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 more time or later items, apply RD.- When should you apply? There is no need to be one of the first to apply, but I also warn students against waiting until the last moment to apply. We treat every applicant the same whether they apply on September 1 or January 1, so there is no need to rush your application just to get it in early. At the same time, don’t wait until the last few days to submit the application, as this causes unneeded panic with your parents, your counselor and yourself. I generally find that the “sweet spot” for submitting the EA application is sometime between September 20 and October 5, so that you have enough time to work on the app, but you don’t wait until the last week to hit submit. For RD applicants, it is a little longer sweet spot, so my suggestion is to just not wait until the last few days to hit submit.
- When should you send in materials/scores? For test scores, I suggest you go ahead and send in your SAT and/or ACT scores. UGA is a “best score” admission office, so we only look at the top scores in your file. As such, I always suggest sending in all your scores, as we will then determine which scores are strongest from our point of view. This also gets one required item out of the way early, as some students forget to send them in until the last moment and then have a panic attack. As for materials, this depends on which application you use, our internal one or the Coalition application. For the internal application, once you complete your counselor’s biographical information on the Academics page (the 5th page of the app), an email will go out to your counselor to submit an attached Counselor form and upload a transcript. A later page labeled “Recommendation” is similar, where once you add in your teacher or community recommender’s info, an email also goes out to them with a link to a recommendation form. If you apply using the Coalition application, work with your counselor to make sure all your documents have been requested and then attached to the UGA application.
- How will you know when UGA has received items? Once you apply, make sure to check on things through your UGA Admissions status page. This page will let you know when you applied, what documents we have received (and when), what test scores are in your file, and much more. This is also where later on we will release decisions, allow for admitted students to submit a deposit, let you sign up for orientation in May, etc. As such, it is a key page to check to make sure everything is going smoothly with your application.
- Can you send in updated information after you apply? We are fine if your materials and test scores are sent in prior to you submitting your application, after you submit the application, or a mix of the two. If you apply and then have new scores to send, just have UGA listed as a score recipient and we will add the scores to your file. The big issue is to just be aware of deadlines for both applying and when we need materials and test scores to get into our office, as seen on our Deadlines page.
When will you know a decision? I don’t know yet. It is sort of like asking when you will get somewhere but you don’t know how many miles away the destination is. I have no idea how many students will apply, either EA or RD, so it is tough to guess on an exact timeline. My rough estimate is that EA decisions will go out sometime in late November, and that final decisions for all deferred EA and RD applicants will be released in early March, but these are only rough estimates. When we get closer to these date estimates, I will post more details on both the blog and twitter about exact dates.- Who should you ask if you have a question about UGA Admissions? My first suggestion is just to ask right here on the blog. I will respond in a timely fashion, I work in the office, and I am old enough (notice I said old, not wise) to have seen most everything, so I can tell you about the process. I cannot guess about a decision though, so just forget about that. But my best suggestion is to always ask someone in admissions at X college what the process is currently. Who not to ask? Neighbors, uncles you only see at holiday events, the parent of a student who was once admitted to UGA, etc. Change happens in admissions, and the best resource for what is accurate for you right now is someone in admissions.