Legacies

[CEB]

Acceptance still has 60% in-state, 30% out-of-state, 10% International.

I’m sure that statistic is accurate and verifiable with regard to who is accepted. Doesn’t say at all what the individual qualifications of those accepted might be relative to other applicants. Everyone who posted here cited qualifications above the published “averages” for acceptance.
Not a conspiracy or an accusation, just an observation from several people in similar situations
Then again, maybe we’re all lying.

 

[BainbridgeJacket]

The poster who indicated participation in sports hurt your acceptance criteria was speculating and does not work in the admissions office.

Participation in athletics is indicative that someone has at least some level of experience with several skills that encompass a holistic, well-rounded candidate. That is the type of person who could be a part of an undergraduate student body that would further the Georgia Tech mission. I would be very surprised if admissions is penalizing anybody for that.

To the other point, I do think Georgia Tech has some obligation to Georgia residents. Georgia residents are more likely than OOS/international students to stay in the Atlanta metro area after graduation and contribute taxes and jobs back to the state of Georgia.

What are your qualms with the "type" of kids being admitted? Demographics of the student body have definitely changed, which is likely some combination of cultural shifts and further research about how to assemble a class that furthers the Georgia Tech mission, like I mentioned above.

Every year I see less well rounded students graduating Tech. That poster may have been speculating, but anyone who's talked with our admissions office knows that volunteering and academically related extracurricular activities are valued more highly than sports. Example: I was told in one instance that the 2 hrs a week spent tutoring on one application was more valuable than being in the football team.

We're graduating a bunch of pencil necks who have strong skillsets in resume writing and making LinkedIn posts, but don't actually add much value in the workplace because they don't know how to solve problems only process data per instructions.

 

[GT33]

Every year I see less well rounded students graduating Tech. That poster may have been speculating, but anyone who's talked with our admissions office knows that volunteering and academically related extracurricular activities are valued more highly than sports. Example: I was told in one instance that the 2 hrs a week spent tutoring on one application was more valuable than being in the football team.

We're graduating a bunch of pencil necks who have strong skillsets in resume writing and making LinkedIn posts, but don't actually add much value in the workplace because they don't know how to solve problems only process data per instructions.

I wan't speculating & GT is no different than any other academically competitive school in this respect.

Tier 1- those demonstrating exceptional accomplishment/achievement- win national/international/state championships, all-state in sports (if you do that chances are you're getting a sports scholarship). Maybe you started a charity and raised a ton of money to cure cancer, but most likely these fall into Tier 2?

Tier 2- ones in this bunch are Student Body Presidents, won a regional science fair, high level debate competitions, etc. High impact internships, did significant research, etc also fall in here. They're notable activities that have some heft and few kids have them. You might be Captain of a very competitive sports team, won league championships, etc.

Tier 3- More normal but better than the average bear extracurriculars fall in here. This is for your Chess Club President, you were a sports starter for 2-3 years, won singing competitions, etc.

Tier 4- These are the anyone can participate extracurriculars. You were on a sports team, had a job, played music, paint, write ppetry, etc

It's just the way it is. Top colleges want top applicants that way overachieve, excel at something & are not just better than everyone else at their school. You're already by virtue of good grades, etc better than 95th percentile. You're competing against the 99.9th percentile. You need the Tier 1 & 2's to break out and in sports that's difficult to do while being academically elite.

 

[BainbridgeJacket]

I wan't speculating & GT is no different than any other academically competitive school in this respect.

Tier 1- those demonstrating exceptional accomplishment/achievement- win national/international/state championships, all-state in sports (if you do that chances are you're getting a sports scholarship). Maybe you started a charity and raised a ton of money to cure cancer, but most likely these fall into Tier 2?

Tier 2- ones in this bunch are Student Body Presidents, won a regional science fair, high level debate competitions, etc. High impact internships, did significant research, etc also fall in here. They're notable activities that have some heft and few kids have them. You might be Captain of a very competitive sports team, won league championships, etc.

Tier 3- More normal but better than the average bear extracurriculars fall in here. This is for your Chess Club President, you were a sports starter for 2-3 years, won singing competitions, etc.

