your file.</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">We generally start reviewing transfer files based on the date the file is complete (application submitted and all transcripts are in), but this is not exact. As well, we expect over 1,000 applications in the first day alone, so understand this process takes time and some students will hear before others.</li>
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Go Dawgs, and be patient!</div>
DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-64591259037425645022019-01-03T16:46:00.003-05:002019-01-03T16:46:50.111-05:00Random UGA Admission Thoughts for 2019<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It is the start of 2019, and a wide range of things are happening in the UGA Admissions Office. We have just closed down the freshman application for admission, we will open the transfer application for summer/fall 2019 on January 22nd, and we will be spending the next two and a half months or so hiding away in our offices as we read admission files. As such, here are some Admissions Thoughts as we move forward.<br />
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<li>The application deadline for freshman was 1/1, and the document deadline is 1/8 for materials. The required documents for freshmen are an official transcript and a counselor school report/recommendation (not a school profile). As well, any test scores must be requested to be sent to us <b>from the testing agency</b> by 1/8 (not an in office deadline), and the last test scores we can use were from the December SAT/ACT. If things are sent in after 1/8, we might be able to use them, but we cannot make any promises. If the item in question shows up on the status page, that means we have imported it into your file as on time. </li>
<li>We have a very large freshman applicant pool, with the overall number of EA and RD applicants together totaling 29,500+. Some of these applicants will not submit all the required items, so the official number of complete applications will not be known until later (but I expect it will be close to 29,000).</li>
<li><b>Starting on 1/14, our office will be in quiet time</b>, which means our counselors will not be available to take calls and any email replies will have some delays. Remember, UGA does not use designated interest as a decision factor, so there is no need to send a note to the counselor assigned to your school/area to let them know UGA is #1 on your list. Right now, just make sure all materials are in on time and have patience. When your file is complete, you will see all the checklist items on the status page have a green check and the words "Awaiting Decision" show under the UGA counselor next to the Application Status indicator.</li>
<li><b>If you applied through the Coalition application system, please make sure to complete the Self Reported grades form off the UGA admissions status page.</b> We do not use the complicated Coalition self reported grades section, as our form is much less complicated and matches what the non-Coalition applicants completed. This helps us to keep on track with our decision time lines, so thank you.</li>
<li><b>Once you have submitted an application, we cannot go back into it and make changes.</b> If you need to add something to your freshman application that you left out or wanted to submit, either use the Update Form (for deferred EA applicants) or update it as a part of a resume that you upload on your status page. </li>
<li>On January 22nd, the Transfer application for Summer/Fall terms will open. There is no difference in our review of summer vs fall applicants, so select the term that you truly will be attending. If you are admitted for summer and do not attend, you cannot just show up for fall and enroll. Acceptance is only for the term for which you were admitted.</li>
<li>The consideration level for Summer/Fall have changed for transfer applicants with 30-59 transferable hours, and it is now a 3.30 transfer GPA. <b>Remember, this is not a cut point or requirement, but instead is the GPA for us to begin considering a transfer student with 30-59 hours for transfer admission.</b></li>
<li>Roughly 5,000 freshmen applied during the last 3 days before the RD deadline, so please be patient as we match up documents. Of the 12,000+ RD applicants, roughly 65% of them have complete files. As such, 4,000+ still need to get in materials and/or test scores.</li>
<li>We will continue to award scholarships through the end of March, so please be patient as we get through the freshman file reading, the transfer decisions and the scholarship process. </li>
<li><b>I cannot, will not, and am not able to guess about any decisions.</b> I feel like I am Dr. Seuss when I say this (I will not guess in a box, I will not guess with a fox). <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<li>Remember, senior courses and grades are still very important. We will be looking closely at the final transcripts of all enrolling students in the summer, and we will contact any student who has serious declines in their grades (large % of C's or have D/F grades). If all indicators point to a student having problems freshman year, we would rather take steps prior to enrollment then ask a student to leave or lose any merit aid after their first year at UGA.</li>
<li>Have a great last semester, enjoy your final months of being a senior, and I wish everyone well in the overall college admissions process!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Go Dawgs!</div>
DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-14604932481575789642018-12-19T13:21:00.000-05:002018-12-19T13:21:56.694-05:00I'm not Santa ClausIt is mid-December, so most of the US is in full holiday mode. My favorite radio station has been taken over by holiday music, the houses in my neighborhood are full of lights and inflatable animals, and the tracking of Amazon packages is a daily activity. And while I have grown a little heavier every year and my kids think I am seriously old, the lack of a snowy white beard and a red suit should let you know I am not Santa Claus.<br />
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The problem is, many people view admissions offices a little like Santa Claus. We spend the year reviewing the background history of children and young adults, determining if they have been naughty or nice, and then on December 25th (or in our case three Friday afternoons) we deliver either happiness or tears by the type presents we give. It is the ultimate judgment call about a person's self worth. </div>
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Santa is working off of a good vs bad comparison based off of a judgment call concerning your behavior over the last year. He has two choices, and I am assuming he has some gauge to determine how good or bad you have been, and some sort of scale or scoring rubric. I have no idea if he involves any elves, reindeer or Mrs. Claus in his decision making, or if it is just late nights and a lot of cocoa. I also have no idea how convincing the letters he receives are, and whether he puts any stock into begging, pleading and bribes of cookies and milk. Either way, he gets to make the final call and determine your goodness/badness.</div>
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Admissions, while seemingly similar, is based off of a different model. Yes, we love kind notes, cookies and milk, and the occasional cup of cocoa or coffee, but these don't sway our decisions. We have no magical workshop filled with cheery elves, but instead an office of wonderful admission counselors reading files and answering questions (although by March, I would not call them cheery - more likely sleep-deprived). We don't have a meter or gizmo to determine good vs bad, but instead are looking at what each applicant brings to the table academically and personally, and then deciding how many we can admit from the applicant pool to bring in just the right size freshman class. And Santa doesn't have to deal with angry parents the day after Christmas (just frustrated parents trying to put together a present at one in the morning and trying not to curse too loud). </div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kn91wVCKsbg/XBlgRu7j_8I/AAAAAAAABgo/EcN0Fth4ciE3tCsx7s2wRWIPExSB0xakACEwYBhgL/s1600/buddy%2Bthe%2Belf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="363" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kn91wVCKsbg/XBlgRu7j_8I/AAAAAAAABgo/EcN0Fth4ciE3tCsx7s2wRWIPExSB0xakACEwYBhgL/s320/buddy%2Bthe%2Belf.jpg" width="296" /></a>When we make an admission decision, we are not passing judgment on you. We are not saying you are a good or bad person, that we like you or not, or if we want to swipe left or right. Seriously. We have a huge number of great applicants who will do wonderful things in college, but we can only admit a certain number of students due to limitations on our freshman class size. As such, our decisions are not based on how "good" you are, but on selecting a certain number of students who we feel will have an impact both academically and personally on our campus in future years. </div>
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As such, while both admissions and Santa make decisions, our office is not making a value judgment on you being good or bad, naughty or nice. We suggest you go into the admissions process with the goal of finding a good match for your college experience for both you and the colleges to which you apply. Find the fit and stay positive. Remember what Buddy the Elf says: "I just like to smile; smiling is my favorite."</div>
