Legacy Admissions to GT
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Deleted member 2897
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So 9% have been accepted so far. Yikes. Double alum here with my wife. My 13 year old is a high end academic athlete and well rounded guy looking at IE. he just seems like the perfect Tech man. I have no confidence he will get in, which is sad.
herb
Helluva Engineer
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Not with Rick Clark in charge. He has very different views on the prospective make up going forward than Tech graduates do
LibertyTurns
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Any idea what precipitated all the negative treatment of GT legacies recently?
cyclejacket
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I'm not sure if it is a negative treatment of legacies but perhaps a harder focus on formulaic admissions regarding scores, etc. But I really don't know. Both of my sons were admitted but that was 15 and 12 years ago. They had impressive HS grades and test scores but who knows where that would have ranked them today.
Edited to add: I wish legacies got special treatment up to a certain level.
Deleted member 2897
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A couple good ones. Here is one of my favorites:
Deferred for Aerospace Engineering
In-state
1580 SAT 800 Math 780 Reading
In Georgia Tech Distance Math
Total AP’s: 13
Have done Cross country and Track all 4 years for extracurriculars, also in a couple clubs
I mean almost a perfect SAT. That might be every AP class their school offers. WTF else can you do? LOL.
LibertyTurns
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More engineers are needed. GT is an engineering school. Why don’t we just expand so we have spots for all the talent that wants to attend? I’m not talking about every engineering candidate, but geez. Some kid with a 35 ACT, 4.o gpa, tons of extracurriculars, etc should be able to get accepted. GT should not be turning away in-state students & legacies with that kind of resume. Not to mention we should have enough room at the inn for all the diversity out there wanting to be engineers.
MWT89
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Admissions is less formulaic than ever before. I will expand on that in a future post, but the huge number of 1500+ SAT and 4.0+ GPA kids being denied is clear evidence that Rick Clark looks at more than an applicant's numbers.
MWT89
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I’ve been following Tech admissions carefully for the past few years and I believe that I have an idea of why we hear so many stories of highly qualified legacy and/or highly-qualified kids being denied.
The first reason is simply the volume of applicants. Tech is in demand because it’s a highly ranked institution that – importantly – offers graduates a high probability of well-paid employment. Plus, Tech’s use of the Common App and Coalition App make it easy to apply. As a result, there were 41,000 applications this year and there simply aren’t enough spaces for all the qualified students. Ivy League admissions will tell you they could rescind the offers to an entire incoming freshman class and fill it with another equally good one from the same applicant pool. Tech could probably do the same.
The second reason is the school’s priorities. Rick Clark said, “Decisions are also a function of institutional priorities such as class size and demographic composition.” Demographics is a sensitive subject but it’s also the elephant in the room when talking about admissions. (As an aside, read about the Asian-Americans who sued Harvard unsuccessfully for discrimination.) Tech makes non-Asian minorities and women a priority since they have been traditionally underrepresented. There is no question an applicant is judged in a demographic silo. Broadly speaking, this does not favor legacy applicants of this generation.
Another priority is noted in a recent AJC article. “The campus saw a rise in applicants interested in liberal arts, design and sciences. ‘Recruiting in these areas is an Institute priority, and those priorities are starting to come through in our applications,’ said Rick Clark.’ It’s hard to say how much this impacts legacy admissions other than there is a thumb on the non-engineering scale.
The third reason is the move to holistic – not formula-based – admission standards. In various blog posts, tweets and talks Clark (partially) explains what he means by “holistic.” He wants to see students who challenge themselves in the context of the school they attend. So, taking 4 AP classes at Westminster is not the same as taking 4 at a south GA high school with far fewer options. He also emphasizes leadership and community involvement – he’s a big believer in Tech’s motto of “Progress and Service.” Read through the Reddit thread that I posted and you’ll see the “I Got In” comments typically had significant community involvement. Overcoming social obstacles appears to be highly valued as well. An introverted kid with sky high scores and grades (did someone say engineer?) may be at a disadvantage.
The fourth reason is the existence of the Conditional Transfer Pathway for legacy applicants. It’s really remarkable when you think about it. Any high school student with a family connection (grandparent, parent, sibling or GT employee) is guaranteed admission if they meet certain criteria (GPA, coursework, hours) at another college. So, your kid could have a 3.2 GPA and 1250 SAT (fine, but not Tech quality) and probably easily meet the transfer requirements at KSU, GSU, etc. If two applicants are on the bubble and one is a legacy, guess which is likely to get the standard first year offer and which gets the transfer option.
