Approximately 6,000 high school seniors were offered early admission to UGA in mid-December.
The admissions office received some 10,600 early-action applications for the incoming freshman class. A final decision has not yet been made for many of the early-action applicants. They are asked to submit additional information by the regular-decision deadline of Jan. 15.
“We always try to stress to early-action applicants that if their admission decision was deferred, they still have a chance to be part of the incoming freshman class,” said Nancy McDuff, associate vice president for admissions and enrollment management. “Last year, we admitted about half of the students who were initially deferred and then completed Part II of the application by the regular-decision deadline of Jan. 15.”
UGA initiated a non-binding early-action program in 2003. Those applying for early-action submit applications by Oct. 15 and learn in December that they were admitted, denied or deferred. Early-action decisions are made strictly on academic criteria.
McDuff believes that more students this year decided to wait to apply until the regular-decision deadline to have additional factors considered, such as high school activities and volunteer work.
This year’s early-action applicant pool is again academically stronger and more diverse than the previous year, continuing a trend of the past few years, according to McDuff.
Nearly 23 percent of the students applying for early action identified themselves as
being from an ethnic or racial minority group.
More than 750 early-action applications, representing more than 7 percent of the total pool, were received from African Americans. The number of early-action applications from Hispanic students totaled more than 400 students, an increase from last year.
Due to the increase in the academic quality of the applicants, about 300 more early-action students are being offered admission this year than last.
McDuff predicted that the admissions office will receive between 17,000 and 18,000 total applications for the incoming class, with a target enrollment of 4,800 new first-year students entering this summer or fall and another 200 in spring 2011.
Typically, about half the students offered admission enroll at UGA, a comparable yield to other selective universities.
Those offered admission at this point have an average academic GPA mid-range of 3.84-4.08, an SAT mid-range of 1240-1390 (with a mean SAT writing score of 654) or a mean ACT range of 28-32.
UGA 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.
Those students admitted through early action also took an average of six Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate classes.
