University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, is another beautiful southern flagship state university. There are 40,000 total students, and about 30,000 undergraduates, 80% of them from Georgia. UGA has gotten extremely selective over the past several years; we were told that they were expecting 45-50,000 applications this cycle and would probably admit 16,000 to yield a class of 6200. They also told us that the out-of-state admit rate is about 25%, a little nugget of data that can often be impossible to parse out. The academic profile of admitted students is an A-minus average, with out-of-state students coming in a little higher. Additionally, they want to see students challenging themselves in 4 out of 5 academic areas. Many early action applicants are deferred, but 55-60% of all admitted students come from the early action round - and athletes are a very small percentage of them. In short, they were clear that if you want your fall grades to be seen and you want a chance to retake an SAT or ACT, then regular decision is the best choice for you.

Georgia has a gazillion different academic programs, as you might expect in an institution this size. What's important to know, however, is that they do not admit students by major, and students can change their major any time up until registration. But when evaluating applicants, they do look at the major choice in the context of the whole application including high school class selection and extracurriculars.

As with many large, southern state universities, the earlier a housing application and deposit comes in, the sooner you get to pick your housing. However, unlike many of its peer institutions, UGA guarantees housing for freshmen. Most sophomores, juniors and seniors live off campus.

I think UGA is a great choice for students looking for big sports, school spirit, Greek life, strong academics and warm weather! Keep in mind, however, that the alumni network and job recruiting is likely to be less robust outside of the southeast.