All of the criteria and standards above have value, but they seem to work against many legacy applicants. I’ve spoken with a handful of parents of kids who were denied (legacy and non-legacy who have outstanding academic credentials) and they are all perplexed and angry. They all say the same thing: I don’t know what more my child could have done.
The first reason is simply the volume of applicants. Tech is in demand because it’s a highly ranked institution that – importantly – offers graduates a high probability of well-paid employment. Plus, Tech’s use of the Common App and Coalition App make it easy to apply. As a result, there were 41,000 applications this year and there simply aren’t enough spaces for all the qualified students. Ivy League admissions will tell you they could rescind the offers to an entire incoming freshman class and fill it with another equally good one from the same applicant pool. Tech could probably do the same.
The second reason is the school’s priorities. Rick Clark said, “Decisions are also a function of institutional priorities such as class size and demographic composition.” Demographics is a sensitive subject but it’s also the elephant in the room when talking about admissions. (As an aside, read about the Asian-Americans who sued Harvard unsuccessfully for discrimination.) Tech makes non-Asian minorities and women a priority since they have been traditionally underrepresented. There is no question an applicant is judged in a demographic silo. Broadly speaking, this does not favor legacy applicants of this generation.
Another priority is noted in a recent AJC article. “The campus saw a rise in applicants interested in liberal arts, design and sciences. ‘Recruiting in these areas is an Institute priority, and those priorities are starting to come through in our applications,’ said Rick Clark.’ It’s hard to say how much this impacts legacy admissions other than there is a thumb on the non-engineering scale.
The third reason is the move to holistic – not formula-based – admission standards. In various blog posts, tweets and talks Clark (partially) explains what he means by “holistic.” He wants to see students who challenge themselves in the context of the school they attend. So, taking 4 AP classes at Westminster is not the same as taking 4 at a south GA high school with far fewer options. He also emphasizes leadership and community involvement – he’s a big believer in Tech’s motto of “Progress and Service.” Read through the Reddit thread that I posted and you’ll see the “I Got In” comments typically had significant community involvement. Overcoming social obstacles appears to be highly valued as well. An introverted kid with sky high scores and grades (did someone say engineer?) may be at a disadvantage.
The fourth reason is the existence of the Conditional Transfer Pathway for legacy applicants. It’s really remarkable when you think about it. Any high school student with a family connection (grandparent, parent, sibling or GT employee) is guaranteed admission if they meet certain criteria (GPA, coursework, hours) at another college. So, your kid could have a 3.2 GPA and 1250 SAT (fine, but not Tech quality) and probably easily meet the transfer requirements at KSU, GSU, etc. If two applicants are on the bubble and one is a legacy, guess which is likely to get the standard first year offer and which gets the transfer option.
All of the criteria and standards above have value, but they seem to work against many legacy applicants. I’ve spoken with a handful of parents of kids who were denied (legacy and non-legacy who have outstanding academic credentials) and they are all perplexed and angry. They all say the same thing: I don’t know what more my child could have done.
cyclejacket
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The "formulaic" I referred to included more than just the applicant's numbers. As you point out in your post afterward, it includes criteria that are outside the applicant's academic achievement to reach internal goals as to the composition of the study body.
Deleted member 2897
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I'm out of state - no way if my son gets rejected (my wife and I are both alums) does he go somewhere else for 1 year and then transfer in. That's great for some people, but I don't know how from out of state he goes somewhere for 1 year knowing you're not long for that place. IIWII. My son is looking at IE, which of course GT is #1 at. But Virginia Tech, NC State, and Clemson are all Top 12 nationally. So as much as I'd love him to go to Georgia Tech, I'm not going to have him ruin his high school years buried in 15 AP classes and what-not when there is no guarantee he gets in. If he does, great. If not, there are other schools in the world.
MWT89
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Yes, I see what you mean. Tech likely has goals for various metrics which can be described as formulaic.
MWT89
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Funny you mention that. A Tech grad teacher at a good Atlanta high school told a close friend of mine that far more girls were accepted than boys from his school. Makes sense from a supply and demand point of view.
gtg970g
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I’m not sure how being out of state is relevant. If he wants to go to GT there is a guaranteed path. If he doesn’t want to go then there are clearly other options regardless of where you live.
GTRules
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Yeah, I didn't understand that one either.
Deleted member 2897
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Because the odds of getting accepted are so much lower if you’re out of state.
Also, I know people in the Atlanta area who went to Georgia State (for the transfer thing) and they roomed right off Techs campus...so they’re pretty ingrained in Tech from the beginning, rooming with a friend doing the same thing.