Tier 4- These are the anyone can participate extracurriculars. You were on a sports team, had a job, played music, paint, write ppetry, etc

It's just the way it is. Top colleges want top applicants that way overachieve, excel at something & are not just better than everyone else at their school. You're already by virtue of good grades, etc better than 95th percentile. You're competing against the 99.9th percentile. You need the Tier 1 & 2's to break out and in sports that's difficult to do while being academically elite.

Agreed.

My personal gripe is some Tier 2 activities can be a lot less time consuming than those in Tier 4 a lot of times. Who is going to be a more well rounded individual:
A - 4.4 GPA, 1500 SAT, debate club
B - 4.4 GPA, 1500 SAT, football team

I'm just lucky I chose to join the math team for free pizza and a >2 hour a week commitment... glad it was viewed more favorably than being on the football team for 3 years.

 

[forensicbuzz]

I’m sure that statistic is accurate and verifiable with regard to who is accepted. Doesn’t say at all what the individual qualifications of those accepted might be relative to other applicants. Everyone who posted here cited qualifications above the published “averages” for acceptance.
Not a conspiracy or an accusation, just an observation from several people in similar situations
Then again, maybe we’re all lying.

I understand what you’re saying. Not disregarding it. But, it’s much harder to get in as an out of state student. i don’t know their agendas.

 

[4shotB]

Hearing that sports are discounted by the admissions staff helps explain the types of kids we're graduating nowadays and contributes to why I stopped recruiting GT and upped campus recruiting at Clemson and Auburn.

Just curious as to what type of work you do? One of my Tech buddies was (before seling out and retiring) a principle in a design and consulting firm in the large commmercial construction field. Some years back, he stopped recruiting at Tech bc he said the Tech kids weren't interested in doing hands on, dirty work (i.e construction) anymore. They were more interested in hi tech, Silicon Valley type stuff. He recruited at the two schools you mentioned as well as Uga engineering grads. He felt like those kids were a better fit into the culture of his company at the end of the day and he felt like brought the required skills necessary to do the job. Our group teased him about it of course but underneath we understood. Finding talent these days is hard and you gotta do what you gotta do in this regard.

 

[slugboy]

Just curious as to what type of work you do? One of my Tech buddies was (before seling out and retiring) a principle in a design and consulting firm in the large commmercial construction field. Some years back, he stopped recruiting at Tech bc he said the Tech kids weren't interested in doing hands on, dirty work (i.e construction) anymore. They were more interested in hi tech, Silicon Valley type stuff. He recruited at the two schools you mentioned as well as Uga engineering grads. He felt like those kids were a better fit into the culture of his company at the end of the day and he felt like brought the required skills necessary to do the job. Our group teased him about it of course but underneath we understood. Finding talent these days is hard and you gotta do what you gotta do in this regard.

Hands on is exactly what my son wants to do.

I’d add Kennesaw State to your list. It’s better ranked in engineering than a lot of southern universities, and the students there are hungry—a lot of first generation college students

 

[BainbridgeJacket]

Just curious as to what type of work you do? One of my Tech buddies was (before seling out and retiring) a principle in a design and consulting firm in the large commmercial construction field. Some years back, he stopped recruiting at Tech bc he said the Tech kids weren't interested in doing hands on, dirty work (i.e construction) anymore. They were more interested in hi tech, Silicon Valley type stuff. He recruited at the two schools you mentioned as well as Uga engineering grads. He felt like those kids were a better fit into the culture of his company at the end of the day and he felt like brought the required skills necessary to do the job. Our group teased him about it of course but underneath we understood. Finding talent these days is hard and you gotta do what you gotta do in this regard.

Utility scale renewables. I first noticed the trend when I was in design and consulting, though I'm in product development now. It's a very white collar job, but the fact is that our products do end up in the field and the recent Tech grads just don't seem to be able to grasp something actually needing to be manufactured and installed... or even physically existing at all.

 

[CEB]

Utility scale renewables. I first noticed the trend when I was in design and consulting, though I'm in product development now. It's a very white collar job, but the fact is that our products do end up in the field and the recent Tech grads just don't seem to be able to grasp something actually needing to be manufactured and installed... or even physically existing at all.

