University of Georgia - Athens vs. University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (Avera: real estate, law school)

[mrpanda]

I thought these two would be an interesting comparison. Both are large public universities from the south. Today, Clearly UNC has a stronger reputation and ranking than UGA. Both are interesting as they are both schools where engineering and business isn't their dominate major with a more liberal arts curriculum. I don't know the politics and government involvement behind the scenes with UGA, but is UGA a rising star - up and coming school in the next 10 - 20 years?

UNC - applicants applied 23,224 7,345 accepted 32% acceptance rate
UGA - applicants applied 17,776 9,557 accepted 54% acceptance rate

UNC currently ranked #30
UGA currently ranked #56

Let's discuss.....

[tomno00]

ranked 56th in what? is this the overall ranking of the school?

[PeteyNice]

This isn't a fair comparison. Chapel Hill is a "public ivy" - one of the finest public colleges in the nation. UGA just isn't. I am also not sure where you get that "business isn't their dominant major". Chapel Hill has the #7 undergrad/#19 graduate business programs in the country. That is fairly dominant. Chapel Hill also has a strong Law and Medical school.

While not known as a top engineering school, Chapel Hill does have a competitive graduate program in some engineering disciplines.

With the state continuing to slash the budget for the Board of Regents I don't see UGA getting into the class of Chapel Hill any time soon.

A better comparison on the academic side would be Tech which has a strong business program and of course a dominant engineering program. If they add a law school (which was discussed when UGA was granted engineering programs) they would be even more competitive.

[testa50]

UGA's reputation and selectivity has increased rapidly over the past couple decades for two major reasons:

1) The overall growth of Georgia, which leads to a better applicant pool for its flagship public schools.
2) The HOPE scholarship.

The factors work together and reinforce one another, and the continued improvement in UGA's rankings is self-reinforcing.

These two reasons are both perhaps slightly threatened, but will still contribute to UGA's rise. HOPE has been cut, but $0k to $2k isn't that big a deal when compared against the $20k is costs to go to a comparable school out of state. Expect most of the kids who would have gone to UGA due to HOPE to continue going to UGA due to HOPE.

Georgia probably won't grow as fast on a percentage basis that it did 1990-2010, but numerically it should be close (100k people per year, give or take), which will be fast enough to outpace the nation. UNC and Florida will also benefit from this exact same thing.

In sum, catching UNC is a tall order, but UGA is finding itself among an ever-improving list of peer institutions. We are tied with Maryland, Purdue, and Ohio State is the current rankings--three quality schools, to be sure. Catching Florida is more doable (and would be ultimately vindicating to UGA boosters). The fact that Georgia has 2 of the top 20 public schools in state is definitely something to be proud of, and a major draw for us--only Virginia and California can make this claim (well, Cali has a whole fleet in the top 20).

[Bizurko]

No just don't this was not a good idea of a post at all

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by mrpanda

I don't know the politics and government involvement behind the scenes with UGA, but is UGA a rising star - up and coming school in the next 10 - 20 years?

UGA is definitely a rising star. It has been moving in the direction of the Chapel Hill model and admission standards have been continually going up. It used to be that a Georgia high school gradate with a reasonably good record had a good chance of admission to UGA. That is no longer the case. Many students who might have gone to UGA in years past are now attending one of our other state universities.

This year's enteriing class had an average 3.83 GPA in high shcool, 1263 average SAT and more than 240 graduated first or second in their class.

For the Honors Program, which I would highly recommend, the stats are

Average First-Year High School GPA 4.06
Average First-Year SAT 1471
Middle-Range SAT 1440 – 1490

Welcome to the University of Georgia Honors Program

[gtcorndog]

UGA has a good in-state repuation, but it doesn't carry very far out of state. What academic program is UGA known for?
UNC-CH has a great in-state reputation that carries nationwide. UNC-CH has elite undergrad programs as well as law, medical and MBA programs.

This is the biggest difference in my opinion and there is good reason for it. UGA is a good school, but not even near UNC yet.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

UGA has a good in-state repuation, but it doesn't carry very far out of state. What academic program is UGA known for?
UNC-CH has a great in-state reputation that carries nationwide. UNC-CH has elite undergrad programs as well as law, medical and MBA programs.

This is the biggest difference in my opinion and there is good reason for it. UGA is a good school, but not even near UNC yet.

UGA is tied for 18th in U.S. News & World Report’s 2011 list of the 50 top public universities in America. (Chapel Hill is no. 5). Its law school is highly ranked and their business school, landscape architecture and communications programs are highly regarded.

UGA hasn't reached Chapel Hill's lofty reputation yet but it's definitely a rising star and is way ahead of the pack.

University of Georgia: Points of Pride

[Mattie]

My son is a freshman currently in the UGA honors program (which he loves). He was one of 220 selected for it. He also was accepted at Ga Tech, where he was dual enrolled while in HS. He was rejected by UNC @ Chapel Hill. I think their acceptances weigh heavily towards in-state students, as they should.

[Columbus1984]

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

UGA has a good in-state repuation, but it doesn't carry very far out of state. What academic program is UGA known for?
UNC-CH has a great in-state reputation that carries nationwide. UNC-CH has elite undergrad programs as well as law, medical and MBA programs.

This is the biggest difference in my opinion and there is good reason for it. UGA is a good school, but not even near UNC yet.

You must be kidding? The business school is ranked extremely high nationally. Has some of the top programs in the country ex. real estate, risk management, accounting, etc. The law school is ranked high as well. The GT in your name is enough to see why you have this opinion....