The "first-year" students entering UGA this year have a record high 3.71 grade point average (GPA) and 1215 SAT average. While the University still has a long way to go, this class has increased its number of African-American students and those who classify themselves as non-Caucasian are at a record high.
Athletics are always strong in the Southeastern Conference. It is something that we live and breathe. It begins with the Friday nights all over the country at high school football games and moves to sunny Saturdays "Between the Hedges." Now, it proudly includes accomplishments in many more sports. No longer does our image as Bulldog fans solely rest on whether the football team does well, or at least that is what we tell ourselves until the illusive National Championship in football comes again.
There's a line in the movie "Cocoon" that goes something like this, "we are going to a place where you never get old and you never die." The words are not exact, but the sentiment is. The University of Georgia is a place where you "never get old and you never die" at least on Saturday afternoons in the fall if you are my age or while you are pursuing your studies, you get that feeling everyday.
I was fully aware at the time that my days at the University of Georgia would be some of the best in my life. I came to that campus in the fall of 1976 as a student. I had visited as a "little sister" in the past and loved every trip to Athens. The first football game that year was before school started and it was against Bear Bryant's Crimson Tide. We won 21-0 and as I was walking down Lumpkin Street, parties were breaking out all over. I knew I had made the right choice.
I digress into these personal reminiscences because there are many more great days ahead at the University of Georgia. In the last few years, UGA has been under fire for its admissions policy and the lack of minority students on its campus, especially Black students.
The percentage had remained woefully low throughout the last 30 years and work needed to be done. In fairness, if you are a Black high school graduate with the grades and the standardized test scores (SAT or ACT) to get into UGA under today's admissions standards, then you can go to any competitive college in the country. It is also hard to compete with a historically Black college that provides leadership opportunities at every level which at this time is hard for UGA to provide. The University can do better and it is.
The admissions policy has changed after a court rejected a plan that used factors such as race, whether parents attended the university and about a dozen others to determine the admission of the final 15% of the class.
This year, all admissions were made based on grade point average and SAT scores. This year and in future years, roughly 85% of the students will be admitted based on objective factors like grades and standardized test scores scores. About 15 percent of admissions will be looked at further. The final 15% will be looked at more closely, including the use of an essay written by the applicant and letters of recommendation.
I applaud that and I hope they will go a step further and include interviews for a certain portion of admissions. Even in a university the size of UGA, we must not lose site of the personal touch.
If we want to be diverse in our student body, then we have to look beyond race. We need to look for the hard working student that has supported himself and his family while working full-time through high school and after. He may not have the best grades or SAT scores, but he has the work ethic that will be successful on a university campus.
While the University of Georgia has got to do a better job recruiting Blacks, they cannot achieve parity because they will never be able to offer some students of color the opportunities that a historically Black college can, but they can do more to attract strong Black students. If the University truly casts a wider net in recruitment, then it will find the best candidates for admission from all backgrounds.
Whether you are an alumni or a concerned Georgian, look around for young people you know and encourage them to consider The University of Georgia, either as a first stop or a transfer option in their post secondary career. They will not be sorry they considered UGA, because once you are a part of that hallowed institution "you never get old and you never die."
Martha Zoller is the host of a daily talk show on WDUN Newstalk 550 in Gainesville and a regular panelist on Fox5Atlanta's The Georgia Gang. She is also a freelance writer. She lives in Gainesville, Georgia with he husband and children. Oh yes, she is also a graduate of UGA (ABJ '79).
http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/9/190225