What are GT’s academic requirements for athletes?

[ibeattetris]

How do they get by taking only 3 classes on a given day? It's been about 20 years since I got out so I honestly don't remember... Is a 3 hour block normal? Or do the players take more classes in spring and attend classes during summer?

Most majors you need to average 15 hours per semester to graduate in 8 semesters. Three classes a day would usually be six different classes and probably close to 18 hours in our semester system, which would actually be a lot (I think I only took six classes one time). I honestly have no idea how they are scheduling football players, but doing 12 hour fall semester would make the most sense with making up the additional hours in spring/summer.

 

[laoh]

Tech requires all applicants to have taken 4 math courses. The state of Georgia requires all students to take 4 math courses out of about 16 listed. However many are noted not to be acceptable for admission to STEM courses, so if a state of Georgia student, e.g. a freshman, takes a non-stem course and wants to go to Tech, they must take two stem prep course in one year. This happened with a commit a few years ago, but he decided not to take the math and moved on.
Tech has a 30 semester hour core for all undergrads. It requires at least 2 math classes, one of which is calculus, and 2 lab sciences.
Stanford has a 4 course core, none of which is math or science per se. Many majors at Stanford require no math or science courses! This is true of many universities. So much for an even recruiting field.
Also, I think Tech will never incur the expense of the infrastructure to offer BA degrees.

Bob

I appreciate the TV commentators pointing out that the athletes have to take calculus (like Brent Musburger did in the Orange Bowl)... but that's usually where they end. Those calc classes are freshman courses. They don't go on to say that there's emag, thermo, and dynamics waiting for you if you're on the engineering path and that it's hard to stay in even if you get in. So to that point, yes, it's hard to recruit for student athletes that can get through the academic rigors at Tech and having said that and having been friends with a few track athletes back in the day and hearing their stories, I really appreciate the amount of effort that our student athletes put in to be successful at Tech.

 

[56JacketDE]

How do they get by taking only 3 classes on a given day? It's been about 20 years since I got out so I honestly don't remember... Is a 3 hour block normal? Or do the players take more classes in spring and attend classes during summer?

Most majors you need to average 15 hours per semester to graduate in 8 semesters. Three classes a day would usually be six different classes and probably close to 18 hours in our semester system, which would actually be a lot (I think I only took six classes one time). I honestly have no idea how they are scheduling football players, but doing 12 hour fall semester would make the most sense with making up the additional hours in spring/summer.

mostly it is 12 hours during the season, all the maths were 5 hour classes (1 hr every day)

 

[panther42]

I went to GSU, and managed to do alright in a decent degree program while being a student athlete. With the hire of CGC I started to wonder what degrees he can hide SA's in at GT. This lead me to looking up their majors, and I saw one named Music Technology. My first thought is "oh what a jerk off degree", then I looked at the course list.... 2 calculus' and 2 physics before you even get into your major classes. WTF??? So this leads back to the questions of how hard is GT? If any former SA's want to chime in I'd love to hear how you balance the workload, does GT provide decent tutors, and did you feel like you had enough help from the academic standpoint?

 

[GTRambler]

I think in the current GT curriculum, Music Technology is a minor, not a major.

I might be wrong. Perhaps some in the know knows .

 

[DCSS]

There are also some myths to dispel that I think are perpetuated by dwags. One is that Kenny Anderson did not go to class. This is a lie. At least for one quarter, our schedules overlapped and we would ride the Stinger bus together in the mornings. The bus always dropped him off at the stop in front of Skiles and he went trudging to class with his geek pack (aka book bag) like the rest of us nerds. I don’t think Bobby Cremins would let a player not go to class and I think both Bobby Ross and Bill Curry felt the same way. Please, especially SAs, correct me if I’m wrong.

 

[gthxxxx]

The professor contributes significantly to the grade output, and the comparison for some courses (particularly the "weed-out" ones) can be night and day. Some of these methods include a target average GPA for the curve, the degree of "out of the box" thinking required for assignments/exams in relation to lecture materials, amount of work, and supplemental materials/tools allowed during exams. I don't know to what extent this is institutionalized for student athletes or just a natural phenomenon, but the athletes do get higher priority when picking courses than the rest of the student body. One specific example I recall strongly is a particular professor that teaches 8 AM classes of Calc I during Fall semester and Calc II during Spring semester with consistently high(est?) average GPAs and whose classes are first to fill. I didn't have him for either of those classes, but I did have him for Calc III, and my experience supported this (widely known?) notion.

Also, the above observation is not specific to only GT.

 

[DCSS]

The professor contributes significantly to the grade output, and the comparison for some courses (particularly the "weed-out" ones) can be night and day. Some of these methods include a target average GPA for the curve, the degree of "out of the box" thinking required for assignments/exams in relation to lecture materials, amount of work, and supplemental materials/tools allowed during exams. I don't know to what extent this is institutionalized for student athletes or just a natural phenomenon, but the athletes do get higher priority when picking courses than the rest of the student body. One specific example I recall strongly is a particular professor that teaches 8 AM classes of Calc I during Fall semester and Calc II during Spring semester with consistently high(est?) average GPAs and whose classes are first to fill. I didn't have him for either of those classes, but I did have him for Calc III, and my experience supported this (widely known?) notion.

Also, the above observation is not specific to only GT.

IIRC, athletes and presidential scholars got first picks. What was the old registration system called, OSCAR? Am I remembering that correctly?

 

[laoh]

Why Tech is different from the Stanfords and the Dukes and more like the academies.
No basket weaving 101.

