Some 6,600 high school seniors have been offered early admission to UGA for fall semester 2013.
The admissions office received more than 11,300 early-action applications for the freshman class that will enter in 2013—a record number and slightly more than last year.
This year, 58 percent of early-action applicants are being offered admission, about 7 percent of applications are being denied and, as last year, about a third of the total is being deferred. Those who are deferred are asked to submit additional information by the regular-decision deadline of Jan. 15. Other applications received are incomplete and will be added to the regular-decision pool.
Early-action decisions are based solely on academic criteria. Nancy McDuff, associate vice president for admissions and enrollment management, noted that in recent years more students are waiting to apply until the regular-decision deadline to have additional factors considered, such as high school activities and volunteer work.
“For some students, that’s a good decision, and we encourage it,” she said.
This year’s early-action applicant pool is again academically strong and diverse, with high test scores and grades and a rigorous curriculum. A quarter of the students applying for early action identified themselves as being from an ethnic or racial minority group. More than 800 early-action applications, representing nearly 7 percent of the total pool, were received from African Americans. The number of early-action applications from Hispanic students totaled nearly 600.
Similar to last year, those offered admission at this point are academically superior with an average GPA of almost 4.0, a mean SAT of 1355 (with a mean SAT writing score of more than 650) or a mean ACT of 30. UGA requires students to submit writing scores for their ACT and SAT tests; those scores are an integral part of the selection process, McDuff said. Those admitted through early action also took an average of seven advanced placement or international baccalaureate classes.
McDuff predicts that by Jan. 15 the admissions office will have received close to 20,000 total applications for the incoming class, with a target enrollment of 4,900 new first-year students entering in summer or fall and another 200 in spring 2014. Typically, about half the students offered admission go on to enroll at UGA, a comparable yield to other selective universities.