Do I even have a shot at getting into GA Tech

HawkeyeRTCA
Sun, 05 Jun 2011 21:50:52 +0000

@BanjoHitter

When the fact that the average SAT score of attending students is much lower than the average of admitted students, it becomes apparent that the average SAT score for admitted students is not a good assessment of what score would be required to have a realistic chance for admission. Personally, I would think that anyone with score between 1250 and 1600 (on the two-part scale, obviously) would have a very good chance at being admitted, with anyone making between 1150 and 1250 having at least some shot (depending on GPA and extracurriculars, etc.). Simply looking at the average admitted score is not very helpful because less than 40% of those admitted actually attend Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech is well aware of this and admits roughly 2.5x as many freshmen as they actually plan on having at school, and most of those that choose not to attend are going to be in the 1450-1600 range, not the 1150-1450 range. What I’m saying here is common sense: more people who have GT as their first choice or reach school (and are admitted) are going to attend than those who have it as a safety school. Therefore, I’d say that the average admitted scores really are not a good gauge at all, as they are wildly distorted by those who applied to GT as a safety school or something of the like.

(Stats for the class of 2014)
Average for those admitted: ~2100 (7000 students)
Average for those attending: ~2000 (2650 students)

That means that the average of those choosing not to attend was around 2170. It is not exactly helpful to include those at the top of the SAT scale who GT admits knowing full and well that there is a good chance that they may not attend (which I again reiterate is 3/5 of all accepted students) when considering the prospect of admission for someone who is on the lower end of the scale.