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GT is a comparison point on salaries. Lot of GT grads remain in GA along w/ UGA grads. UGA is going into engineering b/c it's not able to pull more students to bump their selectivity which is so crucial in all those other arbitrary rankings. The salary comparison is probably more valid than any other ranking based on reputation or student happiness. It doesn't account for schools in high COL (Harvard et al don't generate massively better salaries) but between schools in similar locales and degree mixes it's perfectly valid. If the point of college is to increase salaries/earning potential, then there's far less difference between UGA/UNC/UF/GSU than there is GT.
The fact is you have a fairly decent contingent at UGA and tons of liberal arts schools that have students getting degrees in leisure studies, historical fiction, all other non-sense and being perplexed as to why they can't get a job that pays enough to move out of their parents' house. UGA has plenty of very smart people attending now thanks to HOPE and other scholarships/initiatives. If they train them for engineering, sciences, medical, etc, I'm all for it...if they all wind up doing nothing but getting an art history degree and no leads on jobs, what's the point?
20 yrs ago UGA was far worse academically and I did have a higher SAT than your avg UGA freshman despite having nothing more than a Gwinnett County 7th grade education. How was that academically rigorous? How many of those students would qualify to get into UGA law today? It was first and foremost a good 'ole boy, old south party/football school whose greatest claim was a football team that got caught passing athletes that couldn't actually read and then firing the whistleblower that called them on it.
Never said GT was relatively safe...UGA ain't exactly utopia either though. See the AJC today. College campuses invite crime...young people w/ money = easy targets no matter where they are. Like I said my parents couldn't get 9-5 jobs despite having UGA graduate degrees which is why they had a liquor store. They closed the liquor store and got us out of Athens when my dad got a corporate gig after finishing GT.
The problem with your whole argument is that it's based on some concept that the only reason people go to college is to make a lot of money. Some people want to teach, some people want to write, some people want to help kids with disabilities, some people are just really into history or political science and want to use that as their base for law school. You are comparing apples to oranges, so your data is flawed. Jeez, I should HOPE your average engineering major would get paid well in excess of any of the above!
Regarding the story of your parents, I am sorry they had so much trouble getting jobs. Sounds like an isolated incident. If we are using anecdotal evidence, I can tell you about how I was actively recruited by all Big 6 (at the time 14 years ago) accounting firms starting junior year of college and passed the CPA exam in one sitting. Whereas, a guy I knew growing up went to Tech and can't keep a job b/c he is so socially inept and inappropriate and doesn't understand why. You could play that game all day, and it simply illustrates the point that these one-off statements don't prove anything other than that you are really trying hard to prove the superiority of Tech, when it's not even the same ballpark. Tech is a great engineering school...are you happy?
The 'National Reputation' comments are a joke. I moved to Seattle 11 years ago after growing up in Atlanta and attending UGA. No one cares if you went to Ga Tech or UNC. What skills do you bring to the job. There's regional bias to the state schools like UW, and yeah if you went to Stanford people notice. Maybe in Academia they care, but real world ehhh.
The 'National Reputation' comments are a joke. I moved to Seattle 11 years ago after growing up in Atlanta and attending UGA. No one cares if you went to Ga Tech or UNC. What skills do you bring to the job. There's regional bias to the state schools like UW, and yeah if you went to Stanford people notice. Maybe in Academia they care, but real world ehhh.
I have met very wealthy graduates from both schools, just as I've met millionaires who never stepped on a college campus. I've met social retards from both UGA and GT. I'd agree that there are a few more socially inept students at GT, but luckily for them they are often in fields in which they can still excel due to their technical skill-set. You can be successful no matter where you go, but there is a reason that the average mid-career pay for a GT grad is $105,000 vs. $78,000 for UGA. There is a reason that the average starting pay for a GT grad is $58,000 versus $42,000 for a UGA grad. Employers obviously place a higher value on the skill-set that the GT grad brings to the market. A GT degree does mean a lot more nationally than a UGA degree. It does carry weight with headhunters and HR professionals. Bob from Accounting might not care, but those who make decisions in technical fields do respect the degree. Will it get you everywhere in your career? Of course not. At some point you have to back up the repuation of your degree or you will be weeded out. With that said, the mid-career pay backs up the idea that GT grads do rise up the org chart better than 95% of their peers.
I wish I could feel sorry for Tech grads, but I can't. Now that UGA is becoming just as competitive, they have nothing left to brag about. The ultimate college town, prettiest co-eds in the country, a picturesque campus, the number one party scene in the nation, and now a top-notch academic reputation. What reason is there to go to Tech? Tech is a great school, but now that UGA is an academic powerhouse, I don't see the logic in picking Tech over Georgia.
