With just a few days remaining until the Feb. 1 deadline to apply for the freshman class that will enter in 2005, the Undergraduate Admissions Office is in high gear.
Earlier this month, student volunteers and admissions counselors made phone calls to targeted seniors, who had sent competitive SAT scores to UGA but not yet applied, to remind them of the deadline. Admissions staff and students on the Georgia Recruitment Team also hosted an “Explore Georgia” event-the ninth since July – that brought prospective students and their parents to campus, some from as far away as Texas. At the same time, the Admissions staff began the arduous process of reading thousands of applicant files.
While UGA will have no trouble filling the expected 4,500 to 4,600 slots in the freshman class, the ongoing challenge is to shape the class to match the university’s goals of attracting students who not only have strong academic credentials, but who also have demonstrated leadership in school and community activities and can contribute to a broadly diverse learning environment.
Each year UGA receives around 12,000 to 13,000 applications for the freshman class. Of those, approximately 8,000 will be offered admission and more than half will choose to enroll. The care and attention paid to selecting students who will be successful at UGA has made a difference: The institution’s retention rates for students returning for their second year is more than 90 percent. Within six years of entering, more than 70 percent of students have earned their degrees-a graduation rate that ranks among the best not only in the University System of Georgia but in the country.
