Georgia Tech Essay Guide

Georgia Tech University’s campus sits in downtown Atlanta, GA.

  In addition to this main Atlanta campus, they have international campuses including Georgia Tech-Lorraine in Metz, France, and Georgia Tech-Shenzhen in Shenzhen, China. Home to 40,000 students, Georgia Tech is one of the top research universities in the United States. 

Georgia Tech is a selective university. The admissions rate this year was 20.6%. The yield was 40.56%. That means that 40.56% of students who were admitted chose to attend Georgia Tech. (Note: that’s a pretty high yield. About 40% of students who get in end up going!). The middle SAT range for the class of 2023 for reading and writing was 630-730 and math was 670-780. The middle ACT the range was 29-34. 

Here is the geographic, racial/ethnic, and gender breakdown of Georgia Tech’s student body:

Georgia Tech takes a holistic approach to the admissions process. This means they will consider your application essay, recommendations, extracurricular activities, rigor of high school classes, GPA, test scores, personal qualities, and talents. Less important (but still considered!) are the interview, first-generation or legacy status, geographical residence, racial/ethnic status, volunteer work, and paid work experience. One important point is that Georgia Tech does not look at demonstrated interest as a part of the application process. This means that admissions officers do not consider whether you have visited the campus or attended information sessions in the application process. These are still great things to do in order to learn about the school, but they will not have any influence on your application. Georgia Tech actually has a virtual visit, so you can check out the campus from home! 

Georgia Tech’s website states that they strive to build a first year class that fits the following goals: “Meet the Institute’s requirements for academic success. Embrace the diverse campus community. Benefit substantially from the Institute’s curriculum and scholarly pursuits. Develop as leaders, innovators, global citizens and engaged learners. Contribute to the intellectual, cultural, social and civic life of the Institute, state, and nation.” Applicants are evaluated based on these categories: 

1) “Strength of educational performance, as measured by the nature and rigor of high school curriculum and academic achievements.”

2) “Potential for academic success, as evidenced by performance on nationally normed standardized tests.”

3) “Potential to contribute to the overall intellectual climate and make a positive contribution to campus and community life.”

4) “Demonstrated commitment to intellectual engagement.”

 Georgia Tech has tons of activities to do and places to go around campus and in the surrounding city of Atlanta. Highlights in Atlanta include the Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola, and National Center for Civil and Human Rights. Campus boasts huge football games, restaurants in Tech Square, the massive Tech Tower, and a newly renovated library in Crosland Tower.

Georgia Tech’s traditions include the fun mascot of Buzz (a human dressed as a yellow jacket), RATS (Recently Acquired Tech Students) Week (orientation week for new students), and a historical steam whistle that marks the end of classes. 

Georgia Tech offers three options to apply for first-year applicants: early action 1, early action 2,  and regular decision. Let’s break down each of these options so you can choose what’s best for you. 

Early action could be right for you if Georgia Tech is your first choice or you want to find out your results early. Early action 1 is for students in Georgia, and it has an October 15th deadline--quite a bit earlier than normal, so make sure you are prepared to apply then. You also need to have taken hard classes and done well in Junior year of highschool. Georgia Tech won’t see your Senior fall grades if you apply early, so if you want them to, consider waiting for regular decision. If you are coming from outside of Georgia, the early action 2 deadline is November 2nd. Another factor in applying early is that if you would live to be considered for academic scholarships including the Stamps President's Scholars Program, Scheller Dean's Scholarship and others, you must apply by October 15 (Georgia students) or November 2 (outside Georgia). Note, there is not a separate scholarship application for these programs, but you must apply under an early action plan. If you get in early, that decision is non-binding, meaning you can still apply to other colleges and universities.  

Regular decision is the most common decision plan and is right for you if you are still taking standardized tests, want to show an increase in your grades or class rigor your senior fall, or have some other activity or award that would be great to show on your application and will not be ready until the January 4th deadline. 

 What happens after you apply?

Depending on whether you apply early or regular, you can receive one of the following admissions decisions:

1. You are admitted! You have until May 1st to accept or decline. 
2. (Early only) You are deferred, and your application will be reconsidered during regular decision. 
3. You are not offered admission.
4. You are waitlisted. 

 Now that you know about your options to apply, let’s take a look at the essay prompts. 

Georgia Tech’s essays are broken down into two short essays. The key to crafting compelling application essays is creativity, memorability, and expressing parts of your unique self. Please note that at least for 2021, these are in lieu of the common application essay. Georgia Tech announced that “for 2021 applicants, we have assessed the most important aspects of the long and short essays and have decided that we will no longer utilize the long essay portion of the Common Application. If submitted, we will not consider this essay as part of your application review.” 

Georgia Tech has two required essays which are limited to 50-300 words. Let’s look at each prompt in depth.

This is a two part question. To answer it, you will need to explain not only why you want to study your selected major, but also why Georgia Tech is the place to do it. Do not forget to describe this second portion. It’s worded slightly differently, but this is a sneakily woven in version of the traditional “Why Georgia Tech” question. As with any “Why Our College” answer, make sure you do your research. Pick out specific details about Georgia Tech’s culture, community, programs, etc. and remember to connect your answer back to yourself. Admissions officers don’t want to hear about the fantastic robotics programs at Georgia Tech; they want to hear why you are excited about those offerings because of your mechanical engineering major. Take the time to understand why you personally would want to attend the university. Write about that, and make it interesting, well written, and memorable. 

Essay Example:

I have always been interested in an array of things that do not traditionally combine: oil painting and vector calculus, quilting and game coding, bracelet making and health disparity research. Georgia Tech’s biomedical engineering program allows me to combine my passions for STEM and art into a career. I recently met Jane, a rising Tech senior, who described the chair-bookshelf and shoe she created in her entirely project-based industrial design classes. Struck by the opportunities to apply my interdisciplinary interests at Tech, I picture myself majoring in BME with an ID minor, brainstorming in problem-based classes, and eventually working on a BME capstone project, inspired by the SonoFAST one-step ultrasound, perhaps creating a less painful method for a mammogram. BME allows me to combine my artistic, technological, and biological passions with my fascination with medical innovation. The foundational STEM skills that I would gain at Georgia Tech will support me in medical school and allow me to make my visions for innovative scientific work a reality. What draws me most to BME and Tech is the philosophy of innovation and progress embodied by Georgia Tech--the institutional drive to improve the world through creativity. The spirit that surrounds students in an engaging, collaborative community would help me pursue my interdisciplinary passions and promote women in STEM. Tech would allow me to do the untraditional.

This is a new question for Georgia Tech and it is a perfect opportunity to talk about something not already present in your application or expand on an aspect of one that is important to you. Georgia Tech is giving you the opportunity to tell them about something they don’t already know. Try to write something meaningful. Whatever thing you choose, connect it back to something about your personality or background. Think through your application. What have you not written about yet? What aspect of your personality or life do you still need to share? Write about it here. Don’t write about something already present in another essay. Don’t write about something you think “the admissions office wants to hear.” Do talk about something that you care about. Pick one of the prompts that inspires you. Do you have dreams of changing the world? Have you done something to improve your hometown already? Is there a community you were engaged with that you want to discuss? Has your personal background such as race, gender, or first-generation status impacted your life in a way you would like to share? Share something personal and memorable. Help the admissions office understand who you are. 

Again, make sure to be creative, memorable, and express who you really are. Feel free to have a parent, teacher, or friend read over your essays when you finish. Extra eyes can catch typos and offer great advice. Most of all, stay true to yourself and what you will add to the Georgia Tech community. You’ve got this, and PathIvy is always here to help. 

Good luck!