If you had a wish list for AD JB what would it be?

[Augusta_Jacket]

I wish we could find a way to fit soccer field ( 120 yds by 75 yds plus edge ) into BDS - 6 football games a year plus mens and womens ncaa soccer help make some fun memories for our new demographic.

You mean like when we were the home stadium for Atlanta United?

News Center Features | Georgia Institute of Technology

news.gatech.edu

 

[cpf2001]

The heavily-managed insanity that is middle school/high school these days is maybe the only example of a "race to the bottom" that's also kinda a "race to the top." But with the same zero-sum ruin-it-for-everyone result that at the end, all the extra work everyone's doing compared to twenty years ago doesn't change that they're all competing for basically the same number of spots.

I don't think the rise in mental health issues in kids is only in the high-achieving-academic ones, but it can't be helping.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

Yeah! About 95% of the wish list in this thread is most appropriately and accurately applicable to ask of GT President Angel Cabrera, not AD J Batt.

Just fix the Institute’s football team so that it can start winning about 95% of its football games, and watch the number of enrollment applications skyrocket.

My point for starting the ”admissions” topic was simple - when GT pisses off its fans and alums who then stop giving it makes no matter who the AD is. JBatt as the new AD needs to understand that there is a fundamental flaw at GT that makes his job of raising money very very hard. I’m in rural south Georgia and I know several well off families who are done with GT because of the admissions game. And not only are they done with GT they are now sending money to UGA because that’s where their grand kids and kids went after GT ”offered” them the portal. I’m not whining about average or above average kids. I’m talking about kids who grew up in GT families, busted it hard academically to get into GT like mom and dad, did everything right and then they get shafted while kids with much lower everything get in due to “fill in the blank, my APS example”. I don’t blame these families at all for stopping donations and updating wills. JBatt should be aware of why the phone doesn’t get answered and checks stop coming. There are reasons.

One of my son‘s roommates in NAV comes from Michigan and wears Michigan gear every day, his family are huge supporters of Michigan financially and this kid, who will graduate from GT, will also be a huge Michigan financial supporter because that’s how he was raised. He’s a good kid, but I look at him and wonder why a GT family isn’t in that spot instead. And repeat that scene all over campus. Heck, for the first time in my life I saw 2 kids walking around campus with UGA sweatshirts this past weekend while stopping by for a meal. My son just laughed and says that’s not uncommon. And we wonder why alum don’t donate to JBatt. It’s only going to get worse.

 

[g0lftime]

Serious question to the part I bolded in your post, Do you think your second son would have been accepted if he wasn’t a legacy?

As awesome as his credentials were, he didn’t quite stack up against the competition. That is no knock on your son. His creds were great. My question is, how much weight do you give to a legacy when his credentials don’t quite stack up? If you lower the bar to let your son in, there is going to be another legacy with good creds, but not quite as good as your son’s, that doesn’t quite make it. Where do you draw the line? It’s a tough question.

So you had rather take a student from China?

 

[tmhunter52]

The pre-game experience at Tech is pretty sad. Maybe J Batt should spend some time at other college football venues to identify some actionable items.

 

[GT33]

@SOWEGA Jacket It's legacies, it's long term season ticket holders, it's those that reached deep & gave more during the "3" years, etc that GT turns around and shafts. It's bad concessions, dorking up the Benz tickets, not mailing out season tickets on time, etc and many more. Some people slough it off and hope for better and maybe even give more, others pull back increases, some reduce donations and others turn their backs on the Institute.

Hopefully the days of GT being tone deaf are over. I'm hopeful.

Batt's got a lot to fix, but he seems capable and is making good moves.

 

[leatherneckjacket]

Did you email/contact the president on that one? I am curious if you did and if he responded. That is seriously bad business by GT and maybe the President isn't fully aware of what admissions is doing (you'd think so, but you never know).

No, I did not. I do not think I will bring it up unless someone reaches out to me to ask me for money.

 

[ChiTownGT]

So you had rather take a student from China?

