UGA will be closed from late afternoon on December 24 through January 3, and as such, we will not be available to answer many questions. Like many of you, I will also be unavailable at times during the break, so here are a few common questions and answers to hold you over during the time we are closed. Please be patient with me if you post any comments!
Deadlines and Materials
I have had several questions about when application materials need to be in, what happens if they are not in, etc. UGA Admissions works hard to complete a student’s file, and we will work with students if things come in a little late. For paper documents, our deadlines are postmark deadlines, and we will keep the online school forms open after the deadline. This does not mean that a student should do things after the deadline though! Make sure you speak with your counselor and teacher early about getting in materials, and give them time to do their work! And if you choose to apply on the deadline, please understand that we will take you application, but you are setting yourself up to possibly have problems by not giving yourself any leeway with required materials. Do yourself a favor and take care of things before the deadline!
Mailed materials
My estimate is that from a person mailing out documents to it showing up in the system takes at least 6-8 business days, give or take (if your application is already in the system). If a counselor or teacher sent documents off on a Monday let’s say, then 8 business days means Wednesday of the following week. Please also remember that UGA will be closed down from late afternoon on Friday, 12/24, until the morning of Jan. 4, so be patient with us during that span, as we will not be in the office or updating the myStatus page during that gap. Please remember that our deadlines are postmarked deadlines, so there is no reason to send something FedEx, UPS rush, two day postal delivery, etc., and at times these special deliveries can slow things down as they get held up due to non-delivery on weekends, routing things a non-traditional way, etc. Stick with online delivery (still the best by far!) or standard post office mailing.
January SAT exam
The last test score date UGA will be able to use is the Jan. 22 SAT. The Feb. ACT is too late, especially since it takes longer for ACT to get the scores back than SAT (which usually gets us scores in under three weeks).
First Semester Grades
Applicants are not required to send in first semester grades, but we do like to see them when reviewing a student’s file, so I would suggest having an updated transcript sent in to UGA. We will be accepting first semester grades through Feb. 1, but I would suggest having your school send them in as soon as possible after they are ready. Accepted EA applicants do not need to send in first semester grades unless requested to by Honors or the Foundation Fellows/Ramsey Scholarship Program.
Scholarships:
UGA will be making scholarship decisions (along with out-of-state waivers) from mid-December through mid-April as we review files and finish receiving applications. In December, we will have awarded a small number of scholarships, but we are a long way from completing the process.
Honors:
Honors needs time to review the admitted students, so please be patient with them during their review of admitted students. Only Honors would know when they will be releasing decisions, the criteria they use for review, etc.