UGA’s early-action admissions program continues to prove popular with prospective students, with some 11,600 applications submitted by the Oct. 15 deadline. About half of those applicants were notified in December that they were accepted to UGA, while most of the rest learned that a final decision had not yet been made and that they needed to submit additional material by the Jan. 15 regular-decision deadline.
The early-action applicant pool was larger and more diverse than the previous year, continuing a trend of the past three years. Nearly 22 percent of the students applying for early action identified themselves as being from an ethnic or racial minority group. More than 800 early-action applications were received from African Americans, up more than 100 from last year. The number of early-action applications from Hispanic students increased slightly to 324.
But the number of early-action applicants offered admission in December was slightly lower than the previous year.
“We expect that the current economy will drive the yield to enrollment upward and we are being a bit conservative in the offers of admission so as not to exceed our target enrollment,” said Nancy McDuff, associate vice president for admissions and enrollment management.
McDuff predicts that the admissions office will have received a total of 17,000-18,000 applications by
Jan. 15. The target enrollment for the incoming freshman class is 5,000, with 4,800 entering this summer or fall and another 200 in spring 2010. Last year, with a similar enrollment target, UGA admitted just over 9,600 students.
Those early-action applicants whose admission decision was deferred were asked to complete the second part of the two-part application form, which includes short-answer essay questions, an activity résumé and a teacher recommendation. They also can send updated transcripts and new standardized test scores by the Jan. 15 deadline.
“The odds of being offered admission are driven by how strong a student looks relative to the rest of the applicant pool,” McDuff said “The first offers of admission are extended to students with the strongest academic records. But it’s important for those students who are deferred to realize that many of them will be offered admission as we begin making additional decisions between February and April.”
Early-action applicants offered admission in December were academically quite strong, McDuff said, with an average academic GPA of 3.95, a mean SAT of 1312 (with a mean SAT writing score of 650) or a mean ACT of 30. UGA now requires students to submit writing scores for their ACT and SAT tests and those scores are an integral part of the selection process, McDuff said. A major factor in early-action decisions continues to be the rigor of the courses that the students have taken relative to what is available in their school, according to McDuff.