??

I thought it's been made abundantly clear here that out-of-state and in-state kids are not competing for the same spots. Again, given the direction GT is going in academically, I think it should be focusing on improving student involvement of those already on campus, rather than focusing on simply admitting more legacies. Even if GT admitted every single legacy who applied, would that significantly increase athletic funding? I doubt it.

 

[GTRambler]

We can control the actual quality of the Institute’s football program much easier than the perceived quality of the Institute’s admissions program.

 

[TooTall]

We can control the actual quality of the football team much easier than the perceived quality of the Institute’s admissions.

Such an ironic statement to post on a sports message board under a thread about our athletic director. Are you sure you understand the rules? You are supposed to go off topic as quickly and as long as possible.

 

[GTRambler]

Such an ironic statement to post on a sports message board under a thread about our athletic director. Are you sure you understand the rules? You are supposed to go off topic as quickly and as long as possible.

LOL, thanks, I needed that!

I do try to stick to the original topic of the OP.

Incidentally, I’m a sidewalk GT fan. In reading this thread. I’ve learned a lot about how different folks (who are mostly alumni) perceive GT’s admissions policies.

However, I doubt the Institute’s admissions program can be fixed to achieve complete satisfaction by at least the majority of its alumni.

 

[slugboy]

I have rarely seen an executive that didn’t want to grow their organization in revenue, in customers, and in staff. Enrollment is usually a bragging point for college presidents. I am sure that Cabrera is taking feasible steps to grow enrollment and the alumni base as fast as he reasonably can.
Georgia Tech has grown in on campus enrollment drastically over the past 30 years. It’s methodical, though—so it looks too slow to us.
I feel it too.

 

[GTpdm]

I have rarely seen an executive that didn’t want to grow their organization in revenue, in customers, and in staff. Enrollment is usually a bragging point for college presidents. I am sure that Cabrera is taking feasible steps to grow enrollment and the alumni base as fast as he reasonably can.
Georgia Tech has grown in on campus enrollment drastically over the past 30 years. It’s methodical, though—so it looks too slow to us.
I feel it too.

Not to me...but then again I'm a GT faculty member who teaches at the core-curriculum level. Along with most of my colleagues who operate at this level, the growth over the past ten years or so have been WAY too fast for us to keep up.

 

[g0lftime]

??

I thought it's been made abundantly clear here that out-of-state and in-state kids are not competing for the same spots. Again, given the direction GT is going in academically, I think it should be focusing on improving student involvement of those already on campus, rather than focusing on simply admitting more legacies. Even if GT admitted every single legacy who applied, would that significantly increase athletic funding? I doubt it.

The international ratio is subjective and could be adjusted down from 10. You want future fans and contributions, you aren't going to get them from some Chinese alum living in Beijing. I would rather have a qualified legacy alum living and working in Georgia who pays taxes in the USA. My opinion and you are entitled to yours.

 

[SowegaSting]

My point for starting the ”admissions” topic was simple - when GT pisses off its fans and alums who then stop giving it makes no matter who the AD is. JBatt as the new AD needs to understand that there is a fundamental flaw at GT that makes his job of raising money very very hard. I’m in rural south Georgia and I know several well off families who are done with GT because of the admissions game. And not only are they done with GT they are now sending money to UGA because that’s where their grand kids and kids went after GT ”offered” them the portal. I’m not whining about average or above average kids. I’m talking about kids who grew up in GT families, busted it hard academically to get into GT like mom and dad, did everything right and then they get shafted while kids with much lower everything get in due to “fill in the blank, my APS example”. I don’t blame these families at all for stopping donations and updating wills. JBatt should be aware of why the phone doesn’t get answered and checks stop coming. There are reasons.

