Tag: scholarships

January 2020 UGA Admission Thoughts

  David Graves      January 3rd, 2020

We have now closed out the 2020 Fall Freshman application, and we will be very busy over the next few months. We have a large number of materials and test scores to connect with applications, transcripts to review and files to read, and we only have a limited number of days in which to do it. Admissions is not like Match.com, where we swipe left to admit or right to deny, so please be patient as we take time to review in detail the applications you have submitted. As such, here is some vital information for applicants and parents of applicants about the next steps in our process. 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 from the testing agency 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. We have a very large freshman applicant pool, with the overall number of EA and RD applicants together totaling 28,600 or so. Some of these applicants will not submit all […]

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2017 UGA Merit Based Scholarships have been Awarded

  David Graves      April 10th, 2017

Over the last several months the Admissions staff has carefully reviewed all our newly admitted First Year students to consider them for University of Georgia academic merit scholarships.  (See the list and our discussion of merit and need-based aid at our website, https://admissions.uga.edu/article/scholarships-at-uga.html.)  All scholarships available through Admissions have now been awarded, and we have contacted each of the recipients via email and mail. At UGA, academic merit scholarships have become increasingly competitive.  This is mainly due to the limited funding we have for these awards and the high number of extremely capable students who now gain University of Georgia admission.  Always continue to search for scholarship opportunities, whether or not you have been awarded a scholarship from Undergraduate Admissions Office.  Search your academic major for scholarships online.  Use our web site and the Office of Student Financial Aid web site to search for external scholarship opportunities. Also, remember to look for local scholarship opportunities for students in your home community. https://www.admissions.uga.edu/Prospective-Students/Tuition-Fees/Scholarships/External-Scholarships http://osfa.uga.edu/announcements.html If you have been selected for any of our Academic Merit awards, congratulations!  Please be sure to read your offer letter carefully.  Keep it for your records.  In this letter you will see what requirements you must maintain to renew your scholarship each succeeding year and, in general, how much the scholarship is worth in relation to your overall costs. 

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December/January Admission Notes

  David Graves      December 12th, 2016

The Holiday break is coming up, which means a large number of students will be completing their application (or part II of their deferred EA application). Here are some suggestions for Regular Decision and Deferred Early Action applicants to review. Patience. Patience is key, as this time of year brings out a rush of supporting materials. We will receive tens of thousands of documents over the next month, and we need time to match these items up, enter them into our system, and have them show up on the application status page. We have made great strides in importing documents, so the status page is almost a live feed, but mailed items take a little longer to add to a file. You do not need to call/email us if you do not see an item on your Status page. Give us 10 business days from when you applied or the document was sent (not requested but actually sent), whichever was later. As well, make sure your name on your documents matches your application data (and both name and email on test scores). Part II for Deferred applicants. For deferred EA applicants, your next step is to make sure you complete part II of the application (the 3 short essays), give us any updates on the Update section, and contact a teacher through your status page about sending in a recommendation.  Test Scores. We will take the January SAT for admissions review for this year and the February ACT (without Writing!), […]

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First Year Academic Merit Scholarships have been Awarded

  David Graves      April 12th, 2016

Over the last several months the Admissions staff has carefully reviewed all our newly admitted First Year students to consider them for University of Georgia academic merit scholarships.  (See the list and our discussion of merit and need-based aid at our website, https://admissions.uga.edu/article/scholarships-at-uga.html.)  All scholarships available through Admissions have now been awarded, and we have contacted each of the recipients via email and mail. At UGA, academic merit scholarships have become increasingly competitive.  This is mainly due to the limited funding we have for these awards and the high number of extremely capable students who now gain University of Georgia admission.  Always continue to search for scholarship opportunities, whether or not you have been awarded a scholarship from Undergraduate Admissions Office.  Search your academic major for scholarships online.  Use our web site and the Office of Student Financial Aid web site to search for external scholarship opportunities. Also, remember to look for local scholarship opportunities for students in your home community. https://www.admissions.uga.edu/Prospective-Students/Tuition-Fees/Scholarships/External-Scholarships http://osfa.uga.edu/announcements.html If you have been selected for any of our Academic Merit awards, congratulations!  Please be sure to read your offer letter carefully.  Keep it for your records.  In this letter you will see what requirements you must maintain to renew your scholarship each succeeding year and, in general, how much the scholarship is worth in relation to your overall costs. 

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April 1 Random Admission Thoughts

  David Graves      April 1st, 2016

It is April 1, so we are juggling a wide range of things at this time. We are working with freshmen, transfers, deposits, recruiting future classes, orientation planning, etc. I am also in the middle of a large installation of a new recruitment system (which is going great), but it is eating up most of my time right now. As such, here are a few notes about what is happening: Transfer applicants: We are well into reviewing transfer files, but each ones takes time, as we have to determine how your courses transfer into UGA, calculate an overall transfer GPA, determine hours, etc. Transfer decisions go out daily once we start the review process, and we are averaging roughly 50 files reviewed per day, M-F. I cannot guess when an applicant will hear a decision, as it depends on the number of applicants, when a file is complete, how complex the files is, etc. I am an admissions officer, not a fortune teller who can predict the future. Documents: Transfers, please remember to give us 10 business days from the day a transcript is sent OR you submit your application, whichever is last. It is a mostly manual process to match college transcripts, so it takes a while. If you left a college off the application this will cause problems, as we need official transcripts from every college you attended as an Undergraduate. Timelines: The Timelines page at under the blog header is the best place to understand more about […]

