Admission Traffic Lights
David Graves September 25th, 2019
I am not sure what this says about me, but I think traffic lights are awesome. Maybe I just played Red Light/Green Light a little too much as a kid. But traffic lights bring order to what could be chaos, give people subtle and not so subtle alerts about what to do, and overall they help everyone get to where they want to go. To truly appreciate traffic lights, all you have to do is drive up to one that is not working. Nothing is worse that having to deal with the flashing red light, and the fear that comes from not knowing if everyone else actually understands what to do in this situation. Because of my love of traffic signals, here are a few Admission related traffic light suggestions to help survive the admission process without any crashes, blaring of horns or polite/impolite hand gestures. Green Light Apply Earlier than the listed Deadline – If you are going to the airport, you always want to leave early enough to get you to the gate an hour before the plan departs. You want to leave plenty of time to deal with traffic (and malfunctioning lights), finding a parking space, a long line at security, or any other possible problem. I suggest you set a date a week prior to the actual application deadline as your unofficial deadline for submitting your application. If you are applying to UGA Early Action (deadline of 10/15), a personal deadline of 10/6 to submit […]
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Tags: deadlines, essays, freshman admission, myths, recommendations
So The Application Is Open, Now What
David Graves September 5th, 2019
The UGA Freshman application opened up on September 1, and in the first 4 days, roughly 7,000 students started an application. We generally have a small spike of students start the application right away, but only about 200 have actually submitted the app right now, so don’t panic if you have not started. But now that the application is open, here are a few things to think about concerning your application to UGA. Should you apply EA or RD? I have no idea, as this is really up to you. The EA and RD reviews are the same, just on a different timeline. We have an initial academic review of each applicant, and then for a number of students, we go into more detail in our holistic review process, where we look at everything. We will be doing more holistic reviews during the October/November EA initial process, and we will also defer a number of applicants where we want to look closer at their file holistically but we need more time to read the files (mid-October to mid-November does not give us a huge amount of time for holistic reads). The big question you should ask yourself when choosing EA vs RD is as follows: Are you comfortable with us reviewing your file on October 15, or do you need more time to work on the app, later test scores or fall grades? If you are good with us reviewing you somewhere around 10/15, apply EA, but if you need […]
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Tags: applications, deadlines, Early Action, freshman admission, Regular Decision
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!