Spring came fresh on campus: old faces mix with new as tour groups flood onto campus, blending with chattering students freshly returned from Spring Break.
Many of the tours are for newly admitted students during the 2022 admissions season, excited to get an opportunity to get a glimpse of a place and a community that they may soon call home.
The Institute extended admissions offers this March to students all across the world.
This year, 50,601 applicants underwent the extensive admissions application process, and 17% were admitted during this historic year for Tech admission, in which the office is working towards Tech’s diversity, equity and inclusion goals by expanding the size of the freshman class.
In an interview with the Georgia Tech News Center, Rick Clark — director of Undergraduate Admission – said, “this year, we will enroll our largest first-year class in Institute history — 500 larger than it was three years ago when President Cabrera began his tenure on campus.”
In a way, the new admissions statistics provide perspective on the improvement of Tech’s path towards a more diverse student body.
As of fall 2020, Tech’s gender distribution was 61% male and 39% female, marking a relatively stark ratio. However, the 2022 admitted class is 56% male and 44% female, demonstrating the Institute’s efforts to improve gender equity on campus. Current Tech students are anticipating new changes on campus as a result of the 2022 admissions.
Graphic by Rahul Deshpande
“I’m happy to see more diversity in gender and race on campus. I’m all for inclusivity and am excited to hear more new perspectives in our classes,” said Ibrahim Mahmood, third-year BME.
In addition to increasing gender and racial diversity, Tech admissions also took steps to build up community sizes in previously less represented majors. For example, the College of Sciences went from having about a 7.5% total undergraduate enrollment in 2019 to a 21% enrollment in this incoming class. Additionally, the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts saw a 4.2% jump in total undergraduate enrollment from 2019 to now. Though the changes being made are gradual, building up class sizes in historically smaller majors at the Institute allows the school to build infrastructure for a wider array of studies.
Graphic by Rahul Deshpande
As Tech opens its doors to more freshmen than ever before, new students can expect to find a welcoming community and a world of opportunity, but may be daunted by the challenges of university. Incoming students can look towards older members of the Tech community for guidance.
To students new and old, BME lecturer Marty Jacobson said, “Georgia Tech is amazing because there are so many opportunities to learn. As long as you get into the things you’re passionate about, find other people who share your passions and take those things as far as possible.”
He went on to present an important point that many students may miss in their time at the institute: “Excellence is not about grades or graduating in 4 years. I couldn’t even achieve all of those goals as an undergrad, and they are really hard things to do. However, I decided to say yes to the things that life at Tech presented to me, and focusing my time got me literally every single professional opportunity I’ve ever had, and including relationships with my classmates and professors that got me through some really rough personal times.” Jacobson ended with a particularly poignant point that resonates with many students around campus, regardless of background, “Prioritize your mental health, do things that get you excited, and most of all, have fun.”
For more information on incoming class breakdowns and relevant statistics, students can visit news.gatech.edu.