One of my son‘s roommates in NAV comes from Michigan and wears Michigan gear every day, his family are huge supporters of Michigan financially and this kid, who will graduate from GT, will also be a huge Michigan financial supporter because that’s how he was raised. He’s a good kid, but I look at him and wonder why a GT family isn’t in that spot instead. And repeat that scene all over campus. Heck, for the first time in my life I saw 2 kids walking around campus with UGA sweatshirts this past weekend while stopping by for a meal. My son just laughed and says that’s not uncommon. And we wonder why alum don’t donate to JBatt. It’s only going to get worse.

A co-worker of mine has a son who was wait-listed at GT. He wants to be an engineer. He is now getting his engineering degree from UGA. Each home game, his entire family takes the RV—his two siblings & multiple dogs and heads to Athens to attend every home game. They would’ve looked awesome in old gold gear.

 

[AUFC]

The international ratio is subjective and could be adjusted down from 10. You want future fans and contributions, you aren't going to get them from some Chinese alum living in Beijing. I would rather have a qualified legacy alum living and working in Georgia who pays taxes in the USA. My opinion and you are entitled to yours.

You do benefit from international students receiving an American education (or having the potential of an American education) in a lot of ways. The in-state students who get to interact with the Chinese student benefit too. Ideally they receive a visa after graduation and begin the citizenship process rather than going home.

We can debate whether the 60/30/10 ratio is right til we’re blue in the face but I want to throw out a perspective that taking immigrant students is a positive endeavor for anybody who potentially is reading your post as a black and white situation (not accusing you yourself of doing that).

 

[g0lftime]

You do benefit from international students receiving an American education (or having the potential of an American education) in a lot of ways. The in-state students who get to interact with the Chinese student benefit too. Ideally they receive a visa after graduation and begin the citizenship process rather than going home.

We can debate whether the 60/30/10 ratio is right til we’re blue in the face but I want to throw out a perspective that taking immigrant students is a positive endeavor for anybody who potentially is reading your post as a black and white situation (not accusing you yourself of doing that).

I worked for Lenovo for almost a decade before retirement. Multiple trips to China. I know the culture pretty well. I trained many of them in my engineering subject. My point is who is better for our financial and long term health both academically and athletically. That culture loves the NBA but they don't have any real interest in baseball or football. Most that come here are being sponsored by the Chinese government. They want our technology. Their education is free so they see financing education as the role of the government.
Maybe the hill knows what percentage actually contribute to Roll Call or the A-T once they leave campus. My original point was which graduate would most likely support GT financially in the future.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Yep. All these state schools tend to prefer out of state students with similar academic profiles because it’s 3-4 times the money.

Alabama is giving out-of-state kids in-state tuition to get them to come to Alabama. It's a concerted effort to raise the academic reputation of the university.

 

[slugboy]

Not to me...but then again I'm a GT faculty member who teaches at the core-curriculum level. Along with most of my colleagues who operate at this level, the growth over the past ten years or so have been WAY too fast for us to keep up.

For the people who are unhappy with our acceptance rates and the size of our student body, I’d say to talk to your senator and your representative in the state legislature. Georgia has been squeezing funding for state schools for decades. Georgia Tech gets more of its funding from research grants and outside fundraising than ever before.

If the legislature wants increased enrollment at GT, and funds it, everyone else will line up behind that.

While you do that, if you get the legislature to support out of state tuition waivers like Alabama, South Carolina and other neighboring states, that would save our AA serious cash.

A co-worker of mine has a son who was wait-listed at GT. He wants to be an engineer. He is now getting his engineering degree from UGA. Each home game, his entire family takes the RV—his two siblings & multiple dogs and heads to Athens to attend every home game. They would’ve looked awesome in old gold gear.

A friend’s son is a freshman engineering student at UGA. He’s also looking to transfer to Tech this summer.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

Alabama is giving out-of-state kids in-state tuition to get them to come to Alabama. It's a concerted effort to raise the academic reputation of the university.

True. If my in state son didn’t get into he would have gone to Bama for basically free. Every week he’d get another email from Bama throwing more bennies his way. They are loaded with money and actually know how to build an enthusiastic alumni base. Admitting the world over your own isn’t the way.