NSCS Chapter School
UNIGO SUMMARY
The University of Georgia combines some of the best academic resources in Georgia with one of the best college towns, period: Athens.
Like many large schools, UGA is ready to give students back whatever they want to put into it, whether they’re participating in one of more than 500 extracurricular clubs, taking classes in one of UGA’s excellent schools (stand-outs include pharmacy, the sciences, and journalism), or simply joining in the many school traditions. UGA students are mostly focused on pre-professional tracks, but the school has also produced a large number of Rhodes scholars—and, thanks to the Hope Scholarship, the academic caliber is increasing every year. Many students
come from in-state, so Georgia’s growing diversity is reflected in the campus
population. The social scene has a Southern charm, and it’s not uncommon to see girls in pearls bringing dates to Dawg tailgates in the fall. Greek houses dominate on-campus, but there are a slew of bars, restaurants, shops, and popular live-music venues just off-campus in Athens. In fact, the flourishing music community has seen the birth of many popular college bands and provides a cool counter-culture to the more traditional Southern state-school atmosphere.
UNIGO REVIEW
“It’s not called the Bulldawg Nation for nothing!” says one sophomore. With all-out football devotion and one of the better public-university academic reputations in the country, the kind of student who thrives at the University of Georgia is prepared to “bleed red & black.” “The first thing I remember thinking about UGA is ‘WOW, this place is huge!'” writes one senior. And with over 25,000 undergrads attending class there, the “gorgeous” campus certainly is. But students who take advantage of UGA’s hundreds of students clubs, activities, Greek organizations, or just join in the throng of Bulldawg devotees during a tailgate, the size gets far less overwhelming. “Now,” says the senior, “it feels so small.” While “there is a very strong southern culture around campus,” students are far from the “rich country bumpkins” imagined by northerners. The academics have ramped up quickly with the advent of high-achievement, in-state HOPE scholarships, and word has gotten around that “you have to be pretty freaking smart to get into UGA nowadays,” says one junior. “Yes, sports are huge here. But so is the rigorous academia.” But for students looking to play as hard as they work, UGA is located in one of the most vibrant college towns in the country—Athens, Georgia. Says one student: “I know so many people who go to other schools who are jealous of Athens, and they should be. It’s so fun!”
Thanks to the aforementioned HOPE scholarships for Georgia residents, “Georgia has kept some of the best and brightest in the state, and UGA is their best option,” says a senior business major. The overall academic atmosphere has increased significantly in the last few years as, says a recent alumna, “you can pass without studying, but you can't keep HOPE without hitting the books.” And UGA is trying to offer Georgia’s best-and-brightest challenging academics and opportunities on par with other great public universities. “Academics at Georgia are getting increasingly more rigorous - a direct result of the administration's attempts to put the school on the same level as places like Chapel Hill and Virginia,” reports one junior. Standout schools include the Terry Business School (“Terry has LOTS of money and therefore has great resources and buildings,” as well as “tons of business recruiting opportunities,” says a Terry senior), the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications (with a “high-demand Public Relations major,” according to one student), the UGA Honors program, and competitive pre-vet and pre-pharmacy programs that feed into UGA’s vet and pharmacy grad programs. Class size and quality “vary greatly,” according to one student (“For instance, there are 16 students in my Spanish class while there are 380 in my anatomy and physiology one,” she says), and one senior explains professor interaction can be limited in the largest lectures: “Most professors don't bother to learn your name, but they at least try to make themselves available to you.” UGA’s size can make “registering for classes…a stressful disaster,” writes a journalism major, and it seems to one junior that “there are never enough classes.” Another student laments “the difficulty of getting classes in high demand majors…Many students in SPIA [School of Public and International Affairs] take five years to graduate because of the difficulty of getting classes.” UGA does give students a useful leg-up in their class selection with the UGA Key, a guide full of statistics and scores from previous classes taught by professors. “My best advice,” writes one senior, “is the UGA Key is your best friend!”
“While the school is predominantly white/Southern/middle class, I’ve come to know people from probably every different background possible,” writes a junior. The in-state tuition attracts an accordingly large in-state population, but, according to a former student, “the student body at UGA is growing more and more eclectic each year as the admissions office chooses fewer in-state students due to rising academic standards.” Boys are stereotyped as “half frat stars and half hippies,” and girls get labeled (to their delight) as some of “the hottest girls in the South." Georgia culture has a strong influence on the student body, and while there are a fair number of “either Atlanta-metro students, or Hicksville GA” residents proud to carry on the traditions they grew up with, that’s hardly the end of student diversity. “There seems to be a social group for everybody: Greek life, gamers, art kids, partiers, normal people,” says one senior. While they may not make up a large portion of the student population, “UGA is very welcoming to minorities,” writes a junior, “and I honestly think the only student who would feel out of place is the one who didn't make an effort to get to know other people.”
Students not that into football might have to learn how to fake it, as “most traditions revolve around football season and tailgating,” says a sophomore. One senior describes the insanity: “Traffic is crazy. Tailgaters take over every open space. Parking is near impossible. And everyone is loud all day long. It could be a night game, but the tailgaters still arrive at 8 in the morning.” The football experience bonds the community, from alumni to freshmen, and, according to a senior, “As people from across the South shuffle into Sanford stadium--I get goose bumps just thinking about it!” And even when Sanford Stadium is dark, student devotees follow the party where the football goes. “Our fall break coincides with the Georgia vs. Florida football game in Jacksonville,” explains one student. “It’s just one big party for the week.” Basketball games and other varsity sports have their individual followings, but the only things that can compete with the popularity of football are the women’s Gym Dawgs. “Gymnastics have been KILLER the past few years, and attendance is high,” says a senior. Another campus staple is the fraternities and sororities, whose social importance outweighs their actual membership. “Fraternities and sororities are incredibly powerful on campus,” says one former journalism student, “yet people who are not Greek are not considered dorks at all. Greeks and non-Greeks mingle nicely.”
They mingle, along with the rest of UGA, in downtown Athens, a city full of bars, restaurants, stores, and clubs that comprise “one of the best college towns.” Downtown Athens hosts bar-hopping UGAers “pretty often, weekends and also weekdays,” but beyond drinking, the town is nationally known for its “awesome” live-music scene, which has launched artists like REM and Danger Mouse. “Whether it's Tasty World, The Georgia Theater, or 40 Watt - a student can always find a group to go listen to!” raves a senior. Athens’ scene also includes a number of movie theaters and restaurants, but students craving something more urban can travel an hour to nearby Atlanta. But partiers have learned to beware, with recent strict measures implemented to curb underage drinking. “All of the drinking regulations around campus and the presence of what seems like a veritable army of UGA Police driving unnecessarily large vehicles are counter-productive and produce an unease and distrust between the students and the police that are there to protect them,” says a junior.
UGA students have plenty of opportunities to get their college fun in, from football games to frat parties and concerts in downtown Athens. But for serious students, UGA’s offerings don’t end at extracurriculars. According to one junior, “UGA manages to be a challenging school while simultaneously letting its students really experience college outside the classroom.”