Student Application and Selection

Application Philosophy

VIP sites handle their applications in a variety of ways.  At Georgia Tech, we firmly believe applications should not be used to screen students.

  • We do not screen by GPA.  From experience, we have found little correlation between GPAs and student performance on teams.  Further, a team full of 4.0 students does not function well.
  • We have no interviews.  Research shows little correlation between interview performance and job performance.  We also feel interviews are intimidating, and that they would make the program less accessible to marginalized students.
  • We do not take resumes or letters of recommendation.  We feel these screening tools “make the rich richer,” awarding enriching experiences to students who have already had enriching experiences.
  • We feel the single strongest predictor of student performance is enthusiasm.  For this reason, students apply to specific projects in which they are interested, and the application includes a single comment box in which they are asked X-check-wording-X.

Application Process

We have a rolling admissions process, so applications are considered and approved/denied as they come in

  • Students apply online.
  • Students are approved/denied.
    • All returning students are automatically approved if they are returning to the same team. Students requesting team changes have to either take one semester off, or provide a compelling justification.
    • If denied, they’re invited to either apply to another team or to apply again for the same team the next semester.
    • The Director processes applications for new teams. Experienced instructors typically process their own.
  • Course registration permits are issued to approved students.

Application Form

Web-based form, step by step. Georgia Tech’s application form is web-based, and it ties into the Registrar’s system. Students log into the system, and the system pulls their student IDs and flags them as new or returning based on past class rolls.

The application at Georgia Tech requests only:

  • Name
  • Major
  • Academic rank (sophomore, junior, senior)
  • One VIP team to which student wants to apply (only one)
  • Number of credits requested (one or two)
  • Comments
  • Automated information: whether they’ve participated in VIP before, on what team, and when