Student Profile
Sara
- Class: Junior
- Major: Other Humanities
- Gender: F
- High School: Parkway West High School
- Transfer Student: N
Big Picture
Deciding to come to the University of Georgia has been the best decision of my life thus far - I've never met ANYONE who dislikes the school when they visit. The spirit and energy of all the students is something to be envied, especially come football season. There is nothing like a football saturday in the SEC! While every school has its problems, dissenting opinions between administration, Athens community, and the student body being one here, it is impossible to say that the negatives outweigh the positives. UGA manages to be a challenging school while simultaneously letting its students really experience college outside the classroom. You will never have a day with nothing to do, whether you be lounging on North Campus, shopping downtown, or running up and down Milledge. It's hard to even say what my favorite part about the University is - when you love something so much, words never seem good enough!
Academic Life
Academics at Georgia are getting increasingly more rigorous - a direct result of the administration's attempts to put the school on the same level as places like Chapel Hill and Virginia. However, I have never been in a class where the professor or TAs are unwilling to help. Classes freshman year are definitely a lot bigger, getting smaller the older you get/further you get into your major classes, but programs like webct and even UGAmail allow for easy communication. The teachers also LOVE what they teach, which I think makes a huge difference in the passion and success of the students in their classes. My major is Consumer Journalism and Fashion Merchandising, a major that is unique to Georgia. It's in the Family and Consumer Sciences college - a great place to be! Everyone is so friendly, and (most of) the teachers truly are interesting and invested in their students. I know it's getting harder and harder to get in, which may discourage some high school seniors from applying. But please don't be discouraged! Your hard work will be rewarded with an amazing college experience. Some of the most interesting classes I've taken are Rhetoric and Pop Culture, the History of Fashion, Graphic Communcations, and really any of my fashion classes! The one thing I will say about classes is that it's hard to find cool electives. Not that the university doesn't offer them - because they have lots - but there are few working venues to actually learn about the classes you can take. You really have to ask around to find out about the good ones!
Student Body
While most students at UGA do follow a certain look and stereotype, there is definitely a lot of variety! I don't think that anyone would feel out of place here; no matter who you are, where you come from, what you believe in or what your favorite hobby is, you are guaranteed to find someone who shares your interests. Being from out of state, I will say that it is a little rough freshman year if you get stuck in a group of people that feel it necessary to go home all the time. But if that happens to you, eventually people will grow up and realize that by going home so often, they're missing out on their one chance to be a liberated college student! The older you get, the less people visit home. And I'm not saying that everyone from the Atlanta area goes home every weekend, because that's definitely not the case, but it's just something to be aware of! I feel that sometimes social status and background are often judgements of character when first meeting someone. While there is a group of people for everyone, there are also groups of people that you definitely won't get along with - and that's ok! It all adds to the diverse atmosphere Athens offers.
The Best Things
Everyone - students and teachers alike - are so friendly and have such strong passion for their school. It's hard to dislike a place that everyone loves so much.