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Go Dawgs!</div>
DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-21065765716068062082018-11-28T13:39:00.001-05:002018-11-28T13:39:27.661-05:00UGA Holistic File Review Process<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have had a number of comments on the blog asking what we look at in this process, so here are the areas we look at in our holistic review. I could probably write six pages worth of explanation about the process, but I have summarized each area to lessen the pain of exhaustion for the reader. There is more to our review process than just these brief descriptions though, but at least this gives you some details of the process.</div>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><b>Activities/Involvement/Leadership </b></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">- </b>The first thing you should know about activities is that we value quality over quantity. What we are looking for is somewhat about the range of what a person does, but more so the depth of their involvement. It is not about how many clubs/sports/activities you can join, but instead looking at is what things you have committed to during your high school years, both in time and in consistency. In addition, another area we look at a student's dedication to family and work. At times, a student may have limited involvement in clubs, but that might be due to a dedication to their family and/or job. </li>
<li><b style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Writing/Creativity/Expression - </b>In the review of an applicant's writing, our focus is more the writer's voice, how well they communicate their ideas, and how well they "show" us their information, and less focus is put on grammar and structure. Yes, we still want a student to write clearly and spell check their work, but that is not the key. The other area within this part looks at a student's creative side. While we see some of these items within the activities section, we want to see how a student shows their creativity. We look at their involvement in the arts, but also in the "non-artistic" side of things such as robotics, design, newspaper, etc. We try to get an understanding of their aesthetic side of life. We will focus more on the writing part during this review, but a student's passion for creativity does come into play.</li>
<li><b style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Academic Review - </b>When we look at a student's transcript during the holistic review process, we are trying to understand how a student has progressed over their 3+ years in high school. Have they been consistently strong throughout the years, did they start slow and then jump up to all A's, did they have a tough time in a specific subject, are all their B's low or high B's, etc. We are looking at core grades, we are focused on the actual grades, not a GPA on a transcript, and we are looking at trends and how you have done in your most challenging classes.</li>
<li><b style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Strength of Curriculum/Intellectual Challenges - </b>First,there is no magic number of AP/IB/Honors/Advanced/Dual Enrollment/Post-AP classes needed for admission, because there is no right answer. Instead, we look at the academic opportunities both at your school and in your community for the answer. What I mean is, most competitive colleges are going to look at what academic options are available to you as a student, and what you have then chosen to take. What have you done within the context of what is available? We also look at summer programs (Governor's Honors programs, Girls State, etc), activities which focus on developing your academic side, and how you are preparing yourself for the academic challenges at UGA.</li>
<li><b style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Integrity/Work Ethic/Maturity - </b>One area of admissions that is not always talked about, but which has a great impact over the entire file, is the idea of work ethic and maturity. I often refer people to a scene from the movie Rudy, where the main character never lets up, even on the last play of the last day of practice. UGA recognizes the overachiever, the one that has taken what they have been given and gone beyond everyone's expectations.</li>
<li><b style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Respect for Others - I</b>n looking at applicants, we are looking at future members of the UGA community. They will be living in the residence halls together, studying together, dating, hanging out, and generally interacting with the people in the UGA community 24/7. In light of this, I want to know how they interact with other people in their own community right now. Which students step outside their comfort zone to grow and understand others? Who reaches out to people in their community in need, using their time and effort to give back to other people? What students actively learn about other cultures and other people, and share a bit of themselves as well?</li>
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It takes a while for our team to review the large number of applications, and to dig into everything within the file. These files are reviewed by multiple counselors, and we are looking at everything in the application, including activities/sports/summer events/employment sections, transcripts, test scores, recommendations, resumes, essays, etc. We expect final decisions to go out sometime in mid-March, but that is based on current growth projections of how many total applications we will receive this year, so that could change.<br />
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Go Dawgs!</div>
DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-48054497162781359762018-11-16T10:00:00.000-05:002018-11-16T10:28:32.566-05:002019 EA Decisions and Data<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Early Action decisions will be released late this afternoon, so here are some details about the EA applicant and admitted groups. I will also add a comment to the top of this post when decisions go live, and I will announce it on Twitter as well. For students who were deferred, please understand that this is not a denial decision. We want to be able to have a more in-depth review of you, including short essays, activities, recommendations, etc. Please be sure to read the <a href="https://www.admissions.uga.edu/article/deferred-applicants-faq.html" target="_blank">deferred student FAQ page</a> before commenting on here. There is also a <a href="https://news.uga.edu/early-admission-uga-class-2023/" target="_blank">2019 Early Action Decision story</a> at UGA News which gives more broad details on the class as a whole, so I suggest you also review this information.<br />
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<b style="font-size: x-large;">Quick Early Action Numbers </b>(These numbers are mid-ranges, not minimums.)<br />
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<b>Applications Received: 17,000 (16,921 with fee paid)</b><br />
-<i>UGA received roughly 2,000 more EA applications than last year.</i><br />
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<b>Offers of Admission: 7,556</b><br />
<i>-This is slightly below last year's admitted numbers, but with the spike in EA applications and current RD data, it makes it harder to predict what will happen with overall application numbers.</i><br />
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<b>Mid 50% Admitted Average GPA: 4.07-4.33 GPA</b><br />
<i> -Please remember this is not the GPA students see on their high school transcript, but rather the GPA that UGA recalculates for everyone based on the core academic courses taken in high school and looking at the actual grades posted on the transcripts.</i><br />
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<b>Mid 50% Admitted Average SAT (EBRW+M): 1360-1490</b><br />
<i> -This is data for students who were admitted with the SAT being the highest or only test score in their review.</i><br />
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<b>Mid 50% Admitted Average ACT (Composite): 31-34</b><br />
<i> -This is data for students who were admitted with the ACT being the highest or only test score in their review. Remember, UGA focuses on the ACT English and Math scores, but we report the Composite data as that is the official/accepted data for national publications.</i><br />
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<b>Mid 50% Admitted AP/IB/DE courses over 4 years of HS: 7-12 courses</b><br />
<i> -We determine academic rigor based on all core classes a student has taken (CP, Honors, Advanced, AP, IB, DE, etc.) as compared to what is offered in the school/community, but this information is the most specific data we can give on it.</i><br />
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The rough breakdown of decisions are as such: 7,556 admits, 6,900+ deferred, 2,000 denied and slightly under 500 incomplete. If you have questions about your specific decision, please do not post them on this blog. As well, do not give out or request personal academic information in your post, as we would then need to delete these posts. We are not able to answer questions about individual students here because we will generally not have your information in front of us and we cannot disclose individual student information in a comment. I would recommend talking with both your family and high school counselor first, then reviewing this previous post on suggestions about how to react to an EA decision, and finally reading the FAQ's available from your Status page.<br />
