Georgia Tech's 25th percentile SAT score is only 1370.

Tons and tons of low academic performers get in.

Mind you, that is not a bad SAT score, per se, but for STEM college it is.

My son was admitted to GT for CS in 2023. We are at FCPS public school. In 2023, our high school had 4 GT admits. This year (2025), we have 6 admits. They are all top 10% students. I believe GT is holistic review, it's not just about grades and scores. CS admits is much more selective recent years since it is now a direct admit, no other major can be transferred to CS. While grades and rigor are still important, GT seems pays less consideration in SAT/ACT scores. I also think demonstrated privileges in application play negatively, like any pay to play prestigious summer programs, internships with parents' connections, some volunteering in parents managed/operated non-profit, exotic/expensive ECs that shows no impact, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid had a 1400 superstore and got in. We are shocked.

OOS? What major?

Congrats to your kid!

Engineering and yes OOS.

Niece rejected from Georgia Tech with amazing stats. I haven't heard from anyone who got in.

The one applicant I knew was female NMSF with great stats - deferred. I assumed it was because she didn’t have a very STEM heavy application. AP math and science classes aren’t enough.

Anonymous wrote:Looking for advice on major to apply to. OOS female interested in CS or something in engineering, to be determined. We know major doesn't matter and yet does, from comments made by a VT AO quoted in the Your College Bound Kid podcast. It's confusing. I've looked at the requirements to internally transfer into the major. With the CS major acceptance rate being low, is it worth applying to some other major? Is there really no difference among engineering majors? I need to take another look at that link.

Generally, applying as a likely soft major with the intent of transferring to a hard major like engineering or cs never works. There may be a few exceptions like Princeton or MIT but those are super hard to get into for everyone. But no one can apply to Penn Nursing and then transfer to Penn Engineering. And it will be the same at Maryland, Georgia Tech and so on.

Anonymous wrote:Looking for advice on major to apply to. OOS female interested in CS or something in engineering, to be determined. We know major doesn't matter and yet does, from comments made by a VT AO quoted in the Your College Bound Kid podcast. It's confusing. I've looked at the requirements to internally transfer into the major. With the CS major acceptance rate being low, is it worth applying to some other major? Is there really no difference among engineering majors? I need to take another look at that link.

My apologies. Sorry, I thought I was on the VT thread....

Looking for advice on major to apply to. OOS female interested in CS or something in engineering, to be determined. We know major doesn't matter and yet does, from comments made by a VT AO quoted in the Your College Bound Kid podcast. It's confusing. I've looked at the requirements to internally transfer into the major. With the CS major acceptance rate being low, is it worth applying to some other major? Is there really no difference among engineering majors? I need to take another look at that link.

It’s a holistic process for in-state kids too. Kids with top grades and scores and some demonstrated commitment to STEM have a better chance but that alone isn’t enough. Kids with lower stats who have a compelling personal profile (leadership, recommendations, community involvement, etc. ) get in as well.

Anonymous wrote:I can’t remember or find a link right now but somewhere a few weeks/months ago I had found a link to a schev like GT site that aggregated acceptance by major and in/out of state at GT. But now I can’t find where the link is.
Anyhow my DC was deferred EA OOS with a 1510/790 math, 4.0 UW with high rigor, solid EC but no national awards or anything, to engineering. Public nova HS.

This one? https://lite.gatech.edu/

I can’t remember or find a link right now but somewhere a few weeks/months ago I had found a link to a schev like GT site that aggregated acceptance by major and in/out of state at GT. But now I can’t find where the link is.
Anyhow my DC was deferred EA OOS with a 1510/790 math, 4.0 UW with high rigor, solid EC but no national awards or anything, to engineering. Public nova HS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In-state kids with 1500+ SAT, top grades, high rigor are not getting in, despite the more generous in-state admit rate.

Vast majority of them are. There median test score is a 1440.

We cannot assume that high stats are getting in just because the average test score is lower.

Then they're yeild protecting. Funny how GT doesn't get accused of it but Emory and Tufts do when their stats are much higher.

PP. I would agree. In addition, I wouldn't rule out motives such as trying to bring in disadvantaged students or something along those lines.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone think the rejections of top candidates is greater from privates? I wonder if they are skeptical of all the privilege and awards and internships, so much of which is just paid for. It's so much more impressive when a kid from a public can match the stats. I think that might explain some of the seemingly incomprehensible rejections.

I wonder this myself. But I don't think any private school student is being rejected bc of "privilege." I think it's because for the super reach-y STEM schools like Georgia Tech, MIT, Rice, CalTech, and Texas, the private schools generally aren't as strong in math as the magnets and the high performing public high schools. I'd be curious to see the data. Like I'm pretty sure Georgia Tech and MIT are going to look more favorably at schools like Stuyvesant, TJ, Poolesville, and even the Ws over the likes of GDS, St. Albans, Sidwell and similar.

Sidwell, and GDS students do not want Gatech or Texas. They want CMU, and Rice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In-state kids with 1500+ SAT, top grades, high rigor are not getting in, despite the more generous in-state admit rate.

Vast majority of them are. There median test score is a 1440.

We cannot assume that high stats are getting in just because the average test score is lower.

Then they're yeild protecting. Funny how GT doesn't get accused of it but Emory and Tufts do when their stats are much higher.

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone think the rejections of top candidates is greater from privates? I wonder if they are skeptical of all the privilege and awards and internships, so much of which is just paid for. It's so much more impressive when a kid from a public can match the stats. I think that might explain some of the seemingly incomprehensible rejections.

I wonder this myself. But I don't think any private school student is being rejected bc of "privilege." I think it's because for the super reach-y STEM schools like Georgia Tech, MIT, Rice, CalTech, and Texas, the private schools generally aren't as strong in math as the magnets and the high performing public high schools. I'd be curious to see the data. Like I'm pretty sure Georgia Tech and MIT are going to look more favorably at schools like Stuyvesant, TJ, Poolesville, and even the Ws over the likes of GDS, St. Albans, Sidwell and similar.