Georgia Institute of Technology

This is from my experience applying to Georgia Tech. 1. Tech was thought of as a "safety" for most of the top 10% in my highschool class. There was more excitement about other schools such as Michigan, MIT, Caltech, and Stanford than about Georgia Tech. (I went to a Newsweek top 1000 high school in Georgia) 2. The MAIN reason (which I am truly sorry to say) that many students came here was cost and reputation. Think about that - there was no intrinsic appeal to being here. 3. Georgia Tech lost a significant number of people who were pre-law and pre-health and pre-business to Emory and UGA. Why? - Seen as too hard and bad for one's overall GPA. (Note that these students would have been perfectly ok to go to "higher ranked" schools such as Duke, Columbia, or MIT where they would have had to work just as hard.) - Georgia Tech is perceived as a place with a narrow focus on engineering. 4. The reason most often given as to why students would rather go to out-of-state or private peer institutions is "meeting interesting people" or "being able to do interesting things." Georgia Tech does not convey the quality of the student experience.