Georgia Tech Admission Blog

Let’s Get A Few Things Straight (about College Admission)

There has been a lot of talk in the last few weeks about how much has changed in college admission.

Maybe….

But just like during and following the pandemic, much remains constant. So, let’s get a few things straight.

College Admission is Not Fair. I know some groups may claim to have brought this about with the proverbial wave of a wand or banging of a gavel, but the truth is that no system or process is (or ever will be) fair or perfect. Humans run processes. Humans are imperfect, flawed, and operate in a broken world.

Do not confuse quantitative measures with fairness. I remember when Georgia Tech operated on a purely formulaic basis. We recalculated GPAs so that everyone had a max GPA of 4.0. We did not consider the rigor of the high school, performance of past graduates, or a student’s grade trends. We considered Honors, Magnet, Gifted, AP, IB, Dual Enrollment to all be rigorous and each received an extra .5 bump- again with a max GPA of 4. We effectively “let out the slack” from the top until we had admitted the number of students we needed based on historic yield models.

I’m guessing many of you are already poking holes in how FUBAR this model is– and can likely channel some of the complaints and questions we’d get…

I have all APs and my classmate only took honors level. You’re weighting that the same?

But I had all As in a full IB diploma program and my “friend” only took general courses. Are you telling me that we both end up with a max 4.0?

I made a 1300 on one take with no outside help. My neighbor made a 1200 the first time and then after thousands of dollars in private tutoring ended up with a 1350. That’s going to be the difference? He’s got lower grades than me!!

At the time, I was not the director, but my name was on admission letters for students whose last name started with A-C. As a result, even though I did not agree with how we were making decisions, I was left to defend them.

One of the most memorable cases was a girl in North Georgia who was the valedictorian of her high school. She had taken the toughest classes, made the highest grades, and accomplished all of this while juggling a 25-hour a week job at a local restaurant to help support her family. She was not admitted because her SAT score was 10 points below our threshold that year– 10 points. Meanwhile, we admitted three other kids from that school who had slightly lower grades, less rigorous courses, and less impact on their community, etc. Fair? Hell no. In fact, I can still remember talking to her mom on the phone and having to suppress my own frustration.

Over the years, we have continued to evolve our file review process to make it more contextual and holistic. Academically, we look closely at grade trends, course choice, rigor, high school history, etc. We do not draw hard lines on test scores and we use macro data to help understand student testing context.

And, of course, a great deal of time is spent in committee looking at a student’s involvement, impact, and influence. Still, I’d be the first to say that neither our process, nor any other college’s in the world, is perfectly fair– it’s not possible or designed to be. Instead it’s designed to be comprehensive and thorough, but fair….NO.

There has been a lot of talk lately about checkboxes on applications. Here is one you won’t see on an application but you need to mentally agree to:

“By submitting this application, I understand I may not agree with the decision I receive, the timeline on which I receive that information, or the rationale I get for why the decision was made.”

Mission Drives Admission. Think of your high school. It exists for a purpose. Maybe it’s a public school and is located to intentionally serve kids from your part of the city or county. Maybe you attend a private or religious school. Again, it was founded for a reason and is attempting to attract and enroll students and families centered on that mission. Companies, community centers, organizations… they all have a mission and are making decisions geared toward moving that forward.

As a public school, Georgia Tech’s goal is to enroll 60% of our undergraduates from our state. This means we prioritize Georgians in our entire process. We attend more recruiting events in Georgia than out of state; we set deadlines earlier for our residents, and inform GA applicants of their decisions ahead of non-residents. Tuition is much lower for Georgia kids and our admit rate is three to four times higher for Georgia students than it is for non-Peach staters.

In an attempt to enroll students from all across our state, we have programs like the Georgia Tech Scholars Program for valedictorians and salutatorians. Are there cases where the number three (or thirteen) student at one school is as strong as the salutatorian from another… and yet decisions vary? Yes. Is the average SAT/ACT from out of state/country higher than it is for Georgia students? Yes. Is mission driving admission? Y.E.S.