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Please be patient, be nice and be courteous. Have a great weekend and go Dawgs!<br />
<br />DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-87867744728900351142018-11-12T12:48:00.001-05:002018-11-12T12:48:12.092-05:002019 Early Action Details<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As we stated earlier this month, UGA is planning on releasing the EA decisions on the Status page on Friday, November 16 in the late afternoon unless some serious problem arises, which I do not expect. If this changes, we will let you know, but this is the plan at this time. Please do not call/email/text/message/tweet asking for the exact time of "late afternoon", as I cannot give an exact time. We will post a message here when it opens up. We are excited about this, and I am guessing you are as well, and hopefully it will allow for a little less nerve-wracking Thanksgiving break for some of you. <b>I will also have an updated post on Friday with data on the applicant pool and mid-range data on the admitted group.</b><br />
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In addition to the decisions being available on the Status page, letters will go out in the mail for Accepted students. Freshman denial letters will not be mailed out, as almost all applicants see their decisions online, and we, along with a number of colleges, did not want to have a letter that only served to reinforce the negative feelings they might already have.<br />
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Here are a few suggestions on how to react to the four different decisions:<br />
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<b>Admit</b>: Celebrate with family, buy a lot of UGA gear to wear for the Thanksgiving break, but remember that not everyone has received a decision of admission, and so be a little more low key with friends and classmates. In other words, do not run up to you best friend during English class and scream "I got into Georgia" while 10-15 of your classmates are mentally creating new and painful ways for you to meet your doom. In addition, be patient with the other parts of campus (commitment deposit, housing, the UGA myID system, etc.), as they might need a few days to take in your information. Remember, it takes a little while for information to flow to other offices. Read the materials we give you online and in an acceptance packet as it will instruct you on what to do next.<br />
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<b>Defer</b>: This is the most challenging one, as these are applicants who are truly strong students, but we want to see more about them, as well as the rest of the applicant pool, before making a final decision. <b>Please remember, this is not a denial at all, but instead a way for us to be able to review you in full, from your co-curricular activities, your essays, and your recommendations.</b> We were only able to review a small subset of applicants in our holistic review in EA, as 17,000 applicants is a lot of stuff to get through. As I usually state, <b>defer is not a four letter word</b> (even though you might feel this way), only a delay in an admission decision. This is the time in which we are able to look at your overall application, as we have time to do holistic reads from December through mid-March. While this is probably not the answer you would like, I would suggest you treat it as a call-back for a second audition. Some roles have already been cast (or admitted), and we now want to look at you in more detail to see how you compare to the rest of the people auditioning (or applying). One of the worst things is to call us up and berate us for not admitting you. We will be happy to talk to people, but make sure to communicate in a positive tone, understand that we cannot talk about other applicants, and again please remember that defer does not mean denial. One step you can take is to make sure we have received a recommendation from a teacher in an academic area (it is optional but we suggest having one sent in). A second step is to give us any updates through an update form you will see on your status page. This could be fall grades (when you know them), a new activity, job or leadership role, or anything you want to add to your file. Remember, UGA is in no way done with the overall freshman admission process. We still have a long way to go, with a great deal of files to read and admission offers to make, so just be patient.<br />
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<b>Deny</b>: While this is not a fun situation at all, the reality is that if you have been denied Early Action, you are truly not competitive for admission at UGA as compared to the rest of the applicant pool. It is not easy to write that, and it is very difficult to tell this to a student or parent, but when we look at this student's application in comparison with the other 17,000 EA applicants (and remember, we expect to get over 10,000 RD applicants as well), they do not match up academically with the others. It is better to tell you now instead of waiting until late March, as this gives you time to make other plans. Unless there seems to be a serious error (you are in the top of your class, take a very challenging course load, and have a strong test score), my suggestion is to not contact us about the decision, but instead move forward with plan B. While we do not mind talking with you at all, the reality is that an Early Action denial means that the admission to UGA is not possible as a freshman.<br />
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<b>Incomplete</b>: For the small number of students who did not complete your EA file, you are now automatically deferred to the next step, and so you will need to get in the missing materials from EA, (remember the teacher recommendation is optional but we suggest also having one sent in). We went three plus weeks beyond the deadline allowing you to get in the missing documents, sending reminder emails, indicating what was missing through the Status page, and it was your responsibility to get in the required materials. So I do not suggest contacting us to see if we can take items late, as that time has passed. Focus instead on sending in what is needed to be reviewed in the next round.<br />
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Go Dawgs!DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-14941346768778401352018-11-02T09:33:00.003-04:002018-11-02T09:35:08.560-04:002019 Early Action Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yesterday the UGA Admissions Office announced that our Early Action decision release date would be Friday, November 16 in the late afternoon. If you have been following my blog for a while, you will know not to ask when late afternoon is, as I cannot give you an exact time. In the lead up to the decisions going out in two weeks, here is some data about this year's Early Action application group.</div>
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<li><b>Total EA Applications:</b> <b>16,906 (submitted and app fee paid)</b></li>
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<li>13.6% increase over last year, which is a very big increase</li>
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<li><b>Complete Early Action Applications as of today:</b> <b>16,320</b></li>
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<li>97% are complete right now, very impressive</li>
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<li><b>EA Applicants Applying within 4 days of Deadline: 7,500</b></li>
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<li>Wow, just wow</li>
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<li><b>Total number of EA Applicants using Coalition App: 5,000</b></li>
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<li>We are fine with either application source (in-house app or Coalition)</li>
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<li><b>Residency data on EA apps: 54% in-state, 46% out-of-state </b></li>
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<li>We do not make different decisions based on residency, but it is an interesting data point as we saw a large jump in out-of-state apps this year.</li>
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<li><b>Most common majors: Biology - 1,850 applicants, Undecided - 1,557</b></li>
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<li>We do not make different decisions based on major, but it is always interesting to see the different academic interests of our applicants.</li>
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As you can see, a huge number of the Early Action applications are complete. Only 3% of our applicants are incomplete, with some of those having issues due to the recent hurricanes impacting the southeast. We will be shutting down the importing of test scores and documents very soon, so make sure all your materials are in. We import both test scores and documents daily in the early morning, and we are totally caught up with all materials. If your test scores are still not matched up with your application, check to make sure the testing agency has actually sent them, and that the full name and email associated with the scores matches your application data. If there is a mis-match with your name, email and other data and the scores show as being sent to UGA, I suggest you reach out to us by email to fix this issue ASAP.<br />
