Here are some thoughts on the UGA admissions process…
If you were deferred from UGA or will apply Regular
Admission, please remember that you need a teacher recommendation. I just
emailed the teachers to give them the link to UGA’s website and to give them
instructions on filling out the teacher recommendation. You will need to
ask a teacher to do the rec so that they will know to go on the website and
complete it. Remember this is due by Jan. 15th. Please
give teachers time. UGA made Early Action decisions about a month early
so you have even more time to work on Part 2 of the application. Respect
the fact that teachers will be grading mid-terms and taking some time
off. Go ahead and ask now! One thing they needed last year was your
DOB (they may need that again this year). Please give that to them (or I
can provide it to them). Although, they are primarily looking for a
teacher’s comments on your work in the classroom, it never hurts to offer a
teacher a resume or just a simple list of some of your biggest
achievements.
See the below comments from UGA’s Admissions Blog
regarding teacher recommendations (from last year):
We receive a number of questions at this time of year about
teacher recommendations, so here is my (limited) advice on the subject. First,
when figuring out who you should ask to write a letter of recommendation, try
to find a teacher who knows you well, and has taught you within the last 1-2
years. UGA prefers teachers from core academic subjects, and we suggest you
only have one teacher recommendation sent in. If you really feel like you need
a second teacher recommendation (or one from a person outside the school such
as a boss, a volunteer program coordinator, a minister, etc.), then I suggest the
maximum should be one additional letter. Why do I say this? At a certain point,
too much information starts to detract from our counselors being able to focus
on the important items. If you have six recommendations in your file (and most
of them will say similar things), we then start to spend more time shuffling
through these letters than focusing on your other strengths.
For us, the purpose of the recommendation letters is to learn more about you
from teachers/school officials who deal with you on a day to day basis, and can
give us insight into what you are like in their classrooms, their hallways, and
in the life of your school. Do you sleep in class, do you work well with others
on projects, are you respectful to the ideas of others, do you pay attention,
etc. How you act day in and day out in a HS class can give us insight into how
you will be in our classrooms and in the UGA community. A recommendation letter
that just gives us information that we already know, from a student's grades to
activities (which are already in the file!), or holds up the applicant as the
perfect student really does not help us in the review process. We are looking
for insight into what the student is really like.
I still remember one of the first students I worked with in a college
admissions setting, Patrick F. (almost 20 years ago!). He was a great
student/person from Plano, TX, back when Plano Senior HS was the only high
school in the town. One of his recommendations was from a
priest/volunteer-organizer who wrote a recommendation without Patrick knowing
about it. In the letter, the priest was able to give amazing insight into the
type of person that Patrick was, and was able to show me what he was like when
no one was watching. It talked about his positive manner of interacting with
people in need of a helping hand and a kind voice, and how he was able to
relate to people from a variety of backgrounds. The letter also talked about
his humor, his maturity (or at times a lack of it!), and it gave me a sense of
the real person. This is the type of letter that colleges desire.
So find the people that know you best, and have them share information and
insights into who you truly are, warts and all.
I have also attached a link below from UGA’s website
regarding the essays…..
Thanks and let me know how I can help….
Coach T.