That’s my uneasy laugh of hearing something oddly sad but true. The tangible vs theoretical nature is not one I had thought of but I completely see it

 

[MountainBuzzMan]

I did the same thing when one of my daughters did not initially get in and had much higher qualifications over other kids in her HS who did get in.

She eventually made it in and graduated with a CS degree but it did not stop the damage they did.

I cut all my academic donations and changed my will. They lost out on a 7-8 figure donation in the future when I pass. They also lost out on probable future donations from other family members. They are destroying Tech families and substantial future donations. Efff Them! Run by clowns

 

[MountainBuzzMan]

I dont mind legacies not getting in over more qualified candidates. But it really bugs me when they are actively discriminated against in favor of less qualified students.

Its just odd. Its not like it would fill up the whole student body with Legacies. It is so DUMB. It cant be more than a few 100 kids a year, but they are going to lose $100M's of future donations at a bare minimum.

 

[awbuzz]

I understand why my son did not get in as an undergrad. Was thrilled when he was accepted into Masters program, he let me know that had applied and was accepted on my birthday.

But, like I said I have done and I see others have done and are doing, they lost $s going through the Alumni Association. Makes me feel better knowing that I am not the only one. And NO, I am not changing my contribution path just because he got his MSCE degree.

 

[CuseJacket]

‘The ratio’ is 55/45

 

[MidtownJacket]

‘The ratio’ is 55/45

Was just coming to post about this post and saw you beat me to it. My daughter is 4.5 so hope they keep “intentionally increasing” the out of state acceptance rate is

 

[4shotB]

Was just coming to post about this post and saw you beat me to it. My daughter is 4.5 so hope they keep “intentionally increasing” the out of state acceptance rate is

I teach out of state at a private high school where (some/most of ) the kids are striving to get into the best schools in the US and abroad. I have to say, the current data makes the students and their parents make some assumptions about me that aren't true, although I generally keep my mouth shut and don't try to correct them. Little do they know that "back in the day" I went to HS in Ga. and wasn't competing against the other "fairer" gender (back when we weren't very smart and thought there were just two of them although we weren't so naive as to think there weren't the occasional switch-hitters ) for spots in the FR class and also when the population was 60% of what it is now. All things being equal, if I were 18 nowadays with the same transcript I had coming out of HS, if I were on campus I would be cutting grass or laying sheetrock or fixing leaking toilets in the dormitories.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Thanks. Since we're OOS, I doubt she'd consider transferring. We still have a bunch more 'reach' schools to hear from.

I'm just flabbergasted she didn't get in. She's still in the running to be a presidential scholar (a semifinalist now). It's unbelievable to me that resume wasn't enough. Tech OOS must be as elite as Stanford.

Out of curiosity did she apply to WPI? Not as stressful as Tech. Used to have a friend who taught there. Was surprised that graduates earn slightly more than Tech graduates upon graduation.

Or she could go to UNC and transfer

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Interesting on the out of state comments from so many of you.... I convinced myself that out of state students would be more attractive because of the increased tuition. I had rationalized that my son, with in state tuition covered by state scholarships (Zell), would be less attractive than a student paying out of state tuition. Guess I am just cynical and making excuses!

Nice to see the schools on that list that did accept her though! Princeton is a solid back up!

If I had my life to live over, knowing what I know now, I would have buckled down in high school and made Princeton my dream school. Love that campus!

 

[awbuzz]

Help me understand how 36% in state and 12% out of state can end up with only 3750 admissions out of 52,354 applications. My math gives me 7.16% (3750/52534).
I am obviously missing something...

 

[THWG]

Help me understand how 36% in state and 12% out of state can end up with only 3750 admissions out of 52,354 applications. My math gives me 7.16% (3750/52534).
I am obviously missing something...

It's probably taken from the percentage of kids that applied from within the state and not out of the 52,354. So 36% of the kids that live in Georgia and applied were accepted which would not be 52,354 total.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Help me understand how 36% in state and 12% out of state can end up with only 3750 admissions out of 52,354 applications. My math gives me 7.16% (3750/52534).
I am obviously missing something...

0.36(I) + 0.12(O) = 3,750
O + I = 52,354

Then add in the unknown International students.

yeah, the numbers don't work