A college you apply to may be trying to grow a particular major. That is going to influence their admission decisions. Another school is looking to enroll more students (or less) from your region of the country or nation. That will have an impact.

The truth is you are not always going to know these things. What you do know that is institutional missions – not your particular test, GPA, number of APs, or selected essay topic- drives admission.

What does all of this mean for you?

1- Apply to a balanced list of colleges. If your current college list only includes schools with admit rates under 20%, you need to re-think. Applying to more schools with single digit admit rates does not increase your odds of being admitted to one of them. That’s just not how it works.

2- Celebrate your wins. Every time you receive an offer of admission, you need to pause, celebrate, reflect on your hard work, and thank the people around you who’ve made that possible, i.e. friends, family, teachers, counselors, coaches, and so on. As always, hug your mama!

3- Control what you can control. Admission is not fair. And mission drives admission. You cannot control where you get in or how much money they offer you in financial aid. You can control how you receive and process admission decisions. These are not value judgments or predictions of future success. Don’t over index.

You can control how you treat people around you. You cannot control the decisions made in admissions offices you’ll never enter, but you can control the decisions you make in the rooms you enter everyday– your living room, classroom, etc. I hope you’ll make that your mission. Fair?

YOUR College Admissions Playbook

This weekend I watched “American Underdog,” which is about former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner. Some football fans may remember he was undrafted coming out of college at the University of Northern Iowa. In his first shot with a pro team (the Green Bay Packers), he bombed. He was not ready or prepared. Over the course of the next few years, he played Arena League Football in Des Moines, Iowa. It was in those seasons that he studied, learned, grew, and realized what he wanted and why.

Now, I’m not saying you have to watch the movie, move to Iowa, or stock shelves in a supermarket the way he did. But, if you are a rising high school senior, I do believe his story is instructive. When Kurt Warner got his next NFL shot with the St. Louis Rams a few years later, he was ready and ultimately successful. That success, however, came through a process of examination and preparation.

You don’t have a few years before you apply to college—you have a few months. But that is enough because this is not about memorizing and executing a complicated NFL playbook. Instead, I’m boiling your summer college admission application playbook down to five steps.

GET STARTED. I am challenging you to create a Common Application or Coalition Application via Scoir by July 15. The odds are you are going to use one of these platforms to apply to at least one college, and sometimes just getting started is the toughest thing. Whether it be running or writing a paper or doing a chore, the first step is often the one that requires the most energy. But as you know, once the school year starts, you are going to have assignments, practice, work, and tons of other opportunities and obligations as a senior. Knock out the basic biographical information these applications will require now.

CREATE (or UPDATE). If you do not already have one, there are plenty of online templates and resume generators to help you. Again, the summer prior to senior year is the time to do this. Some colleges allow you to upload resumes directly into their application, and with AI tools you can take copy from your resume and easily reformat into the Activities section of college applications.

If you go for a campus visit this summer where an interview is offered, you will want to bring your resume, and ultimately if you are part of scholarship or honors program interviews, you’ll need a refined resume. In our first-year seminar at Georgia Tech, we help students refine resumes because employers, scholarship programs, and research opportunities all expect these. Get ahead when you have capacity this summer.

DRAFT and REVISIT. The Common Application essay prompts are posted. I know the weather is good and sitting in front of a computer is not the first image that pops up when someone says, “Summer.” But your goal in the fall is to be as far out in front of deadlines as possible.

Ultimately, you want to submit an essay that you believe tells more of your story and complements the other information on your application. That’s not going to be done in one sitting—even though we try to tell ourselves, “I do my best work when I’m under pressure.” I’m suggesting you pick a prompt (or two) and knock out a first draft by August 1. Under that timeline, you’ll have plenty of time to revisit your essay, run it by a teacher, counselor, or another trusted adult, and be completely set by October 1 at the latest.