 

[YlJacket]

Most majors you need to average 15 hours per semester to graduate in 8 semesters. Three classes a day would usually be six different classes and probably close to 18 hours in our semester system, which would actually be a lot (I think I only took six classes one time). I honestly have no idea how they are scheduling football players, but doing 12 hour fall semester would make the most sense with making up the additional hours in spring/summer.

I expect almost every GT football player is in school for at least part of the summer for training and to pick up the one or two more difficult classes that they can focus on without the distractions of the season or even spring practice. In season they will (and should) significantly lighten the load compared to a regular student trying to get out on time (sounds weird to an old fart like me who like everyone else went 5 years).

One additional advantage they have is they have academic advisors who should know which professors to take and avoid plus the big kahuna of being able to sign up before anyone else.

 

[gthxxxx]

One additional advantage they have is they have academic advisors who should know which professors to take and avoid plus the big kahuna of being able to sign up before anyone else.

As an alumnus, I don't mind if there's an institution directive to help student athletes to pick professors that lead to an easier path towards higher GPAs. After all, aside from different time ticket priorities, any student can do the same. However, I would be extremely disappointed if there's an institution directive (whether implicit or explicit) for the existence of an easy professor solely due to athletics. To me, that's approaching the level of the "factories" creating fluff classes or majors.

 

[B Lifsey]

IIRC, athletes and presidential scholars got first picks. What was the old registration system called, OSCAR? Am I remembering that correctly?

I believe OSCAR is correct. Even though it is no longer same system, GT website still calls it OSCAR - https://oscar.gatech.edu/

 

[GTRambler]

I decided to go through this year’s current (2018) GT football roster and count all the majors that are mentioned for each player.

The total number of players in each major are listed as follows:

Business Administration: 58
Literature, Media and Communications: 11
Mechanical Engineering: 10
Industrial Engineering: 4
Undecided: 4
Civil Engineering: 3
Undecided Engineering major: 3
Biomedical Engineering: 3
Masters Degree, Building Construction and Facilities: 3
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: 2
Biology: 2
Aerospace Engineering: 2
Masters Degree, Building Construction: 2

And one player in each of the following majors:

Biochemistry
Business Finance
Architecture
History, Technology and Society
Computer Science
Computer Engineering
Masters Degree, Civil Engineering
International Affairs
Economics
Masters Degree, Quantitative and Computational Finance

 

[ibeattetris]

I decided to go through this year’s current (2018) GT football roster and count all the majors that are mentioned for each player.

The total number of players in each major are listed as follows:

Business Administration: 58
Literature, Media and Communications: 11
Mechanical Engineering: 10
Industrial Engineering: 4
Undecided: 4
Civil Engineering: 3
Undecided Engineering major: 3
Biomedical Engineering: 3
Masters Degree, Building Construction and Facilities: 3
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: 2
Biology: 2
Aerospace Engineering: 2
Masters Degree, Building Construction: 2

And one player in each of the following majors:

Biochemistry
Business Finance
Architecture
History, Technology and Society
Computer Science
Computer Engineering
Masters Degree, Civil Engineering
International Affairs
Economics
Masters Degree, Quantitative and Computational Finance

Thanks for the post. That is actually more engineering and less Literature, Media and Communications than I expected.

 

[forensicbuzz]

That includes about 20 walk-ons.

 

[GTRambler]

Yes. The entire roster, including the walk-ons.

The walk-ons spend lots of time on the practice field, just like the scholarshipped players, and are a very important and needed component of the entire team.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Yes. The entire roster, including the walk-ons.

The walk-ons spend lots of time on the practice field, just like the scholarshipped players, and are a very important and needed component of the entire team.

No disputing that. I made my comment because the walk-ons are more likely to have the engineering majors, having the grades/scores to get in on their own and maintaining through the Hope/Miller scholarships. I know how hard it was for me to survive; I can't imaging trying to play at the collegiate level at the same time. I'm always impressed, regardless of the amount of assistance they get. They still have to do the work.

 

[GTFLETCH]

Four years ago (in 2014), The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published the following article:

http://investigations.myajc.com/football-admissions/

It stated back then that the academic requirements for Georgia Tech’s football players were much lower than those for the rest of the student body. And the comparisons to those for UGA are interesting.

I believe this article to be true as I had a high school student who wanted to go to Tech (2017) and he was told he needed a 1080 SAT out of 1600..ACT was a little tricker as they add certian Sub scores...But a 22 composite was the target..... so GA Tech has raised the std from 1025 SAT to 1080....

I am not sure aboutGA Tech and exceptions.... Obviously SEC schools have policies in place to lower the std for top tier recruits, I have heard CPJ talk about it, but I have never seen a number on how GT does it... I always thought it was case by case...

 

[YlJacket]

No disputing that. I made my comment because the walk-ons are more likely to have the engineering majors, having the grades/scores to get in on their own and maintaining through the Hope/Miller scholarships. I know how hard it was for me to survive; I can't imaging trying to play at the collegiate level at the same time. I'm always impressed, regardless of the amount of assistance they get. They still have to do the work.

FWIW some walk ons do get help getting into school. But not nearly the help scholarship guys get. I believe they also get access to the academic help but that may be for some walk ons and not others.

 

[forensicbuzz]

FWIW some walk ons do get help getting into school. But not nearly the help scholarship guys get. I believe they also get access to the academic help but that may be for some walk ons and not others.

I don't know if preferred walk-ons get help getting into school or not. It wouldn't surprise me if they did. I have no problem with that, either. Regular walk-0ns have to make it in on their own laurels. However, I believe that all athletes, whether scholarship, preferred walk-on, or regular walk-on, have access to the same academic support (or at least should). There are always those scholarship athletes that take the road less traveled (i.e. Brad Stewart, et al.), but by and far, most of the S/A are in programs other than engineering and sciences, and it's still a world-class education.