Up Front | President's Column

June 2002: Vol. 81, No. 3

A university that's almost too popular

he law of supply and demand is in full effect in the admissions process at the University of Georgia. It is not driving up the price, as we remain one of America's best educational bargains. But it is driving up our academic standards.

Georgia's best and brightest high school students, who once would have sought an elite, out-of-state university to continue their education, are now choosing UGA. The number of applications increased 10 percent this year alone.

We have already made a lot of families happy by offering admission to their sons or daughters; as I write this column, more than 90 percent of the fall 2002 class has already been accepted. That also means that others will be unhappy when they receive their final admissions letter. Increasing demand brings increased disappointment, one of the more difficult aspects of this job.

Michael F. Adams

One of my first acts after I was named president in June 1997 was to respond to a State Board of Regents request for a five-year enrollment management plan. It did not take much study to realize that we were rapidly approaching our academic and infrastructural limits. A walk across campus at a midday class change showed me sidewalks full of students, a bus system overflowing, and available classroom space rare. Beneath the campus, the infrastructure of water lines, power supply, and computer support was strained to the limit.

After careful study, I told the regents we would cap our enrollment at 32,500 by the fall of 2002, a five-year increase of only 2,800 students. We reached that limit a year ahead of schedule, in the fall of 2001.

Consider the following trends and their combined impact on admissions at UGA:

The number of high school graduates in Georgia is expected to increase 22.6 percent through 2008.
UGA is overwhelmingly Georgian, with about 85 percent of our students coming to us from our home state.
Despite our overall size, we have managed to keep the average class at UGA quite small. Out of more than 2,700 total class sections, the most common class size is 16-20 students. Almost 80 percent of all undergraduate classes have 40 or fewer students. Only 14 sections have 300 or more students.
The average SAT score for UGA freshmen has increased 26 points—from 1182 to 1208 since 1997—while the average SAT of American college-bound students has remained virtually flat, rising only four points, from 1016 to 1020.
Our yield, or the percentage of students we admit who actually enroll, hovered at or just under 50 percent in the decade prior to 2001, when it jumped to 53.4 percent. In admissions circles, a one percentage point shift in yield is a quantum leap; we moved up more than three percentage points in one year.
Our students like it here. We have a 90 percent retention rate between the freshman and sophomore years, much higher than the average of 72 percent for research universities.

So this is the scenario: There are going to be a lot more high school graduates in Georgia, meaning more applications to UGA. That increasing demand for admission is seen in the increasingly tough competition for the available slots and the fact that the average SAT score of UGA freshmen has risen at almost seven times the rate of the national average.

While admission to UGA is a highly valuable commodity, last year almost 4,000 students turned down our offer to enroll. The best of the best have virtually unlimited choice in where to go to college. One of the strengths of the American system of higher education is that variety of options available to students. Georgia possesses that strength as well, with 34 public institutions in its University System and dozens of private schools serving the needs of much of the state's college-bound population.

UGA is not, and should not be, the institution for everyone. As the state's flagship university, we do offer the broadest, most comprehensive curriculum. As the state's land-grant university, we have a responsibility to teach, conduct research, and be of service to the public. As the largest institution in the state, we enroll and graduate the leaders of tomorrow. But we cannot and should not be everything to everybody.

Our admissions process, in the final analysis, works very well to select those students with the best chance of success at one of America's top 20 public universities. Saying "No" to anyone who wants to be a part of the University of Georgia is difficult and painful, but saying "Yes" to those who both desire and deserve to be here is one of our great joys.