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I cannot guess as to how the increase in applications will impact any decisions right now, but please know that we have a large number of very strong EA applicants. Now we just have to get through reviewing them all!<br />
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Good luck, and Go Dawgs!DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-61511584702543019742018-10-02T14:00:00.002-04:002018-10-02T14:00:46.107-04:00Why Self-Reported Grades?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In our admissions recruitment system, we have 39,427 organizations listed as high schools. We have schools with 1,500+ seniors and schools with one senior. We have Syrupmakers and Sea Kings, Jaguars and Leopards, Dragons and Wolverines, and even Jem Bears and Unicorns (<b>You go Unicorns!</b>). And you know what? It seems like all 39,427 schools have their own way of doing things, especially when it comes to grades. Different grading scales, different grades, different weighting systems, and just plain being different in how they do things. Even the transcripts look different, with some being hand-written, some being 12 pages long, and some with grades from kindergarten up to 12th grade. The one big thing in common is that many of them will have students applying to UGA, and we have to somehow convert these varying grades and grading scales into a somewhat common GPA system so we can look at the academics on a level playing field.<br />
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As you can guess, the recalculation of GPA's for 27,000+ applications takes a while. And the more time we spend on trying to figure out a GPA, the less time we have to do holistic file reads. As well, the longer we take in trying to decipher each grading system, the longer it takes to get out admission decisions. This is why we decided roughly eight years ago to ask our applicants to self-report their high school grades on their application. UGA uses these self-reported grades as a framework for the GPA calculation, and our evaluation team then reviews the transcript in every file to make sure we have the correct grades and GPA. Occasionally students make minor errors in self-reporting grades, and that is okay, as we double check them compared to the official transcript. <b>In the past eight years, we have been able to roughly double the number of files we review in the holistic file reading process, and we have also made decisions roughly 3-4 weeks earlier than our time frame prior to self-reported grades, all while having roughly the same level of staffing.</b><br />
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While we have tried to make our self-reported grades system as simple as possible, here are a few common issues we face every year:<br />
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<li><b>First things first, get a copy of your transcript.</b> We will be looking at your grades on a transcript, so it only makes sense to have the same thing in your hands when you self-report your grades. Enter in the grades from the transcript, even if your school has added "points" to a teacher's grades on the transcript. <b>See grades, enter grades.</b></li>
<li>A secondary reason for self-reported grades is so you can see your core courses and grades over the past three years, as you might have forgotten exactly how you did in your classes from 1-2 years ago.</li>
<li>Most of our applicants have taken HS courses in middle school, so this is not an uncommon thing for us to see. But in our GPA calculation, we only want to use the grades made in 9th grade and beyond. <b>Only enter in grades made in your HS years.</b> HS courses taken in middle school years can be used for state requirements, but we do not use them in the GPA.</li>
<li>If your transcript has only year long grades in your core courses worth a full credit, use the year long grades in the self-reported section (so generally 5-6 grades per year on average). If your transcript shows semester grades worth half a credit, put in the semester grades in the self-reported section. Many semester system grades might have a yearly average grade as well, but we only want the semester grades. The one oddity is if your school has a mix of grade types (usually semester for most with occasional courses having only year grades). If this is the case, report everything as semester grades, and count the year grades twice (as 1 year grade = 2 semester grades). <b>Use what is on the transcript.</b> </li>
<li>If you have taken DE courses, or courses at another high school, you should only report these grades if they are on your official HS transcript, and only if they are core courses. As well, if you took summer courses, we are fine with you listing these under either year that surrounds that summer (for example either junior or senior year if taken in the summer prior to senior year).</li>
<li>We ask for the total number of AP/IB grades because that is what we use for adding weight for the GPA. We don't use Honors in our weighting system because, unlike AP and IB courses, Honors courses are not standardized nationally. <b>We still use Honors and Advanced courses in our curriculum review, just not in our GPA calculation.</b></li>
<li>We have been doing this for eight years, so trust that we know all the oddities, and go by what the instructions say on the self-reported grades. <b>This is not our first self-reported grades rodeo.</b></li>
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Please let me know if you have questions, and Go Dawgs!</div>
DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-58044825283373501982018-09-24T13:26:00.000-04:002018-09-24T13:26:35.721-04:00Random Admission Thoughts- September 2018<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sometimes when writing the admissions blog, I have a specific topic to present based on the time of year, what is happening in our office at that time or something in the news that is timely. Other times, I just have random thoughts and ideas in my head of what is important or being talked about on social media or questions being asked about during our travels. Luckily for you, this is the second type, so no philosophical ramblings. As such, here are some random UGA admissions thoughts:<br />
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<li>There is no award for applying early in the process, but there are some consequences in waiting until the deadline to apply. We will treat your application the same if you apply on the first day or the last, but a majority of the files that are incomplete at decision time happen due to applying on the deadline. If you wait until the end, you cause others in the process (counselors, teachers, test agencies, etc.) to do things at a later time, causing some things to be late. Don't wait until the end to apply.</li>
<li>UGA uses "best scores" in the admission review, so we only look at the strongest sub scores for your SAT or ACT tests. <b>If you take the SAT or ACT multiple times, we will only look at the strongest scores.</b> What does this mean? Don't wait until the last minute to send in scores after you see how you did.</li>
<li>UGA requires a school report as a part of the freshman application process. This can be our online counselor form, a Secondary School Report (SSR) or a counselor recommendation letter. This is NOT a school profile. This is a document telling us more about the individual student from the school counselor's point of view.</li>
<li>UGA does not use demonstrated interest in our review. Let me say it again - <b>demonstrated interest does not impact a decision.</b> We care about what you are like, not how much you "like" us.</li>
<li>We will accept test scores which are both taken and requested by the application deadline. As such, we will be able to use the October SAT if you have put UGA as a score recipient prior to taking the test. In addition, we cannot use the October ACT, as it is given after the 10/15 EA application deadline.</li>
<li>We are fine if you apply through our "UGA" application or through the Coalition application. If you use the Coalition, know that our essays are on the UGA specific page, and one of the essay prompts we use is also one of the general Coalition essay prompts.</li>
<li>As well, if you apply using the Coalition application, you will receive an email about a day after you submit the app giving you access to the UGA admissions status page. You can check on documents, test scores, and complete the self-reported grades form for UGA.</li>
<li>We can't guess about a decision, no matter what. No matter how you phrase your question, we will still say "I have no idea". Why? Because we have no idea. It all depends on your overall application, the applications submitted by everyone else, and how many people we decide we can admit. <b>As Yoda says, "Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future."</b></li>
<li>Pay attention to the emails and/or texts that an admissions office sends you about your application. It might just save you some frustration.</li>
<li>Deferral is not a bad thing, just a "please wait" thing. <b>If you can't handle being deferred, don't apply EA.</b></li>
