<p>i’ve searched on the web and almost all the comments i’ve read is about how bad GTech is</p>
<p>can someone clarify this?</p>
<p>The academic culture has a reputation of being rather impersonal, with large classes and little contact between faculty and students. Also, given the nature of the institution, many of the faculty are foreign-born and U.S. students sometimes complain about their English diction skills. The curriculum is remarkably single-tracked on technology. For instance, the music courses are in the architecture school, and the only history they offer is the history of technology.</p>
<p>well so that school sucks tho</p>
<p>I’m a Tech alum, a Tech parent, and now a Tech professor. Full disclosure.
Georgia Tech isn’t easy. Some students thrive in the challenging environment. Others resent it. Some Tech professors are not very warm and cuddly, but many are very approachable (for example, in actively soliciting students to work with them on research projects). Faculty take themselves and their students seriously and many don’t spend much time on those who lack a similar outlook.</p>
<p>The campus environment is vibrant and active. Tech now has more than 1,000 undergraduates in liberal arts majors (public policy, economics, literature/computational media, international affairs, history/sociology, modern languages) – the liberal arts now comprise the third-largest college on campus.</p>
<p>As an alum: The basic toughness of Tech hasn’t changed much. But those who graduated 2+ decades ago might not be aware of how much the demographic and programmatic changes at Tech have altered the campus environment. </p>
<p>As a parent: You can come to Tech and be a geek that feels oppressed. Or you can come and be well-rounded, socially-aware, community-active, arts-and-music, sports-and-fraternity/sorority, etc. We have a lot of happy, well-adjusted students.</p>
<p>And as a professor: I am delighted with my students. They work hard (most of them), they are determined to make a difference in the world (in technology, business, public service, law, etc.), they actually smile more than occasionally in class, and they certainly seem to have fun outside of class.</p>
<p>Q - Why there are many negative reviews about GTech?
A - Extremely large acceptance rate.</p>
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<p>This is true. The negative press is a byproduct of letting in some unqualified people who happen to be quite vocal once they realize they aren’t cut out for the work. Instead of blaming themselves, they’ll blame the system.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say that. I am one of the people who don’t really like tech but I don’t find the classes to be that difficult. What I think gives Tech bad reviews is that kid come here thinking it’s going to be like any other division one school with a lot of drinking and good times, and if your not in the fraternity system here, this simply isn’t true. The fraternity system, I feel, so strongly dominates the social scene that it splits the school up. Frat brothers are friends with there brothers and no one else. The God Damn Independents (GDI’s), like myself, then are left with not much to do except go to the CRC and work out.</p>
<p>Being in the city also makes it difficult to find things to do if your a poor college student. Parking a car is expensive here, but i’m finding it’s so necessary if you want to do anything outside of the campus. The area around campus isn’t very nice at all (a lot of bums), so there’s nothing really in walking distance. I mean how many times can you go to centennial park.</p>
<p>Yeah, I mean, Tech is just in walking distance of several museums, Woodruff Arts Center, Symphony, Atlantic Station, and in subway distance of the Braves, Thrashers, Hawks, the Carter Center, etc. I guess it’s just too much to ask people to look for the ‘student night’, group discounts, etc to make things cost-effective. Oh, yeah, and it’s too bad that you can’t, like, get money from your hall council in the dorm to help pay for fun activities, like movies at the Student Center, a cappella concerts, etc. And too bad that there aren’t, say, upperclassmen to meet who can drive you around. And that Outdoor Recreation GT, with their caving trips, whitewater kayaking, mountain biking courses, etc., is just too awesome. </p>
<p>Tech is an amazing place to go to school. Plenty of people are having a great time and are really involved. I encourage all of you to find a way to take advantage of what’s going on at GT.</p>
<p>I think gthopeful has the right idea. I always thought that, at least. Other schools like Berkeley, Stanford, etc. are REALLY hard to get into, so the people who get into it are qualified and ready to work for what they’re aiming for. A lot of Tech students are really just average high schoolers.</p>
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<p>Or, the curriculum here is extremely difficult and grades make no sense. I was by no means an “average high-schooler.” I had a 2400 on the SAT, 4.2 GPA, etc. I’m pretty involved in campus, and know my subject well (3rd year CompE, and a TA for the dept). The actual material they go over isn’t so bad, it’s the amount and depth they go into! They give TOO much! And, because of this, a 60 or 70 translates into an A here. Again, I’m saying this as a TA for one of the weed out courses! I like the challenge, but I’d like a break from the “drinking from the fire hose” mentality every once in a while. Stanford and Berkeley don’t have this mentality.</p>