READ and RESEARCH. Since you do not have actual school homework this summer, here is my assignment for the weeks ahead. READ. Think about the colleges you are currently considering and read more about them. Too many students build their list of schools based on rankings, football conferences, or the opinions of others. Read and consider what you learn about a few of the schools you are excited about. Check out their student newspaper, a recent alumni magazine online, or some of the latest stories featuring professors or students.

Ask yourself if what you are seeing excites you, encourages you, and gets you more motivated to apply… or not. This is a gut check. As you are reading, be honest with yourself about why that particular school is of interest and how it landed on your list of colleges to consider.

Extra Credit: Read something you actually want to rather than what has been prescribed to you in school. Take time this summer to check out an article or a book about a topic you want to know more about or understand more deeply. Or maybe an author or a subject you would normally not be interested in or generally disagree with. Too few of us are willing to explore “the other side.” A mindset of curiosity and a posture of willingness to consider will make you a better college applicant and ultimately a better college student.

EDIT and ITERATE. Your first essay draft will not be your best. You will improve your writing by coming back to it with fresh eyes in multiple sittings. Too many students do not look back over their entire application to consider what they have left out or how they can improve the overall submission. But if you follow steps 1-4, you’ll have time to do this. There will be time for a parent, friend, or another adult look over your entire app and ask you questions about why you either did or did not include particular elements. Iterate.

And your college list can (arguably should) be changing this summer too. We are too quick to believe changing our mind is a weakness. Instead, it means you are thinking critically, doing your research, and staying open to what you want, what you learn, and which colleges match and fit your goals and interests. Editing and iterating is a strength. Don’t believe me? Check out Adam Grant’s instructive book or podcast for more on this lifelong skill of re-examining or “thinking again.”

Two Thumbs Up- Another element I loved about the movie was it was clear that Kurt Warner was having fun playing football. There was pressure but he did not look at it like a job. Instead, it was a privilege and an opportunity. That’s what this is, my friends- a privilege and opportunity. My hope is you’ll have fun visiting, researching, and ultimately applying to college. Sound crazy? Sound impossible? See: Kurt Warner.

Stay Curious

Early on in my time at Georgia Tech, a colleague received an email from a prospective student with a full signature line, including an inspirational quote at the bottom. I’m sure you have seen these before.

Typically, it looks something like this:

George P. Burdell
King of Georgia Tech
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

In most cases, you immediately recognize the quote (like the one above) or the person to whom it’s attributed. In my experience, Gandhi, MLK, Mother Teresa, or a dead politician or author are fairly common.

This particular situation had us curious because:

Most high school students don’t have signature lines.
Neither the quote nor the person to whom it was attributed were familiar.

So, we discussed, we debated, and we Googled. Finally, after extensive investigative research, we connected the dots. The mystery person who uttered these inspiring words was… the applicant’s dad—the different last name threw us off initially, but once we figured this out… it was on. For a good month, every internal email we sent included a quote from our own parents or close relatives.

“Don’t make me pull this car over.”

“Failing to plan means planning to fail.”

“This hurts me more than it hurts you.”

There were a few absolute gems. But it also led to some really personal conversations about our relationships with parents and some of the wise, interesting, and influential things they shared with us growing up.

Now, I’m not proposing you create a formal signature line for your emails during high school or walk around quoting your dad, but I do think this story is instructive. The truth is I cannot recall any of the other signature line quotes I’ve read over the years, but this one is emblazoned in my memory. Why? Because it was not familiar. And as a result, it led us to ask questions, research, and ultimately have enriching, bonding conversations.

A college search and selection process done right opens these doors for discovery and connection too. As a prospective student, my hope is you will stay curious, ask lots of questions, use your resources, and have open, honest conversations with the people around you about what you are learning.

In hopes of getting you started, here are a few accessible and available tools you may not have considered yet in your college search and selection experience.