<li>Whether you are applying EA or RD, take your time and fully complete the application. Don't just phone in the activities or essays for EA because someone told you UGA does not look at them. </li>
<li>If you have questions about applying, ask them now. Don't wait until the night of the deadline (or later) to ask me. Admissions people might seem all powerful, but we can't go back in time.</li>
<li>I can't guess if a student should apply Early Action (EA) or Regular Decision (RD), as that is up to the applicant. <b>There is a Diet Coke ad right now where the actor says "If you want to live in a yurt, yurt it up!" Same here. If you want to apply EA, EA it up.</b> If you feel comfortable with us looking at your file in October, apply EA. If you need more time, later scores, fall grades, etc., apply RD. </li>
<li>I will finish off with another Yoda quote - <b>"Do. Or do not. There is no try."</b> I am okay whether you choose to apply to UGA or not. But if you want to be considered for admission to UGA, you've got to apply. I don't want students to look back in May and say "I wish I had applied.". </li>
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If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask them, and Go Dawgs!</div>
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DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-13153839538249350382018-09-17T16:13:00.003-04:002018-09-17T16:13:54.857-04:00Changes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Changes. They happen all the time in all areas of life. David Bowie even has a song about it. It is a fact of life, an Admissions Offices are no different. Every year we look at what has happened over the past year, what has worked and what needs fine tuning and what we need to change for the future.<br />
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For this coming year, we have been looking at our review process for our freshman admission decisions and as well our transfer admission process. The transfer review process is still being discussed by both our office and the faculty, while the freshman review process changes will impact our incoming EA and RD applications for the 2019 year.<br />
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Over the past several years, our applicant pool has grown much stronger, both in the academic and co-curricular areas. In addition, our applicant pool has grown in size, with the expectation that we might have close to 30,000 freshman applicants this year. As the applicant pool's academic data-points have grown, we have started to see a much larger group of students who are very similar in their academic profiles. In order to make more informed decisions during our admission reviews and have a positive impact on our incoming freshman class, we have decided to increase the number of files we look at in our holistic review process (looking at everything in the file).<br />
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While we will still have a number of applications where we focus primarily on the academic areas of core grades, rigor of curriculum and test scores, our goal is to expand our review of a larger group of applicants to take into account all that the student does inside and outside of of the classroom. This will not change the timing of our decisions (unless we are suddenly overwhelmed with a huge growth in our applicant pool), so you can look back at our previous timelines over the past years and know we will be following those three decision timelines fairly closely.<br />
<br />
The biggest admissions points where this change might be seen will be in our November Early Action decisions and in our small group of February admits, where in past years our review has been primarily based on academics. While we have always had a small group of EA applications where we looked at everything in the file, mainly to determine if a student's application should be deferred or denied, we will now be increasing this holistic review process into a much greater number of applicants for these decisions. We will still have a number of decisions during these times where our review is focused on the the core academic areas, especially in our EA round where a large number of applicants have extremely strong academic records. Since we try to make our process as clear as possible, we have been communicating this message in our fall travel and now in this blog post so that our applicants and families will feel more informed about our process.<br />
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Hopefully, this message clears up any questions you might have about our review process, and it will help slow down the comments on the blog asking if X or Y really needs to be submitted since "we are just looking at academics".<br />
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Go Dawgs, and good luck out there!DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-59672132544680248692018-09-06T08:44:00.002-04:002018-09-06T08:44:23.384-04:00The Language of Admissions<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">My daughter, who is a
sophomore International Affairs major at UGA, probably thinks she can hold her
own in a hospital operating room. Why? Because being a Grey's Anatomy fangirl
has taught her all the medical lingo she would ever need in this life. Fourteen
seasons and 317 episodes of the life of Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, Miranda
Bailey, McDreamy, McSteamy, and all the other doctors of Seattle
Grace/Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital have taught her well. Words like V-Fib,
central line, metastasis, Pre and Post-Op, and phrases such as "I need a
ten-blade and 100 cc's of epi stat" can just roll off her tongue. Me, I am
terrified of blood, and almost all medical terms just go right over my head,
even with a wife who is a nurse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">In the same way, a
number of occupations and offices have their own language. If you have ever
been to the Varsity (a wonderfully greasy hamburger place in Atlanta and
Athens), you know they have their own lingo for food, from a Naked Dog to Chili
Steak all the way (see the <a href="https://thevarsity.com/food/lingo">Varsity Lingo page</a> for the full
details). Whether you are an accountant, in construction, work in finance or
are a lawyer, every field seems to have their own language. College admissions is
no different, and it can sometimes get confusing. Here is a helpful guide to
some of the key words and phrases in the world of admissions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Binding</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">:
While there are many "Early" terms (early decision, early
action, early notification, early admission, and EA II), the key term is
for all of these is whether the offer is binding, meaning that X college
is considered an applicants top choice, and if admitted, they will attend
(thus a binding offer). A number of colleges such as UGA have a
non-binding Early Action option (see Early Action below).<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l14 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Blind/Neutral</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> :
For many colleges, there will be information that the university as a
whole will need to ask for some specific reason (gender for housing,
family finances for financial aid) which are not used in the admission
process. If a school is need blind, for instance, this means that the
admissions office does not use (or even see, thus the word blind) the
financial data of an applicant when making an admission decision (such as
UGA). Other times, there are questions on the admission application that
need to be asked for purposes other than admission (alumni information for
the alumni office, gender and ethnicity for federal reporting), but are
treated as a neutral non factor in the admission process. At UGA, these
three factors-alumni, gender and ethnicity, have to be asked (along with a
few others), but we do not use them in our admission review process.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Common/Coalition Application:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> There are two applications which are used by a
number of colleges and allow for a student to enter in a majority of their
personal information (biographic data, co-curricular info, etc.) for all
colleges to use and then complete a smaller amount of institution specific
questions needed by each college. UGA uses both the Coalition application
and our own application.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Dawg</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">:
Also known as a bulldog, it is the most fierce and wonderful mascot in the
known world. This is not an admission term, but one that you should know
nonetheless.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo5; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Defer/Deferral</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">:
A deferral decision is generally associated with an Early decision of some
kind, and the college is not able to make a decision due to wanting more
information about the applicant and the overall pool of applicants and
more time to review the files. This is neither a denial or an offer of
admission (or a wait list offer), but simply a need by the college for
more time and information before making a decision on the student. The
