UGA honors or GT?- potentially a future vet

gadad
Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:25:27 +0000

We have three kids. The first two went to Harvard. Number 3 is a HS senior with similar stats to his sisters’ and nice hooks. He’s also a math and science guy - finished the local HS math curriculum in middle school and began university math at age 13. But the Ivy vibe never appealed to him and he’s passionate about marching band. In addition, our assets changed to the point that we’re now just out of reach for need-based aid. GT seemed like the obvious choice.

But S never felt good about Tech either. Having spent most of his youth focused on math, he wants to branch out and dabble in a number of liberal arts disciplines. Tech is a great school if you know exactly what you want to do with your life, but it isn’t a place for dabblers.

At this point, he’s got it down between UGA Honors and another nationally-renowned honors program. We’re going back to Athens tomorrow for an Honors Accepted Student Day, after which I anticipate that he’ll choose UGA, live in Myers, and march with the Redcoat band. It just feels right to him, and I’m thrilled for him. I’m all about the value of having a talented peer group, and the UGA Honors peer group has stats comparable to students at the top academic institutions in the country (the average SAT is 1473 / 1600).

I’m delighted that his sisters went to / go to Harvard. They wanted to get out of the South and enter the fast lane, and it was right for them. A year from now, when he’s been at UGA and in Honors for an academic year, S will probably say that he couldn’t imagine being elsewhere. And I’m sure that he’ll still feel that he made the right choice in not choosing Tech. But that has nothing to do with Tech - it has everything to do with him.