College Scorecard– This site is hosted by the U.S. Department of Education. It is an increasingly valuable tool for searching for schools by academic program, size, cost, location, and other factors. It does a very good job providing details on price, median career earnings, graduation rates, and retention data, which often are tough to find on individual admission or university homepages. As you are researching where to visit or apply, the Scorecard comparison feature is helpful because it is easy to tailor based on a variety of factors. And it will give you data to consider or metrics to compare that you may not have previously encountered or factored. My hope is you will use this along the way, whether it be prior to visiting, applying, or deciding on a college.

ChatGPT– Based on their historically glacial rate of change and adaptation, I do not expect Common Application to include instructive language about the use of AI this year. So, there is no need to stare helplessly at a blinking cursor on the screen. One of generative AI’s greatest strengths is facilitating brainstorming and iteration.

There are seven prompts to choose from in the cycle ahead, so let’s assume you pick this one: Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

Include a few bullet points of your ideas and be sure to name specific people, places, situations, and perhaps a quote or two- and then ask the program to produce a response of 500 words.

Make notes of what is accurate and helpful? What does not resonate with you as specific enough or reflective of your voice and experience?

In the essay, admission reviewers want details and insight that is uniquely yours. If you are applying to a college that receives 35,000 applications and the essay responses are evenly divided, then five thousand other students are responding to the same prompt you choose. As my colleague Dr. David Joyner from Georgia Tech’s College of Computing said, “use your interaction with the AI assistant as a learning experience, then let your assignment reflect your improved understanding.”

Degree Choices. Rankings get a lot of press and attention in the college admission conversation. However, in most cases, we do not dig into how these lists are formulated. Degree Choices provides a series of rankings lists based on region, academic program, return on investment metrics, etc. Even if you do not agree with the way they approach their rankings, at least it gets you thinking about what you do value. As I’ve said before, a good high school student becomes a good college applicant becomes a good college student. That starts with doing your homework, asking questions, re-thinking, and considering a variety of angles and sources.

The Common Data Set Initiative– For the data wonks among you- or for those who want to see information presented in a uniform manner from colleges. You can easily search for any institution’s CDS online. As an example, here is Georgia Tech’s. Particularly in the test optional world we are all attempting to navigate, the CDS can be helpful in understanding the number or percentage of test takers. CDS also highlights retention rates, financial aid distribution, and residency, ethnicity, and gender breakdowns, as well as size of classes, faculty degree attainment information, and more. Looking at multiple years of information in this format can point to trends or suggest institutional priorities. Again, taken alongside other tools and resources, examining Common Data Sets will inevitably generate questions for you to ask or additional topics to research when you visit campus and speak with students, faculty, or admission officers.

Pop Quiz

Did you wonder who George P. Burdell was in the example signature line? Did you follow the link to learn more? If so, you are well on your way with this whole curiosity and exploration adventure (If not, I’ve got you covered- here’s the link).

Rick Clark
AVP/Executive Director- Undergraduate Admission
“Stay Curious.”

The Admissions Waitlist…..NOOOOO!!!!

Because both of our kids have practice or other obligations most nights, we do not watch much TV in real time. However, this spring between the NCAA tournament, the NBA playoffs, and Carson Garrett (a Georgia Tech student) on Survivor, we’ve been a bit more tuned in lately.

Naturally, along with the shows and the games come commercials. In my opinion, despite the big budgets, the AI enhancements, and the vast amount of market analysis and research companies direct toward their ads, I’m not terribly impressed.

Recently, this sparked a big debate in our house. Then or now? Has the heyday, specifically of humorous commercials passed us by—kind of like the use of the word “heyday?” They contend there are some funny spots out there currently, and they even pulled up a few on YouTube that I can’t remember right now (because they weren’t funny).

So, in an effort to enhance the quality of their lives, I showed them a few of my historical favorites.

Terry Tate, Office Linebacker.
The frogs, wassup, and then there’s the pandora’s box of Bud Light.
Capitol One. David Spade’s “No”

“Of course you like the Capitol One ads, dad. All you do is say ‘No’.” I can see how they feel that way (I can also tell you some of their requests are absurd). And as Georgia Tech has become more popular and selective, it’s also true that I’m saying NO more at work.

