Each fall semester, the Office of Undergraduate Admission at Georgia Tech hits the road to share information about Tech with high schoolers throughout the state of Georgia. This year, they visited 282 schools in 98 counties, connecting with 4,486 students in the state.
As part of advancing its efforts related to expanding access to a Tech education in Georgia, this undertaking was the largest on-the-ground effort since the coronavirus pandemic.
“As we’ve intensified our focus on recruiting students from across our state, I’m proud of the work our team did to visit 60 more counties than our last ‘normal’ travel season,” said Mary Tipton Woolley, senior associate director of Undergraduate Admission. “Expanding access starts in our home state, and I am excited about the groundwork being laid this fall to engage more Georgians.”
The season began with the Peach State Tour, an annual joint recruitment effort by Georgia Tech, Augusta University, Georgia State University, and the University of Georgia, to share information about their institutions with students, counselors, and parents. The tour began in late August and continued through mid-September.
This year, the tour reached nearly 400 counselors and over 2,500 students during 22 virtual and in-person events. This year was the first since the pandemic that admission counselors expanded their travel commitments to encompass every region of the state, from the northern mountains to the southern plains.
Sean Kilgore, senior admission counselor and a Northwest Georgia native, spent much of the early fall in that region, connecting with hundreds of students. One of his most impactful experiences was in Lafayette, Georgia, where he spoke to over 50 high schoolers about Tech and applying to college in general.
“Going back to areas that I grew up in, I’ve been able to utilize this knowledge to understand what students are able to bring to the Georgia Tech community,” he said. “I was so excited to visit schools in the area where I grew up and even more thrilled to see such a large turnout at LaFayette High School, where Georgia Tech has not visited in many years.”
Moving forward, the office continues to explore new ways to help students across the state see Georgia Tech as an option for college, including this fall hosting specialized drive-in visits for students and staff from Greene County, Coffee County, Forest Park, and Arabia Mountain High Schools.
“Boots on the ground has always been one of the most important parts of recruitment,” said Woolley. “Building relationships with counselors and school officials, meeting students in their home environment, staying and eating in a community — all these things help us understand the challenges and opportunities faced throughout our state.”
Now the office turns to completing a holistic review of the record number of applications received for Early Action 1. This year, more than 7,000 applications were received for this decision round, which focuses only on Georgia applicants. This represents an increase of more than nine percent from last year. Decisions will be released for Early Action 1 on Friday, Dec. 8, but first-year applications will continue to be received through the Regular Decision deadline of Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024.
For more information about the undergraduate admission process at Tech, visit the Office of Undergraduate Admission website.