<p>I have friends at Stanford and Berkeley, and they feel sorry for Techies and MIT students because of our workload. At those schools, the workload isn’t overwhelming at all; it’s sensible, challenging ,and relevant.</p>
<p>You’re a TA of which weeding-out course?</p>
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<p>I don’t know, I’ve only been here a semester so I obviously don’t have quite the ethos as you to talk about the coursework, but as a TA for a fairly difficult (in theory) class, the quiz averages are extremely high (in the 90’s). Weed-out courses are well weed-out courses. They’re there to make people transfer to business or liberal arts. I think of the 5 classes I have this semester, only one prof really subscribes to the “drinking from the fire hose” school of teaching, and I’ll admit even as someone who graduated summa cum laude in engineering that it’s a bit much. 6 points (out of 100) on a recent exam was “recite exactly from memory some random full-page figure buried in the 100 pages of notes”.</p>
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<p>It would probably be best if he kept anonymity.</p>
<p>Perhaps I was slightly hasty in my analysis of who exactly is doing the complaining but I just do not hear the same kind of crap about MIT as I do about GT (though at the same time 2/3 of my friends that go there did not graduate in engineering). As a TA, I see how shoddy the work of many people are. Some people just don’t finish a 3 problem homework that take me about 5 minutes to write the solutions to. There are a lot of people that just do not care, and I have a suspicion that those people are apt to complain.</p>
<p>Not gonna lie, as an international student, it’s been pretty hard for me to adapt here. With GaTech being a public school and all, there are lots and lots of students here that come with best friends or other people they know from, say, high school. Because of that, many of the students around me already seem to have formed their own ‘groups’ and it makes it harder for me to fit in overall…I understand that the school’s diversity if increasing by the years, but it’s still underdeveloped (imo). Most of the other international kids I know here tend to stick with themselves just because they find it hard to socialize in a group that is already very close. </p>
<p>Besides that, I have professors that are good and bad. But then again, it’s impossible for a school to only have great professors. I don’t think that it’s really fair for someone to complain about a school’s educational system just because they have bad teachers; every school is bound to have some. The work load here has also been very harsh on me, and I still struggle to manage my time…but I guess it’s just something that grows on you. Of course the courses here are challenging, but I think that most students just try to use that as an excuse and not even try at all (referring to those ‘average’ students that you guys are discussing); there are courses here that just give a lot of work, but are actually quite easy.</p>
<p>all i’ve heard is that it’s not only hard to get into but it’s hard to stay into. the standard gpa is a 2.6
also, it’s centered around academics and for the typical socialite, this may not be the best school to attend if you’re looking for a great scene on campus.
other than that it’s great. i live in atlanta and i think you’ll have the time of your life there.</p>
<p>anyone know anything about the honors program? i’ve been accepted for the first level for the president’s scholarship, so if i go to GT, I might consider trying the honors program.</p>
<p>Does anybody know how many students enrolled at Georgia Tech last year from the waitlist? One source quoting USNews reported it as only three (3) students who enrolled off of the waitlist for Fall 2007. This seems too low. Could it be three (3) percent of the first year class came from waitlisted students? How many students in Tech’s freshman class? Thanks!</p>
<p>Does anyone know whether more than three students came off the waitlist last year? What is the size of the freshman class?
P.S. I typed the questions much slower this time! Hope that helps.</p>
<p>Even a North Avenue Trade School student should be able to answer these questions. I am beginning to understand the negative comments (actually I already understood since I have eight family members who attend or graduated from Tech).</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.irp.gatech.edu/Common_Data_Set_archives/Completed%20CDS2007_2008.pdf[/url]”>http://www.irp.gatech.edu/Common_Data_Set_archives/Completed%20CDS2007_2008.pdf</a>
shows the information you seek, I think.</p>
<p>Page 7 of the pdf.</p>
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<p>False <a href=“http://www.irp.gatech.edu/GradeInflation2003.PDF[/url]”>http://www.irp.gatech.edu/GradeInflation2003.PDF</a> page 19</p>
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<p>GT is very liberal in their admissions (60% admit rate). They don’t pull people off the waitlist because (just guessing) they actually admit everyone that they think is qualified. Some schools pull many people off the wait list in order to game US News, but GT is not one of those schools.</p>