student will then be placed within the other applicants waiting for a
decision, and they will be treated the same as these other applicants.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo6; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Double Deposit</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">:
This is when a student sends in a deposit to two colleges (without a wait
list offer being involved) to hold a place in the freshman class instead
of just one. This is really looked down upon by colleges, and I compare it
to a person being engaged to two people at one time. At times, this could
cause a student to have an offer of admission be rescinded, as a student
should only deposit at one institution.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l12 level1 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Early Action (EA)</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">:
This decision plan is a non-binding review of a student's application
during the early part of the admission process, and it takes place in the
fall of the student's senior year. At UGA, the focus is on the overall
academic standing of both the applicant and the Early Action applicant
pool, and the deadline is earlier than for Regular Decision applicants (at
UGA the EA deadline is 10/15). The decisions can be either Admit, Deny, or
Defer, and a denial decision is final. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo8; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">FAFSA</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">:
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a federal
government form that students and parents complete in January/February of
their senior year to apply for need based federal assistance. This form
helps to determine the student's eligibility for federal aid, including
grants, loans and student work-study aid.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo9; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Holistic Review</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">:
This is when an admissions office will do a detailed review of everything
within an applicant's file, and look at things such as academics, academic
trends, essays, activities, leadership, recommendations (if required),
supplemental materials, the rigor of a student's coursework, etc. The
readers of the file will try to get a sense of the overall applicant, and
how the different areas of the file interconnect. This process has nothing
to do with crystals, wheat germ, or any other uses of the word
"holistic".<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo10; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Interest/Demonstrated Interest</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">: Some colleges (UGA is not included) take into account
the amount of interest a prospective student has shown towards the college
when making an admissions decision. If a student attends X college's
program at their high school, visits the college either on special
prospective student days or for a tour and information session, or keeps
in contact with the admissions counselor for their area, it can show that
a student is seriously interested in X college. On the flip side, there
are some students who are unable to visit X college, have limited
resources, or finds out about X college late in the senior year, and
cannot show as much "interest". Again, some colleges use this in
their process, while others (like UGA) do not.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo11; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Melt</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">:
After admitted freshman send in a deposit to a college, they at times will
change their mind about attending said college. Most admissions offices
know that if they receive X deposits, about 3-5% of these students will
ultimately not enroll, as they could have issues with finances, be
admitted of a wait list at another college, have academic issues, decide
to delay college, double deposit (see above), etc. At times, this is also
called "summer melt", as this occurs generally between May 1 and
mid-August. Most colleges, such as UGA, will build this into their
projections for their freshman classes.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l16 level1 lfo12; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Prospect/Prospective Applicant</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">: When a student contacts a college to request more
information, sends an SAT/ACT score to admissions, or indicates gives a
college their contact information at a college fair, they go into the
college's recruitment system as a prospective applicant so that the
college can begin communicating with them. In addition, if you take the
PSAT/PLAN or the SAT/ACT, you can ask to be a part of the student search
process, and this will allow colleges to access your information from the
testing agency to start communicating with you about the college search
process.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l11 level1 lfo13; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Rigor/Rigor of Curriculum</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">: Colleges look at what options a student has with
their course options in high school, and what courses they actually then
take over their four years. In an admission review, the context of a
student's academic course load, and it will be come a part of both the
academic and overall review of an application. Colleges look at what
Honors, Advanced, Accelerated, Advanced Placement (AP), International
Baccalaureate (IB), Dual Enrollment, and other types of courses in a
review of a student's rigor.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l15 level1 lfo14; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">School Report/Counselor Recommendation</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">: A majority of colleges that have competitive
admission processes will ask for a letter of recommendation and/or a form
from a student's high school counselor. This gives the college some
detailed information about the school, the individual student, and the
counselor's insights into what the student has done academically and
personally.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo15; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Superscoring SAT/ACT's</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">: A number of colleges (including UGA) will use the
strongest subscores of standardized test (either the SAT or ACT) to make
the strongest overall score within that specific test type. So if your
first SAT exam had results of SAT EBRW 600 and SAT M 700 and your second
SAT exam had results of SAT EBRW 700 and SAT M 650, your overall
superscore would be EBRW 700 + M 700 = 1400. The same goes for the
subscores of the ACT making a superscored ACT Composite. UGA does not
combine SAT and ACT scores though (we do not add an SAT EBRW of 700 to an
ACT M of 34, etc.)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo16; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Wait List</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">:
Many colleges (such as UGA) have a limited number of freshman that they
can enroll each year, and thus must try to come as close to possible in
predicting how many admitted students will actually choose to enroll at
their college. If the admissions office's prediction is low, they will go
to a group of students they have not admitted or denied, called the wait
list, where if there is enough room in the freshman class, they will then
consider for admission. Wait List students are told to move forward with a
plan B college, as colleges will not know if they can go to a wait list
until mid-May at the earliest, and wait list students are given the option
if they would like to stay on the list or not. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo17; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Yield</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">:
Colleges know that not all students they admit will choose to enroll, and
the percentage of students who do decide to enroll is called the Yield
percentage. There is a wide range of yield percentages at colleges, with
UGA averaging slightly over 50% over the past several years.<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
</ul>
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<br />DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-9778934461794048552018-08-22T15:29:00.002-04:002018-08-22T15:29:56.399-04:00Admissions Checklist<div>
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I will tell you right now, I love the podcast for NPR's "Hidden Brain" by Shankar Vedantam. I hope that one day I might be a part of a story about college admissions on this podcast (I know, keep dreaming). And one of my favorite episodes on this program is "Check Yourself", a podcast about how checklists, similar to the ones airline pilots now use, can be vital in other areas. The start of the program deals with the growth of the airline business, and a 1935 Boeing crash that led to the development of the first airline pilot checklist. It then leads into the other business sectors which can be improved by using checklists. In our research concerning last year's applicant pool, there was a dramatic dip in both admission rates and strength of essays for students did not plan ahead in their college application process and who waited until the last minute to apply. Preparation is key for a number of things, including the college admissions process. With the opening of the UGA Freshman application on September 1 fast approaching, here is a quick checklist for potential applicants. While the first two checklists are key right now, I thought I would throw in the last one so you can see what is down the road.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<span style="font-size: large;">Pre-Flight Checklist</span></h4>