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Application for UGA’s Top Freshman Scholarship Program Available On September 15, 2015

  David Graves      September 9th, 2015

The Foundation Fellowship and Bernard Ramsey Honors Scholarships are the most prestigious undergraduate scholarship programs at the University, if not in the country. The Foundation Fellowship currently provides an annual stipend of $11,372 for Georgia residents (in addition to the HOPE or Zell Miller Scholarship) and $18,892 for non-residents (plus an out-of-state tuition waiver). The Bernard Ramsey Honors Scholarship provides $5,686 for Georgia residents (in addition to the HOPE or Zell Miller Scholarship) and $9,546 for non-residents (plus and out-of-state tuition waiver). Much more than financial support, program membership provides: Spring break travel-study programs, a May study abroad program at Oxford in England immediately following the first year, travel-study grants closely related to students’ academic and professional goals, which can be combined with study overseas for a full semester or academic year, grants to attend research and academic conferences, seminars and book discussions with UGA and visiting professors, and faculty and peer mentoring. For more information about the amazing opportunities for Foundation Fellows and Bernard Ramsey Honors Scholars, please visit the Honors Program website. To be considered, all applicants must be current high school seniors with a minimum unweighted high school GPA of 3.80 and a minimum combined, super-scored SAT total score of 2100 or ACT composite score of 31. This separate scholarship application will be available next week on Tuesday, September 15 on the admissions website.  The deadline to submit the online application is November 2, 2015. This year, two online recommendations will be required to complete the Foundation […]

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Random Admission Thoughts, February 2015

  David Graves      February 11th, 2015

It is February, and we are deep into reading Freshman files, and just about to start reviewing transfer applications. As such, here are some thoughts about issues that usually pop up about now. Freshmen: At this time, our counselors are reading thousands upon thousands of freshman files in great detail, and it is a long and detailed process. As such, we have limited availability to speak with students or reply quickly to emails. But this also means that freshman decisions will go out within the next 1.5 months or so. We always have a small group of freshmen admitted in late February (you can look at my 2014 February Decision blog post for details, and a new post will be available later this month). As well, we expect final decisions to go out in mid-late March. Please be patient, know that we are reviewing files as fast as we can, but we need time to look at everything. We do not have any specific dates for these decisions yet, but I will post an announcement here when we do. Transfer applicants: We will start reviewing transfer files sometime within the next few business days. Transfer decisions go out daily once we start the review process, and we look at summer files first and then move onto fall applicants. I cannot guess when an applicant will hear a decision, as it depends on the number of applicants, when a file is complete, how complex the files is, etc. I am an […]

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Now What?

  David Graves      January 13th, 2015

The RD application/Deferred EA part II deadline is just about to pass, and everyone now starts to get into the mindset of “Now what?”. Here are a few hints to get you through the next few weeks/months. Patience. Patience is key, as any deadline brings out a rush of supporting materials. We will receive tens of thousands of documents, and we need time to match these items up, enter them into our system, and have them show up on the myStatus page. The myStatus page is not a live feed, so if a teacher recommendation is added to your file right now, it will not show up until at least the next day. If documents were sent prior to you applying, it will take longer to match things up, as we need to do it by hand. As well, some items get split up when we receive a packet, such as a fee waiver form, as different steps need to be taken with different items. A fee waiver, for instance, needs to be handled like a financial transaction, and thus takes a little longer to enter into the system. Same with residency documents/permanent residency cards, etc. You do not need to call/email us if you do not see an item on your myStatus page. Give us 10 business days from when you applied or the document was sent (not requested but actually sent), whichever was later. Test Scores. We will take the January SAT for admissions review for this year, […]

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November 2014 Admissions Thoughts

  David Graves      November 19th, 2014

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. Scholarships-We are working on the review of files for scholarships, but as of today we have only had about four working days since decisions were released, and most of those were spent talking with families. I expect that we will begin releasing some scholarship offers in mid-December, 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. 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 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 […]

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Merit Scholarship Award update

  David Graves      April 16th, 2014

Over the last several months, the Admissions staff has carefully reviewed all our newly admitted First Year students to consider them for University of Georgia academic merit scholarships.  (See the list and our discussion of merit and need-based aid at our website, https://admissions.uga.edu/article/scholarships-at-uga.html.)  At this point in time, all merit based scholarships offered through Admissions have now been awarded, and we have contacted each of the recipients by email, mail and the myStatus page. At UGA, academic merit scholarships have become increasingly competitive.  This is mainly due to the limited funding we have for these awards and the high number of extremely capable students who now gain University of Georgia admission. At this point, if you have not received notice that you have an academic merit scholarship to attend UGA, then unfortunately we were not able to offer one to you. We are still finalizing handful of specialized need/merit based scholarships based in large part on FAFSA information, but these are the only ones we have not awarded (and we hope to do this in the next week). If you have been selected for any of our Academic Merit awards, congratulations!  Please be sure to read your offer letter carefully.  Keep it for your records.  In this letter you will see what requirements you must maintain to renew your scholarship each succeeding year and, in general, how much the scholarship is worth in relation to your overall costs.  In addition, you should receive information from the Office of Student Financial Aid […]

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