Do I enjoy this? NO.

Did I get into admissions or parenting for that purpose? NO.

But, since it’s that time of year in admissions land, I’m going to embrace those two letters to explain a few truths about waitlists.

Can I give someone from the waitlist my spot? No.

When colleges put out acceptances during their early and regular rounds, they use prior year’s yield models in order to hit class goals. In other words, they over offer knowing a certain percentage of students will say NO and attend a different college.

Here is how this plays out:

Example College’s yield is 40%. If their class goal is 1000, they need to accept about 2500 students in order to hit their goal. Now, in order to be sure they don’t go over, they may choose to accept 2300 or even less (with the anticipation of using their waitlist later), but the point is many more students are sitting on offers than actual seats/beds exist on campus.

Is the waitlist ranked? No.

A waitlist for a college is not the same as a line outside of a concert or restaurant. In other words, schools do not assign numbers or rank to waitlisted students. Instead, they watch their deposits closely in the spring leading up to May 1, and compare those numbers with their goals. If they see that their geographic, gender, academic, or other demographic targets are “soft” (i.e., not coming in at the level they are looking for), they may go to their waitlist early. Otherwise, they will wait until after their deposit deadline, assess the gap between their targets and their current number of deposits, and then begin making offers to “shape” their class.

Here is an example. Good College, located in Bonne, is trying to grow their Economics program. They have 560 students on their waitlist. After their deposit deadline, they see they still need 20 deposits to hit their overall class target. They also notice they have not seen growth in students for Economics—so guess who is getting the first wave of waitlist offers? You can replace “Economics” with a particular state or region of the country, another major, or any other priority the university has established.

Waitlist activity is influenced not only by the demographics and composition of the incoming students, but also by who is graduating and which current students they expect to return. In other words, if the university always wants to be able to say they have at least one student from each of the 50 states, none of the admitted students from Nebraska have deposited, and their one Nebraskan is a senior… “Welcome to Good, Mr. Bien from Kearney, NE.”

It’s May 2, 3, 4…so I’m calling to see if you can tell me my odds of coming off the waitlist. NO. First, we just established that the waitlist is not ranked. Second, while the majority of waitlist activity does occur in May, in the first few days after the deadline most schools are still refreshing browsers, checking to be sure commitments submitted prior to the deadline processed correctly in their system, and speaking with their president or VP about current deposits levels… or perhaps just getting ready for the office Cinco De Mayo party. Please don’t ask ChatGPT to generate another letter of continued interest and time it to send to the admission office on May 2 at 12:01 a.m.

Should I send another letter of recommendation? Mail a creative and colorful card reiterating my interest? Have my school counselor call? Convince an alum my parents know to text his friend who is a professor at the college to stop by the admission office? NO, NO, and definitely NO.

As long as you’ve accepted your spot, turned in what they asked for in your portal or the emails they’ve sent you, now is the time to do what the list says… wait. Admission offices regularly receive chocolates, cookies, and treats along with poems or notes. It is safe to say that a couple hundred grams of sugar and a few couplets are not going to outweigh institutional priorities. As a reminder, there is a distinct line between expressing interest and stalking.

The waitlist sucks. Some believe that so strongly they felt compelled to write a three-part series about the topic. You’ve been told to be proactive, to advocate for yourself, and to go after what you want. I get it. There are times for that for sure. Right now, the admissions roulette wheel is still spinning, and the little silver ball has not landed yet. NO. You cannot pick it up, make it go faster, or put any additional bets down. Instead, when it comes to the waitlist, I’m asking you to do the hardest thing…wait.

But contrary to what my kids say, I do like saying YES. So here are a few for you:

YES. You should be proactive- go thank a teacher, coach, boss, or counselor who has helped you along the way.

YES. You should advocate for yourself and go after what you want— focus that energy on what you want to see change on your team, in your job, or in a relationship.

Being in limbo is not fun or easy. It is, however, an experience you’ll continue to face in life with jobs, medical test results, relationships, and more. As I’ve said before, the admission experience, if you let it, has the ability to help you learn and grow in ways that will prepare you for college and life well beyond it. Hang in there. You got this!

