UGA has an app for that

Prospective University of Georgia students can now access admissions information and other features on their Apple iPhone or iPod Touch.

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions, working with other campus units, developed an application that can be downloaded for free from iTunes for use on the two Apple devices.

Prospective students can review their application status and make sure all application materials were received by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions with the Application Status Check feature. Transfer students can determine if their course credits from other institutions will be transferred to UGA with the Transfer Equivalency Search.

The application also allows current students, faculty and staff to keep up with UGA news, athletics news, and to access a GPS-enabled campus map and the university’s directory.

“I am pleased that UGA’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions is continuing to meet students’ communication needs with a combination of technology and customer service,” said Nancy McDuff, associate vice president for admissions and enrollment management. “I hope that the students are having as much fun with this new application as we are.”

UGA is among a growing number of institutions that are exploring new ways to recruit students and be more accessible to their local communities, said David Crouch, information technology manager for undergraduate admissions.

“We realized that an iPhone app would be beneficial to UGA applicants when we noticed that a large number of students were using iPhones to access undergraduate admissions online services,” said Crouch. “We hope to use the iPhone app to reach out to a larger population of potential students, and to enhance the UGA experience for applicants, students, visitors and anyone else interested in learning more about the university.”

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is in the process of enhancing the current app with more features for the new release planned for later this year. The next version will include a GPS-enabled walking tour of campus with photos, videos and text about events, history or traditions related to various UGA locations.

This is not the first time the Office of Undergraduate Admissions has taken advantage of available technology to expand their reach and visibility.

Melinda DeMaria, associate director of undergraduate admissions, and Patrick Winter, senior associate director of undergraduate admissions, began coordinating “virtual high school visits” with prospective students last fall. With a Web cam and high-speed broadband connection, they have visited with students as close as Atlanta and as far away as Pennsylvania.

For more information about the iPhone app and downloading instructions, see http://www.admissions.uga.edu/article/admissions_iphone_app.html.