Athens Ga. – Close to 11,000 applicants for “early-action” admission to the University of Georgia will soon learn their status. Those who applied early will receive decision letters by mail the week of Dec. 17 or can get the news online the evening of Dec. 14 by using the password-protected status check on the Admissions Office Web site, www.admissions.uga.edu.
More than half of the early-action applicants will learn that they have been accepted to UGA; most of the rest will learn that a final decision has not yet been made.
UGA initiated a formal early-action program five years ago, offering prospective students the option of submitting applications by an Oct. 15 deadline, rather than waiting until the regular-decision deadline of Jan. 15.
This year’s early-action applicant pool is both larger and more diverse than last year’s. Nearly 800 more applications were received over last year’s record-breaking total. Almost 20 percent of the students applying for early action identified themselves as being from an ethnic or racial minority group. A total of 679 early-action applications were received from African Americans, up more than 100 from last year’s early-action total. Another 318 early applications came from Hispanic students, an increase of 70 from last year.
UGA adopted a two-part application process two years ago that admissions officials believe was responsible for a significant increase in the number of prospective students applying for early action, which only requires applicants to fill out the first part of the application.
Those early-action applicants whose admission decision was deferred are now asked to complete the second part of the application form, which includes short-answer essay questions and an activity resume. They also must provide a recommendation from a teacher of an academic course taken in their junior or senior year and ask their school to send updated transcripts, if new grades have been posted. New standardized test scores also may be submitted. All materials are due by the Jan. 15 deadline for all freshman applications to UGA.
“The odds of being offered admission are driven by how strong a student looks relative to the rest of the applicant pool,” said Nancy McDuff, associate vice president for admissions and enrollment management. “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.”
The students who applied early this year are academically quite strong, McDuff said. The high school grade point average of the mid-50th percentile fell between 3.47-3.99, with test scores between 1140-1330 on the SAT and 25-30 on the ACT. Those offered admission at this point have an average academic GPA of 3.92, a mean SAT of 1322 or ACT of 29.
A major factor in early-action decisions is the rigor of the courses that the students have taken, McDuff noted. Those admitted through early action this year took an average of five Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate classes.
