Georgia Tech

Overview

Georgia Tech is a large, public research institution. Engineering and technology education are focal points at Georgia Tech where approximately 65% of the bachelor’s degrees awarded are to students in the College of Engineering and 13% to students in the School of Computing.

Students must declare an intended major before arriving on campus (but not as part of the admissions process). They are not permitted to change their major until late October of their first semester on campus.

All students at Georgia Tech must complete coursework in communication, math, computing, the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, ethics, global perspectives, U.S. perspectives, and wellness.

All engineering students (65% of all students) complete a common core that satisfies the university’s core requirements, but is more constrained and contains more advanced coursework in math and physics.


Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Freshman Enrolled Each Year: ~1,100*

Total Students: ~24k

Undergraduate Students: ~15k

Graduate Students: ~9k

Faculty: ~1.2k

For additional information, see the Georgia Tech Fact Book

* All student data refer to full-time students, only.

Programs of Note

Advising

GT has an Academic Advising Center and employs professional academic advisors. Within the College of Engineering, every department, except for Aero/Astro use this model. Aero-Astro uses faculty as advisors. Students who participate in Living Learning Communities (see below) receive advising and mentoring as part of these experiences. In addition, students who participate in GT1000 (a first-year seminar, see below) receive mentoring and advising support from their Section Instructors (faculty and administrators) and Team Leaders (peers).

Bridge Programs

The Challenge Program at GT is the institute’s bridge program. Its primary audience is URM students, but it is open to all students. Similar to the Interphase Program at MIT, participants enroll in a set of intro courses during the summer prior to matriculation. In contrast to MIT, if a student receives an A or B in a course taken during their bridge experience, they receive course credit and do not have to pay for (or take) the course in the fall.

The iGniTe program – described under Living/Learning Communities – is not a bridge program, per se – but is part of the summer offerings for students who will matriculate in the following fall.

First Year Seminars

GT1000. Approximately 65% of new undergraduate students enroll in GT1000, a “1-credit” (1 hour/week) 1st year seminar. It is a letter-graded seminar course offered in both fall and spring semesters that is designed to support new students’ successful transitions to the institute. Each section, of about 20 students/section, is taught by either an academic faculty member or an administrator with an advanced degree. Each section is also supported by a Team Leader (an upper-class student). Team Leaders are identified through a competitive selection process. They are volunteers. The “1-credit” designation was chosen to provide some incentive for enrolling – but the course is intended to be non-academically burdensome.

Georgia Tech offers 4 different types of GT1000 Seminars.

  1. General: geared toward specific first-year transition issues
  2. Major-specific: tailored to specific majors of study
  3. Program-specific: topic-based
  4. Cohort: tailored to specific Living/Learning Communities (LLCs)

The learning outcomes of the GT1000 seminars are that students should be able to:

  • Be familiar with campus resources
  • Write a resume
  • Develop/articulate a personal study strategy
  • Reflect critically on their first year @ GT
  • Explore their major
  • Work collaboratively with other students and prepare and present an oral presentation on their work

The seminars use an online text.

Living Learning Communities (LLCs)

There are six 1st-year Living/Learning communities at Georgia Tech. Students apply to these programs after acceptance to the institute. For each LLC – students live together in the same dorm for their first year. Each LLC requires students to take a specific set of academic courses and engage a project or set of intellectual and/or career-based activities together with others in the LLC. Each community also gives its participants the option to continue living with members of the community after the first year. The six communities include:

  • Grand Challenges. Participating students enroll in 2 common classes: one on collaboration and teamwork, and the other on design. They also enroll in a research project associated with the Grand Challenge of their choice.
  • Honors Program. Participating students take discussion-based classes with a core set of faculty. The core classes are taught within the Honors Program dormitory. Students in the program organize and attend co-curricular programs and seminars.
  • Science, Math and Research Training (SMaRT) – Participating students from the College of Sciences co-enroll in a common set of core classes (Chemistry, Biology, Math, English, and the 1st year seminar - GT 1000). Students visit a range of research centers on the GT campus and meet with the researchers in those centers.
  • Science, Health and Related Professions SHaRP. Participants in this LLC are usually enrolled in Pre-Health programs in the College of Sciences. They co-enroll in a common set of core classes (Chemistry, Biology, Math, English, and the 1st year seminar - GT 1000). Participants have opportunities to engage with practicing health-care professionals during lunch and dinner events. They also visit a range of research centers on the GT campus and meet with the researchers in those centers.
  • Global Leadership – Students enroll in project-based course that examines the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals,
  • iGniTe: The iGniTe Living Learning Community (LLC) has both a summer and a 1st year component. Students can elect to participate in only the summer component, only in the LLC or in both. Participants select one of three tracks, and enroll in courses 3-6 tailored to those tracks. Tracks include: Leadership, Innovation, Pre-health. Participants also have opportunities to participate in co-curricular enrichment activities aligned with their specific tracks.

Project One

Each year, a Project One theme is chosen via a campus-wide poll of topics selected by a committee of faculty and staff. The topics selected are relevant to 1st year students and to the Georgia Tech community overall. Project One introduces the topic or issue to students in a variety of ways: through film screenings, discussions and other events. The Project One topic is often interwoven into the projects of the first-year living/learning communities, and into other events on campus. The 2016-2017 Project One theme was “Resilience” and the 2017-2018 theme is “What is Happiness?”. In the spring of 2018, the Project One Film Festival will showcase student-produced multimedia projects on the topic of happiness. The topics/content of Project One are used in some 1st Year Seminars and English Classes.

Other First-Year Programs

Early-Warning Systems

None.

Diversity and Global Learning

Georgia Tech has both an office for Student Diversity Programs, and a Global Learning Center. As noted under Living/Learning Communities, above one of the first-year LLCs is focused on Global Leadership and some GT1000 Seminar sections address global or diverse perspectives

First-Year Housing

First-year students who do not participate in a Living/Learning Community (described under High-impact Practices, above) may elect to participate in the Freshman Experience Program. Student in this program live in first-year housing and eat in dining halls that are restricted to first-year students. With some exceptions, most first-year, residential students live in housing that is designed for first-year students.

Internships

GT has a well-established Internship Program that is run out of the Center for Career Discovery and Development. Students can participate in either national or international internships.

Orientation

Familiarization and Adaptation to the Surroundings and Environs of Tech (FASET) – a 2-day orientation for all new 1st year students and their families.

Service Learning, Community-Based Learning

The Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain provides resources and support for the GT community on service learning and sustainability projects and initiatives. Any course at GT can introduce a “serve-learn-sustain” component, for example, one offering of ENGL 1102 – One World is not Enough (ENGL 1102 is required for all Engineering and Science majors) is a Serve-Learn-Sustain course. In addition, some GT1000 Seminar sections participate in service learning.

Undergraduate Research Experiences

Georgia Tech has an extensive and longstanding Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). The model is very similar to the UROP at MIT.

Writing Intensive Courses

The 1st year, required English courses involve significant communication-related content. Some sections focus on writing, whereas others center on video-based and/or multi-media communication.