College Admissions Magic Wand

I have been overcommitted in the last few weeks. Apparently, months ago when I agreed to these programs and presentations, I either did not realize they were all bunched together, or I forgot that April in Admissions Land is chaos.

Ironically, while the audience sizes, venue locations, and Zoom formats have varied, the closing question has been ubiquitous: “What is one last thing you would like to say to parents or students?” Or as it was put on a panel last week, “If you had an admission magic wand, what would you change?”

FYI- I do have an admission badge, an admission nametag, plenty of random admission swag from conferences (mousepads, stress balls, buttons, etc.), but a magic wand? Apparently, no Ed Tech vendor has come up with that one…yet.

In the interest of time, I’ll spare you the normal 45-minute presentation and the 37 accompanying slides and cut right to hypothetical ABRACADABRA!

For Students. If I could mind control all college applicants, I’d instill in them an unwavering belief that all of this is going to work out in the end. Maybe not in December or March or even May, but eventually. Anyone who has watched this cycle repeat itself for more than five or so years will attest to this fact: Kids are like cats- they always land on their feet. In many cases they do have nine admission lives, and honestly, have you seen what they eat? Cats, I say.

No, you don’t always get into your first choice. No, the money does not always come through. Sometimes you get deferred or waitlisted or are forced to endure the vicious combo of both, and end up waiting months to know how it’s all going to resolve. So, I’d plant in them an unfathomable amount of patience and confidence.

Forget Beer Goggles. I’d give them Admission Lenses that allows them to see their future self happy, surrounded by friends, and thriving on a college campus (not necessarily the one they currently envision) in a few months. I’d give them special earplugs and blinders to tune out the ridiculous garbage, misinformation, and disinformation that swirls around them online, sometimes from loving but anxious parents, and definitely from opportunistic forces simply trying to fan the flames of stress to get paid.

For Parents/Supporting Adults (waves wand)

PRESTO! Early and honest conversations about money. In April, lots of juniors are visiting campus and seniors are making final college decisions, so there is constant talk about money, finances, loans, and scholarships. In an attempt to cut through the noise, I interviewed John Leach, the AVP for University Financial Aid at Emory University, and I’m hopeful you will listen to that here. While the entire podcast is about 30 mins, I can boil it down to three words—TALK MONEY EARLY!

Many parents I’ve met over the years have felt their job (and the greatest gift they can give their kids is to pay for any college). That is misguided and patently false. The biggest gift parents can give their kids, when it comes to paying for college, is to be as proactive and honest as possible about what you can and/or are willing to pay. John covers all of this in the podcast and does so in a clear, cogent, and compelling way. Since I don’t actually have a magic wand, I sincerely hope you’ll listen.

Bonus: Don’t talk to parents of other high school students about college admission, and instead consult parents of current college students, or recent college graduates. Other parents with kids in high school often have just enough information to sound informed but frequently serve to proliferate inaccuracy and consternation– “You know the valedictorian three years ago did not get into….” and “It’s easier to get in from (insert a local or rival private/public high school here), because they have don’t have (insert grading scale, curriculum, or random nuance here)….like we do.”

My magic would have you walk away, dismiss, change the subject, delete/block social media accounts, and be fully impenetrable to those comments which bring inevitable and unnecessary stress.

In contrast, parents who are one chapter ahead invariably provide perspective, levity, insight, and sanity. They are far less prone to exaggeration, and can be incredibly raw and honest in their evaluation. “She was crushed when she did not get into Stanvard, but went to QSU instead. This spring she’s graduating and has a great job lined up.”

In the end, there are no admission magic wands or quick fixes or panaceas. The admission experience can be challenging, stressful, and humbling. That’s not all bad. And it can also teach valuable lessons about communication, patience, self-confidence, and resilience that will last into college and life well beyond. I don’t have any tricks, but I do have hope. And that’s what I leave you with.