I have met very wealthy graduates from both schools, just as I've met millionaires who never stepped on a college campus. I've met social retards from both UGA and GT. I'd agree that there are a few more socially inept students at GT, but luckily for them they are often in fields in which they can still excel due to their technical skill-set. You can be successful no matter where you go, but there is a reason that the average mid-career pay for a GT grad is $105,000 vs. $78,000 for UGA. There is a reason that the average starting pay for a GT grad is $58,000 versus $42,000 for a UGA grad. Employers obviously place a higher value on the skill-set that the GT grad brings to the market. A GT degree does mean a lot more nationally than a UGA degree. It does carry weight with headhunters and HR professionals. Bob from Accounting might not care, but those who make decisions in technical fields do respect the degree. Will it get you everywhere in your career? Of course not. At some point you have to back up the repuation of your degree or you will be weeded out. With that said, the mid-career pay backs up the idea that GT grads do rise up the org chart better than 95% of their peers.
AGAIN - apples to oranges. It would be totally pathetic if an engineering school was not substantially higher in AVERAGE pay versus a liberal arts school. In fact, I am surprised the disparity is less than $30k. If you roll out same-major stats, that is fine, but it's sort of ridiculous to try to compare pay scales of engineers vs. a much more diverse array of fields which are not known for high pay anyways. And again, it is trying to use numbers to determine "which is better" when there are obviously always going to be intangibles that may or may not be more important to different types of people. And having been a head hunter for a few years in the accounting/finance field (one of the only areas where there is any overlap) I can tell you there is no extra weight carried by a Tech degree over any other schools (save KSU, Ga Southern, etc.). I am sure since you went to Tech you are siloed in your field where a technical education is important, which is great and fine, but to apply your statistics across all fields is some creative use of logic. I just don't get why Tech guys are always trying so hard to PROVE how superior they are to UGA...no one here is saying Tech is a bad school - it is a great engineering school with a solid reputation nationally...DONE. UGA is a totally different animal and most people who would go to one wouldn't even consider going to the other because they want different things in life, neither of which is better or worse than the other...just different, which is fine.
Seems to me it would make more sense to compare salaries between people in comparable fields. People who go to UGA in areas like veterinary medicine, landscape architecture, law, business, forestry, etc., are probably going to make more.
I wish I could feel sorry for Tech grads, but I can't. Now that UGA is becoming just as competitive, they have nothing left to brag about. The ultimate college town, prettiest co-eds in the country, a picturesque campus, the number one party scene in the nation, and now a top-notch academic reputation. What reason is there to go to Tech? Tech is a great school, but now that UGA is an academic powerhouse, I don't see the logic in picking Tech over Georgia.
Well, of course there are reasons to pick Tech over Georgia, such as course of study focus (engineering, for example). Reasons to pick Georgia over tech are the same (journalism, pharmacy, etc.). Athens may be the perfect pick for some who are looking for a party school, big-time sports, and the other positive factors you mentioned. Those things may not be quite as important to others. There are many, many reasons to pick one school over the other - any school over any other school. Those reasons are generally personal to the student. Georgia vs. Tech? I think that question, unless you are applying to college, ought to be left on the football field.
Well, of course there are reasons to pick Tech over Georgia, such as course of study focus (engineering, for example). Reasons to pick Georgia over tech are the same (journalism, pharmacy, etc.). Athens may be the perfect pick for some who are looking for a party school, big-time sports, and the other positive factors you mentioned. Those things may not be quite as important to others. There are many, many reasons to pick one school over the other - any school over any other school. Those reasons are generally personal to the student. Georgia vs. Tech? I think that question, unless you are applying to college, ought to be left on the football field.
I couldn't agree more. They're both world class universities and you can get a fantastic education at either one for an extremely reasonable cost. Both have a long list of Rhodes, Fullbright and other distinguished scholars and an amazing litany of ultra successful graduates in every field. Our state is far from perfect but we are blessed to have some outstanding universities.
Logic, one of the things you learn in calculus, is useful no matter what field you pursue.
Not really. Or at least not as good as you may think. Calculus is good since so many science and engineering equations are derived from it. It's even used in statistics but again, often one uses the result, i.e. the equation. But in the real world, you'll rarely if ever use calculus, just the results.
I think Tech's core curriculum is freshman chemistry, calculus, and physics for everyone but Tech has been expanding its degrees so maybe some course of studies don't require them? I remember that two math profs at Tech even proposed eliminating calculus from Tech's curriculum because, as they said, students get it in high school. But I think Tech still teaches calculus. There is a TED lecture where a mathematician even proposed eliminating calculus as a terminal program of study in high schools and replace it with statistics. You are more likely to use statistics in the real world than calculus.
If it's logic you want, Discrete Math is good for the basics. Chemistry and Physics are good to learn how to take worded and numerical information to solve a problem. But the best course I had at Tech was Analysis. Analysis is pretty much taking all that stuff you learned in calculus and proving it. It was the most painful mental effort of any course of study I've had but worth it. I can pretty much handle anything now. Math majors and even some grad students take Analysis. I recall one Tech physics prof often brag in class that he took Analysis (the dude was a bit of a jerk).
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I can pretty much handle anything now. 
Math majors and even some grad students take Analysis. I recall one Tech physics prof often brag in class that he took Analysis (the dude was a bit of a jerk).