<ol>
<li><b>College Spreadsheet:</b> Create a basic chart with the name of each college you are considering, the application and material deadlines for the different schools and decision plans (EA vs RD for instance), the materials needed for each, and the rough decision dates.</li>
<li><b>HS Transcript:</b> Obtain a copy of your HS transcript for self-reporting your grades, and also to look back and see what courses you have taken and how you did.</li>
<li><b>Resume:</b> Create/Update your resume, and have it available for the co-curricular sections of the application. It is much easier to complete the activities sections of an application when you already have a rough framework.</li>
<li><b>Personal Data:</b> Make sure you have the correct Social Security Number, full name and birth date, then verify them all again. Roughly 100 enrolling students a year get one of these wrong, then have issues with their FAFSA or HOPE aid, and the issue generally arises around the time to pay for the first semester.</li>
<li><b>School Contacts:</b> Have your HS counselor and teacher information available (name, title, email address). </li>
<li><b>Payment Info:</b> Have your payment information available, be it a credit card number or a fee waiver document.</li>
</ol>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>In-Flight Checklist</b></span></div>
</div>
<ol>
<li><b>Review the Data: </b>During the application process, look at the Freshman Profiles for each college you are considering. Remember that these are only the mid-ranges, so there are students above and below the middle. As well, try and understand what different colleges focus on in their review (grades, test scores, essays, hair color, etc.).</li>
<li><b>Start working on your essays.</b> Most students start roughing out their <a href="https://ugaadmissions.blogspot.com/2018/05/2019-freshman-essay-topics.html" target="_blank">UGA admission essays</a> after the application opens (but you can start sooner!), but remember that you don't need to either rush through them or obsess over each word. We suggest you write them first in a program like Microsoft Word or Google Docs, and make sure to proofread the essays, have someone review them for you, and don't wait until the last minute to start on these.</li>
<li><b>Double Check Required Items:</b> While you know you requested your test scores, transcripts and recommendations to be sent, you always want to make sure that X/Y/Z college actually received them. UGA has an online admissions status page so you can see what we have received, what is still missing, and the details of the items we have in your file.</li>
<li><b>Don't listen to rumors/myths about college admissions.</b> I have been over this many times in many blog posts, so I won't beat a dead horse. All I can say is that I have had three surgeries in my life, but going through the experience does not make me a doctor, just a good patient.</li>
<li><b>Let your parents be involved in the admissions process, but only so much.</b> It is okay to allow your parents to be a part of the college admissions process, but make sure that you are the one who completes the application, writes the essays, etc. Your parents can be great at helping you keep track of deadlines, make plans for visiting colleges, and giving you suggestions about your application. In the end, though, make sure you are the one driving/managing this process, as you are the one who will be at college next year.</li>
<li><b>Senioritis:</b> Don't catch it. Seriously.</li>
</ol>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">Post-Flight Checklist</span></h3>
<div>
<ol>
<li><b>Reply to Colleges:</b> Once all of the decisions are done and you have make a choice about your future college, make sure to submit any required deposits well ahead of time. As well, let the colleges you will not be attending know your decision (you can do this with UGA straight from your admissions status page). </li>
<li><b>Orientation:</b> In order to get ready for your freshman year, you generally are required to attend an orientation session, learn about the procedures and policies of each college, talk to an advisor and register for classes. Don't delay in signing up for Orientation.</li>
<li><b>Financial Aid:</b> This actually should be in all three checklists, but make sure you start working with college financial aid offices well before it is time to enroll. Life gets hectic in the summer for financial aid, so take care of this well ahead of time. You do not want any surprises in this part of your college life.</li>
<li><b>Final Documents:</b> Make sure to get in your final HS transcript, your immunization forms, Housing and meal plan contracts, and any other items needed for your college to allow you to actually enroll.</li>
</ol>
</div>
Good luck in the admissions process, follow a checklist so you don't crash, and Go Dawgs!DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-31345241747551505292018-08-10T14:11:00.000-04:002018-08-10T14:13:41.238-04:00What should I take? - Course rigor and a balanced life<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">In College Admissions, there is an ongoing struggle with trying to relay information concerning a high school applicant's course selection. How do you relay the idea to students that colleges want you to challenge yourself in preparation for college classes, but not overdo their coursework load to the detriment of their work/play balance and overall mental health. One of the main reasons that this is such a tough discussion is due to the differences in individual students and how they are able to handle challenging coursework. For every student who is able to handle a full AP/IB course load there is another student who gets in over their head with their junior/senior schedule. There is no one right answer for how challenging a student's course work should be, just like there is no one right answer for any number of life's choices. If a parent calls and asks us to sketch out the schedule their student should take in high school, a college admissions officer is no real knowledge of the student and family dynamic has no real insight into what courses that individual student should take. We can talk about the state or institutional base minimums, and what previous students have taken, but that only paints a very broad stroke on the canvas. As such, here is what we can give as far as suggestions and guidelines. To be honest, no admissions person can say what your individual student should take as far as HS courses, as this decision needs a great deal more information than we would have from one email/phone call.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.85px;">Academically</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"> speaking, we suggest that students challenge themselves to the </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">best of their ability</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"> while still having strong grades in high school. We do not want a student to take 5 AP courses in one year, and come out having 3 C's and 2 D's. A student needs to be successful in their classes. But a 4.00 GPA while taking some of the most basic courses offered at the high school is not a good option either, as the strong grades would indicate that the student could challenge themselves with more advanced classes and better prepare them for the next academic level. We want a student who is willing to challenge themselves and still do well in their courses. When we give this advice though, we also try and couch it within the scope of the academic interests and individual strengths of the student. Generally, if the student is looking at engineering/STEM majors, then advanced math and science classes are key to prepare yourself for the beginning courses in these areas, with an understanding that there still needs to be a strong base of English courses and possibly the other core areas. If you are looking within the social sciences areas, you will want to make sure you have taken advanced work in English, economics, history/psychology and many times statistics or foreign languages). But again, this is a very broad brush stroke, as each student is different. When we give out data points on the average number of AP or DE courses, this is not an expectation for our entering class. We look at what is available, what is taken, and how four years of coursework play out over the five core academic areas. <b>If you are shooting for taking X number of AP courses because of an average number, you are aiming at the wrong target.</b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">As far as a good balance between a student's academic and personal lives, it is again up to the student and family to determine the tipping point.</span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"> Students should challenge themselves with a rigorous course schedule that is manageable while also having time for family, friends, activities and a social life.