While I think this is true about the honors, we were also confused, just as teachermom2834 was about Foundation Fellows. Do you automatically get considered if you apply EA, or are there additional essays involved to apply to the Fellows? Nov. 1 is a very tight turnaround from October 15 if there is more to write.
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No reason to apply to honors yet. The UGA honors program accepts people directly without application from the EA pool. If she is accepted to honors this way, it will mention it in her acceptance letter and will also be available on her acceptance portal. If she is not auto admitted into honors, there would then be a separate application. If her regular application is ready to go I would go ahead and send that in if she wants to go to UGA. Honors acceptance makes virtually no impact in outcome as far as job availability. The major perk is early registration. Also the ability to live in Meyers, which many honor students opt out of. There is also a benefit if she is applying to the business school, theoretically, to be guaranteed her first choice major if sheâs in good standing with the honors college, but this really doesnât make a difference. If your GPA is high enough to be in good standing with the honors college - I think thatâs 3.5 or higher - youâre probably going to get your first choice anyway.
Foundation fellowship is a separate application. She should be able to view the requirements of the application online. looks like to apply for the foundation fellowship. she will also have to complete the honors college application. Burnout is real!
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There is a separate foundation fellowship application, which also requires you to complete the honors college application. Apparently you cannot access either until you have already submitted your UGA application. So I would count on several more essays.
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Hello! My sonâs stats are: in-state, ACT super score without science is 31, GPA 4.02. Stellar resume of work experience, leadership, extracurriculars, volunteering, etc. Will only have 3 APs when he graduates and several honors classes. UGA is his dream school (reach!) but obviously we are not competitive with academics and rigor as the middle 50%. Hoping and praying that he will be the poster child of a truly holistic review of an accepted student and that it could still happen. Only time will tell! Told him he has to try!
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Good luck! Definitely spend some time reading the UGA admissions blog. Lots of helpful information on there and in the comments. UGA does not super score the ACT. They only look at math and English. They also recalculate all GPAs using their own formula, which is discussed in detail on the blog, and their GPA recalculation only includes core classes (so no art, PE, music etc). Hope this helps! Also, if it is his dream school transfer admission is definitely a possibility. Many students take classes somewhere else and transfer in, which is an easier path.
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Thank you for the info!
New to this site. I am In-State and applied EA for Fall 2026. I was of the belief that I was very, very likely to be accepted because I received Georgia Certificate of Merit (my high school is in Fulton County and we donât technically have ratings but this award means Iâm in top 5%).
I just saw the new post on the UGA Admission Blog and was blown away by the stats of the applicants. My UGA calculated GPA is barely 4.0 because I didnât get a 1.0 GPA point bump for AP classes. I took mostly Honors Classes which get the 7 point grade increase just like AP classes.
Why would the Georgia Certificate of Merit have a different GPA calculation than the UGA Admissions GPA calculation? Why wouldnât my counselor have told me that?
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The UGA admissions office is familiar with your high school. The reason the UGA admissions office gives a bump to AP and IB classes is because they are standardized. This is also why they give zero additional points for honors classes, although they will know that you took honors classes in the holistic review. You will be compared, not only with the pool as a whole, but also with other students applying from your high school. It is unusual that your high school weighted GPA does not give more points for AP classes. This is why UGA recalculates and does not rely on a school weighted GPA or class ranking.
Part of the evaluation for holistic admission for college is rigor, and when evaluating this AP classes are preferred over honors classes. This is true of most colleges. We have definitely seen students stacking APs to bump up their GPA so they can get into UGA. I have also seen schools expand their AP offerings for this reason. You are right that your counselor and whoever helps you plan your schedule should be aware that honors classes and AP classes are not treated the same by UGA, or really most schools, and that should be taken into consideration when choosing classes.
Your lower UGA GPA does not mean you wonât get into UGA, but I would be sure you have another affordable safety. EA applications are up 14% over last year and I just saw a reel on Instagram from a college counselor that noted over 9,000 of in-state EA applicants had over a 4.0. I am a firm believer in âdonât count your chickens before they hatchâ and UGA is no longer a safety for most students.
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Yesterdays UGA Admissions Blog entry advises the EA Decisions release dates:
For In-State EA Applicants - Friday Nov 21st 4:00P (Thats in 1 week!)
For OOS EA Applicants - Friday Dec 12th 4:00P
On the blog followup commentary Dr. Graves indicated he thinks with the 13% increase in EA applicants this year, the EA acceptance numbers may be slightly increased as will the EA declines - I interpret this to mean the number of EA deferrals to RD dates / First Semester Grade submissions will be notably larger. But I may be misunderstanding his nuances.
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Thank you for posting this!
First, youâre a Ga resident. Thatâs a big boost. Second, if you have test scores in their middle 50% that will help. Third, if yiu get deferred you can send your first semester grades (I think) to help your case. Good luck. It will be fine.
Is there a button gate for UGA?
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How likely is it I can get in early with a C grade in honors chem sophomore year?
UGA Admissions blog has given their (preliminary) numbers on the EA Instate Applicants/admits.
Decisions are supposed to be released to portals at 4:00 and if the applicant hasnât checked within an hour, an email will be sent their individual email account (per the Blog).
Good luck
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Thanks for sharing. Best of luck to all waiting on decisions this afternoon!
Go Dawgs! 
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Any updates? We are OOS, but wondering about the instate families who heard today. Hope it was good news!
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On the blog, Dr. Graves indicated for the 13500+ EA instate apps - 6100 EA offers, and then commented around 6000 Deferrals - which should translate to around 1400 declines. The majority of parent/student comments were about having to submit fall semester grades and waiting until March for the RD dump.
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He also said it was a very competitive applicant pool, and I believe him. I also think he would say that regardless. UGA is a hot school right now
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Daughter was accepted! Direct Honors admit as well. She is over the moon!
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