re: The Senator hits another one out of the park in this blog post...

quote:

---

I know TripleBrass says plenty of nerds go to UGA & I believe him.. but the type of nerd it takes to tap into the big research money isn't the same type that would hang out in downtown Athens or go to a school b/c of its football team

---

This what I tell people about UGA.

1) I think Georgia is unique in that it is catching up to the quality of students attending and not vice versa. The HOPE scholarship has made Georgia too attractive of a school for kid wanting a quality education at a reasonable price.

2) As a result the school is flooded with admissions. This has thinned the herd and thus made admission standards pretty damn difficult. No, it's not Georgia Tech nor is it even some of the B1G schools but it's made it more difficult to get into. As a result, a lot of the kids getting in are actually pretty bright kids.

3) #2 has led to several factors.

A) A lot of the devoted, lifelong Georgia fans can't get in and either root on the Dawgs from Watkinsville, Millegeville, or Statesboro or become bitter (and daddy has $$) and go to the Plains, Tuscaloosa, Oxford or Columbia. The kids that grew up wanting to go to UGA for the drinking and for the Dawgs aren't getting in. Only some are.

B) A lot of the kids getting in didn't grow up Georgia fans or even sports fans. They wanted a good degree and probably looked to go out of state but paying a couple thousand a semester was too tantalizing to pass up.

C) The kids that get in think they are going to the Harvard of the South because so many of their friends got denied.

3) So, in my opinion, Georgia is seen by current students and recent alums as a better school than it is. But outsiders still don't give Georgia enough credit. Georgia grads and students are hanging too much on how tough it is to get in these days and don't realize other schools have been established longer as premier academic institutions. Outsiders keep thinking about Georgia the party school and don't realize how far the school has come and is continuing to go. They're building up all these programs and while I can't speak for what TM is saying because I don't know I do know that my school, Terry, is being improved to where it needs to be. They are even FINALLY building a main building.

Basically, my response, Chris, is that it's a mixed bag. We aren't there yet but the school is absolutely improving. And I am not talking about Alabama improving. My college advisor put it this way. Alabama in a few years has been putting a lot of cash in to their school and in decade they'll be close to what UGA is now. And UGA will be closer to a Texas/UNC. That's bold but I believe it.

Georgia is made up now of kids who truly don't value how great the Bulldogs are and it always pissed me off while there. Call me arrogant, because I am, but I found myself one fo the few that actually grew up a Georgia fan who always wanted to go Athens to watch the team. The students now are there for the value and the education. And because it is super easy to drink. But they had to work in HS to get there. It is I guess a good thing but it always pissed me off when I was there because most are Georgia fans because it's socially acceptable. Not because they grew up with it ingrained in their very soul. These are the kids who go to UGA and didn't consider GT a rival. These are now the people learning why I always told these Johnny Come Latelys why Georgia Tech is a blight on humanity.