Playing on the Same Court
David Graves August 8th, 2019
Hoosiers There are a few movies everyone has where, if it appears on-screen when you are channel surfing, you have to stop and watch at least a few scenes. Hoosiers, where an underdog basketball team from the small town of Hickory, Indiana and their outsider coach overcome personal struggles to make it to the Indiana HS basketball championship game. One particular scene always stands out for me: As the team walks into the imposing Butler University’s Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis prior to playing in the final game, the players are stunned into silence as they look around the massive arena. Going from their high school gym with a capacity in the hundreds to a field house that seats 15,000 is an overwhelming change for the Hickory players, causing them to doubt themselves and their chances of winning the championship game. In the pivotal scene, Coach Dale has several of the players use a measuring tape to check the dimensions of the basketball court. “I think you’ll find it is the exact same measurements as our gym back in Hickory.” With one sentence, Coach Dale lets his players know that while the field house might be massive and the opposing team might seem intimidating, on the court where the game is played, it is a level playing field. When our office works with students who have challenges in their educational situation, many times from rural areas or from schools with limited resources, we see that same stunned silence as the Hickory […]
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Tags: context, file reading, freshman admission, holistic
Study Abroad – Student and Parent Perspectives
David Graves July 25th, 2019
This May, my daughter Amelia (rising junior majoring in International Affairs and Political Science and applying for the Double Dawgs program in Public Administration) participated in a month long Study Abroad program in Stellenbosch, South Africa. She was able to learn more about the political systems in Africa, and as well get an understanding of the social issues in post-apartheid South Africa. Study Abroad is a very different experience for the student and parent, so here is a look at that balance. (AG is Amelia, while DG is me). Favorite part of the study abroad experience? AG) I really enjoyed the service learning aspect when working with 8th graders in Kayamandi township at Makapula High School. I was able to get very close to four of the students, and to get to see what they are learning in school. The student’s humorous nature and getting to dance with them (two of the students were on the school dance team) were a highlight of my day. This particular study abroad program allowed our group to become immersed in the culture of a South African township and to understand the issues facing these students. This was very different from being a student/tourist going abroad. DG) If I say it got her out of the house for another month, I would get in trouble, so it is definitely not that! Really though, we were excited that Amelia was going to see more of the world, and get a deep dive into another culture. […]
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Tags: study abroad, UGA
New Blog Look, Same Great Taste
David Graves July 19th, 2019
Stranger Things-One of the best shows on TV right now, at least for me that is. It brings back all my old high school memories, from Dungeons & Dragons, Back to the Future and being a teenager in the 1980’s. One highlighted image memory from the show was when Coca Cola decided to introduce New Coke. In the same vein, I am here to introduce the new look of the blog. We have transitioned it over from an old system and an old look to house it on our new website, and give it more of a UGA Admissions website feel. Hopefully, it has more success than New Coke did in the 80’s. As we transition, we are also shifting the old comments over to the new look blog, and that might take a day or two to fully move over. In addition, we will be adding back the blog “pages” in the near future, which covers topics such as Timelines, Deadlines, EA vs RD, and an FAQ page. Please bear with me as we go through the transition, and enjoy the new look. In the meantime, have a coke and a smile (we are in Georgia after all, the home of Coca Cola)! Go Dawgs!
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Tags: admissions
Emergency Codes
David Graves July 9th, 2019
Last 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: Code Red – Fire emergency at camp. Code Blue – Possible bomb/active shooter. Code Yellow – Missing camper emergency. Code Gray – Thunderstorm spotted. Code Black – Tornado Warning. 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 […]
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Tags: activities, applications, freshman admission
2020 Freshman Essay Questions
David Graves May 30th, 2019
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. Here are the five essay questions, with Essay 1 being required and Essays 2-5 being four options from which the applicant selects one. (Required) 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 […]