Random Admission Thoughts-Post EA Decisions

We have made it past the Early Action decisions, and we are now at the
next stages of the admission cycle. With that in mind, here are a few
thoughts about what happens in Admissions and UGA from November to late
March.

• Statistics – Some rough mid-50% statistics on accepted and deferred Early Action applicants: Admitted – 4.00-4.22 UGA GPA, 29-33 ACT, 1320-1490 best SAT, 6-10 AP/IB/DE courses.     Deferred – 3.61-3.91 UGA GPA, 26-30 ACT, 1170-1330 best SAT, 4-7 AP/IB/DE courses.
• Scholarships -We have released some scholarship offers
  in when we made the Early Action decisions, and this will continue until mid-April as we
  review files for different scholarships. We will offer about 15-20% of
  admitted student’s scholarships overall, but it takes time. Scholarship information will be sent by mail, and they can also be seen on your myStatus page in a section that appears if a scholarship is offered.
• Honors -The Honors program is working with our office to collect data
  on the admitted EA applicants, so please be patient with this office as
  they begin
  their review for their early offers. They hope to be able to start
  communicating with students in mid-December, but that is an estimate,
  not a specific timeline.
• Deferred – Deferred EA applicants are beginning to submit part II of the
  application and get in teacher recommendations, and we expect the
  majority will finish these steps during the December holidays. Deferred
  applicants do not need to submit a new application or pay a new
  application fee, and it will cause problems for applicants who try to do
  this. In addition, the last section of part II is for any updates, where
  an applicant can give us new information such as updated activities,
  fall grades, new honors, etc. I also suggest that all RD and deferred EA applicants review the Timeline page for details on when we release decisions.
• Senior Grades – While Fall grades are not required for RD or deferred EA applicants,
  I heavily suggest sending them in, either self-reported on part II or
  on a transcript. Accepted students do not need to send us updated grades

  unless requested by another office (Honors for instance). There are too
  many RD applicants and deferred EA applicants for us to recalculate
  every GPA with new grades, but senior grades are used in our holistic
  read process, and we do look at them carefully.

• Applying RD – For RD applicants, it is best to apply first and then send in any
  school documents, as it is easier and quicker to match these items. Test
  scores can come in prior to applying without issue, but documents have
  to be saved in our holding files and then matched every day, and these
  files get a little overwhelming during deadline times with thousands of
  non-matched documents.
• Senioritis – During your senior year, do not catch senioritis or do something
  that you will regret the next day. The main reason we would ever rescind
  an admission offer would be a serious drop in grades or a problematic
  conduct issue, so stay strong and focused. This is also not the time to
  start to drop challenging courses for spring term. If we admitted you,
  it was in part based on the strength of your core classes. As such, we
  want to see you continue to challenge yourself in the courses you are
  in. We are fine if you need to change from PE to Health, or from one similar class to another, but we don’t want to see you suddenly dropping
  AP Calc, AP Physics, etc. just to have an early release.
• Forest vs. Trees – Remember, more is not always better. If you have ten teacher
  recommendations sent to us, or decide you need to send us a five page
  resume, or decide that the word short answer limits are too limiting and
  decide to send us two page essays by mail, know that it becomes harder
  to see the forest through the trees. Brevity and being concise are not
  bad things.
• Test Scores – We will accept SAT/ACT scores from exams taken and requested to be
  sent by February 1. Please make sure you request your scores be
  sent to UGA when you sign up for the exam. Do not wait until you have
  seen your January scores before requesting them to be sent, as that
  might be too late. Remember, we only use the highest scores, so there is
  no need to wait before sending them.
• Teacher Recs – We are often asked about what teacher to select for a
  recommendation. We do not need a teacher who is a UGA alum, a department
  head, a person who has taught for 30+ years, or any other designation.
  Select a teacher who knows you well and can tell us what you are like as
  a person.
• myStatus – Remember to check your myStatus page to make sure we have everything
  we need for admissions. The worst calls/emails are the ones where we
  have to say we could not make a decision due to an incomplete file. As
  well, re-review the Top 10 Urban Legends for UGA Admissions, as odd myths start to appear after EA decisions are released.