We currently live in NJ, oldest DS is going into 2nd year at Georgia Tech. In the fall, our two other kids will be a junior and sophomore in high school. We are considering moving to Georgia.
Can anyone tell me about the public universities in Georgia? We know all about GT, but are unfamiliar with other state schools.
Our younger two kids are looking for a school that has:
- big sports
- medium to large (10,000 +)
- not commuter school
- most likely business, marketing, or environmental studies majors
- DS2 would like to be in the mountains, or at least rural, DS1 would be fine anywhere
They are average-to-above-average students - GPAs currently around 3.3(DS3) and 3.8(DS2), SATs hopefully above 1200, but not sure.
We had initially assumed they’d be able to get into UGA, which would be a perfect school for them, but after looking at the admission details, it looks like the average GPA is a 4.0!! Crazy. Is it really that hard to get into?
Can anyone give me a rundown of the popular state schools?
TIA!
They have many - from the flagship and very hard to get into UGA - just large to more urban (Ga State - by Ga Tech and Kennesaw State).
Then you have your directionals - North Georgia which is your mountain desired school, Georgia Southern, Ga College & State, Columbus State (on the river), Valdosta (border with Florida) and a few more like W Georgia and Clayton State.
It sounds to me like Georgia Southern (mid size) and N Georgia (mountains) would be solid to look at.
Don’t forget, many schools in the South have huge merit aid - so that could help. Many UGA wannabes for example, go to Alabama or South Carolina. For a mountain school with better reps, you may look at UTK, App State, or Va Tech…yes, you’re at a higher price point than a GA school.
Good luck.
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Make sure you recalculate your kids’ GPAs using the UGA calculator. You can find that on the UGA Admissions blog. You may find your 3.8 kiddo is more competitive than you thought. Of course, you are correct that it has become a quite competitive admission.
@tsbna44 gave a nice overview of the GA publics. For big sports and easier admission than UGA, have your kids dive into Georgia Southern. Huge sports fan base and alumni network (although more regionally based than a UGA/Tech). Statesboro is a rural college town but isn’t that far from Savannah and the Georgia coast. The majority of students are GA residents.
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