</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"> It does not do anyone any good (student, family, high school or college) for a student to become so overwhelmed with their coursework that their academic and personal lives begin to collapse. At the same time, students and parents need to be aware that the opposite problem can occur when their personal/social lives so dominate their days that it negatively impacts their academics, which then spirals into a different (but just as bad) collapse of their world. If your sixth or seventh activity/sport is negatively impacting a student's coursework, the reality is that the student and family need to reassess the co-curricular imbalance. <b>Admissions offices understand that not all learning comes from the classroom, and we want to see that potential students are able to interact with other people, help other people and learn from other people.</b> We are looking for applicants who will be able to make an impact on our college campus both in and out of class. We also want to make sure students can handle that same balancing act of academics and personal life when they are on our college campuses.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">I hope this helps a little of this very difficult question.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Go Dawgs!</span>DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1610885684347083635.post-68357651109952327982018-08-03T10:58:00.001-04:002018-08-03T10:58:50.652-04:00Senior Year Do's and Don'ts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It is that time of year again, when K-12 schools are starting back, students (and teachers) groan and parents quietly celebrate. Colleges are beginning to open their applications for the Class of 2023 (UGA's app will open on September 1), and the college admissions process suddenly gets real. With the flip of the proverbial switch, applying to colleges suddenly changes from a vague future action to a reality and the tension level goes up to a seven or eight. I honor of this time of year, here is a list of do's and don'ts for parents and students.<br />
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<b>Rising HS Seniors:</b></h3>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><b>DO</b></span>: <b>Have a wonderful senior year, as your senior year should be special. Focus on doing well in your classes, but also take time to strengthen your ties to your friends, meet new people, and enjoy your last year of HS.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">DON'T</span></b>: <b>Let senioritis overtake your brain.</b> After you are admitted to a college, they will still be reviewing your final HS transcript, and you need to make sure your grades have not dropped to a level that causes problems in enrolling at your intended college. We rescinded eight offers of admission this year - please don't be one of these next year.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">DO</span></b>: <b>Stay active in clubs, sports, volunteer work or other activities that you have been involved with during HS. Senior year should be a good finish to your HS years, not a count-down until you are out of there.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">DON'T</span></b>: <b>Be so active in all things outside of school that you let your grades drop</b> (see the first DON'T). Know (or learn) how to juggle different demands, and know that your academics come first.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">DO</span></b>: <b>Look at the college search process as a time to learn more about yourself, what you want to do for the next four years, and find several good matches in your college search. This should be an exciting time where you are able to look into the future and see how you fit with each college, and the possibilities that are down the road.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">DON'T</span></b>: <b>Listen to myths, rumors or people who say "I heard that in order to get into UGA...".</b> Senior year and the college search should not be a time of panic or despair, and most of the stress is not necessary. College admission offices want to work with you and help you through the process, so listen to their suggestions. Generally, college admission rumors start when someone does not understand the admissions process, and they then attempt to guess about a reason X/Y/Z happened. Don't get caught up in this cycle of misinformation.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">DO</span></b>: <b>Pay attention to deadlines, take responsibility for your own college applications, and make sure things are in well before they need to be.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">DON'T</span></b>: <b>Do things at the last minute.</b> How you act in HS and in the application process shows us how you might be on our campus. If you do things at the last second (or later), procrastinate, and do not take care of your side of things, what do you think the colleges will be thinking about how you will handle things once you get to college.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">DO</span></b>: <b>Enjoy your senior year, take time to enjoy the college selection process, and thank your parents, counselors and teachers for all that they have done for you.</b><br />
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<b>Parents of Rising HS Seniors</b></h3>
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">DO</span>: Support your student during this challenging year of transition. Find a good balance between helping them and getting out of the way and letting them handle things, as they will be out of the house next year and having to do things on their own soon enough. </b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">DON'T</span>: Make this process about you. </b>We all want our kids to succeed, whether it is in four year old soccer or applying to college, and as parents, you feel each joy and pain your child feels. But make sure that the focus is on the student, where they want to apply, and what is best for them. If you find yourself saying "We applied...", stop and reassess the situation. There are many comparisons we use for parents (training wheels on a bike, safety net, coach, cheerleader), but in the end the student is going to be on a campus next fall, and they need to learn how to handle this college thing on their own.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">DO</span>: Learn about the colleges your student is interested in, and ask questions of admissions about the process. Our offices are happy to answer all questions, and I try and reply to any and all comments on this blog. We still want the student to ask questions, and you should encourage your student to take the lead, but we are fine working with parents during this process.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">DON'T</span>: Ask for advice on UGA admissions decision process from your friends/neighbors just because they have had a child apply to UGA in the past. </b>First, things change, from deadlines to requirements to how our process works. Second, having a child apply to college makes you knowledgeable about applying to college, not on how admission decisions are made. Myths and rumors abound in the college admissions world, but I heavily suggest you try and avoid anyone sharing them. If a person starts a sentence with "I heard that UGA Admissions ...", think twice (or more) about the advice.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;"><b>DO</b></span>: <b>Have a discussion with your student on the realities of attending X/Y/Z college, especially if college costs are a major factor. Make sure they know what the reality is concerning what is possible and what is not based on admissions/financial aid.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">DON'T</span></b>: <b>Eliminate a college from your student's list just because it is a rival of your alma mater.</b> If you are an Alabama fan, life will be okay if your child goes to Auburn. Same with UGA/GT, Cal Berkeley/Stanford, UNC/NC State, and Harvard/Yale. Let your student find the colleges that match their interests and go from there.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">DO</span></b>: <b>Help your student find a number of colleges that fit their needs. In the college search, there will be a number of institutions that "check off all the boxes" of what your student is looking for in a university. Help them understand that there are a number of great options and to find good matches with their needs.</b><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;"><b>DON'T</b></span>: <b>Tell your student that there is only one perfect college for them</b>. Having only one "perfect" option puts a great deal of unnecessary pressure on getting into that one institution. I know a number of previously denied students who found a great match at another college, even if at first they thought not getting into UGA was the end of the world.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">DO</span></b>: <b>Tell your child you love them no matter what admission decisions occur over the next year or so. </b><br />
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<b>Good luck in managing the college admissions process, and Go Dawgs!</b><br />
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<br />DGraveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07898528441077213024noreply@blogger.com0