Shhhh!!!!!!! Tech is our little secret in Ga! It's very hard to get in as a freshman, but there's a program called the Georgia Regent's Program where you can do 2 years at one of over a dozen schools in Ga and then transfer in...finish up in 2.5 years. The scholarship you speak of is the lottery funded HOPE for GA HS grads. A 3.8 GPA will give you 100% tuition and a 3.0 will get you 90% (you won't get into tech w/ a 3.0, however). Most kids getting into tech have a little over 1400 SAT (Math/Verbal). My next kid in line is hoping to go there, but via regents as his GPA won't be good enough for direct admit. Plus, tech is notorious for "weed out" classes for freshmen....many, many kids flunk out of tech.
Exactly! It's widely known, at least in the South I suppose, that they make a point to TRY and flunk students out the first 2 yrs because they hope to weed out the "weak" ones. I'm going to Tech, but I did dual enrollment at KSU this yr. Don't get me wrong, I like KSU, it has a beautiful campus and the professors are really nice, but it doesn't hold a candle to Tech. Waiting for class to start, half the conversations I heard were about how they didn't get in the first time but want more than anything to go to Tech and how they're hoping to transfer after X more semesters. There was only one kid I know of who wanted to go to UGA, but that was because he really wanted to go to a party school with a solid girl:boy ratio
and not particularly for the academic value. Which is why I don't get how Tech wasn't even on forbe's list of 700 yet several Georgia schools, and quite a few colleges from around the nation too, that practically anyone with half way decent grades and test scores can get into, were.
I thought it was a 3.7 gpa not 3.8, has it change again already? I never knew how hard it was to get into as a freshman until after I got in. I knew it was tough, but things were really put into perspective when out of about 10-13 kids at my hs that I knew applied to Tech, only 1 other kid got in and my math and science classes at KSU were filled with kids who didn't get in the first time but were hoping to transfer after the 1st or 2nd yr. If I had known that, I would have cast a wider safety net to include schools that actually had my top major choices
. Its funny, I never felt like I acted as if I were invincible until I looked back and considered some very dark what ifs...As for your DS, he should still definitely apply. Even if his gpa isn't stellar he still might have a good chance of getting in as long as his test scores are great(or if, because SATs and ACTs only predict how well you might do in college, he has taken college classes and done well them), he can write some really good essays, and his resume is supplemented with ECs, leadership, community service, and athletics. Nobody is maxed out in all categories, but if he's well rounded he's not out for the count
. Just apply early, with regular decision your chances for a spot plummet since the vast majority applies late. But what am I saying, you've already a kid (or 2?) through to college so I'm sure you know all this and more.