The University Of Georgia (UGA)

The University of Georgia is the American state of Georgia’s flagship public university, home to approximately 27,000 undergraduate students and 8,000 graduate students. Established in 1785, it is the first state-chartered university in America. The university has 17 schools and colleges, including the esteemed Terry School of Business, the UGA School of Law, and the oldest school – the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. In addition to academics, UGA has a reputation as one of the most competitive varsity sports teams (“the Bulldogs”) in the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

School’s Main Website | International / Exchange Student Website

U.S. News & World Report has ranked the university's undergraduate program as tied for 61st overall among national universities and tied for 21st overall among public national universities in its 2016 rankings. Especially notable are UGA’s programs in Public Affairs/Public Management Administration, programs in the Terry College of Business, Landscape Architecture, programs in the School of Law.

GPA Requirement:

It depends on the school you’re applying to. The appropriate Admissions office will evaluate the academic application materials to determine if the student is admissible.

The TOEFL minimum scores are 550 (paper) 214, (CBT) or 80 (iBT). IELTS minimum score is 6.5. Students who do not meet the minimum required standards in this test can retake the test as long as the scores are submitted to UGA prior to the application deadline. For application purposes, the highest score achieved on those tests will be considered by the university.

Language of Instruction:

English

Courses:

You can find the full list of courses offered at UGA here.

Language Courses:

Students struggling with the English language may consider several options offered at UGA:

• ISL language partner program: this program pairs up an international student with an American student so that they can mingle, meet periodically and converse in English. It is not unusual that the US student will also be interested in your native language and culture, so you can make arrangements to practice both languages if this is the case. For more about the Language Partner Program, see this site.
• You can enroll in UNIV classes, which aim at Academic and English improvement. They are very popular among international students who are still unsure of their English skills. You can review them here. Note: BSMP students can only take 25% of their courses as a UNIV class.
• International Coffee Hour: international and American students hang out, talk and eat free food from a specific country on a weekly basis. It takes place at Tate Center (1^st floor) on Fridays, from 11:30am-1pm. For more information, click here.
• If you need help with writing, you can make appointment with the UGA Writing Center, where a certified proof reader will take a look at your writings and assist you in understanding the writing process, elaborating on your ideas and theories and evaluating and editing your own work.

Course Registration Process:

The Office of International Education (OIE) will help incoming students register for classes. Every exchange or sponsored student is required to have a minimum of 12 credit hours in order to comply with US immigration requirements. The platform used to look up and register for classes, add/drop courses, and check schedule is Athena. However, before having courses set up in Athena, students must fill out and submit a Course Request Form to OIE.

The Add/Drop period is typically the first 5 working days after classes start (Monday-Friday). During this first week, students can get a sense of classes and adjust their schedules by choosing a different class section (if available), adding or dropping classes.

Attendance policy:

There is no overarching attendance policy; it varies on a class-by-class basis. Some professors take attendance and require it for grading purposes while others do not.

Flying Chalks' tip: You can use http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ to search for evaluations and recommendations on each professor from former students. This site is very helpful for narrowing down which version of a class to take, since there are usually many options taught by a few different professors.U.S. News & World Report has ranked the university's undergraduate program as tied for 61st overall among national universities and tied for 21st overall among public national universities in its 2016 rankings. Especially notable are UGA’s programs in Public Affairs/Public Management Administration, programs in the Terry College of Business, Landscape Architecture, programs in the School of Law.

North Campus is the oldest and most charming part of UGA’s sprawling campus. It is reminiscent of Ivy League campuses, with grassy quads, gardens, and fountains.

Campus Map:

An interactive campus map can be found at this website. 

Selected Facilities:

1. Ramsey Student Center: This is the student recreation and sports facility which has 3 gyms, 3 pools, 44 feet climbing ball, 10 racquet ball courts, 2 squash courts and much more! Click here for more information.
2. Student Recreation Center: This is a great place to chill and relax! It has a fireplace, foosball table and ping pong table.
3. UGA Library: UGA has many libraries around campus which host collections specific to a faculty. More information can be found here.

Food on Campus:

If you are a member of the meal plan, you will have access to Bolton, Oglethorpe, Snelling, The Village Summit, and the Niche dining halls. You may then come and go as often as you would like during meal plan serving hours for the academic year.

There are also other regular restaurants and cafes near the Tate Student Center and Tate 2 that can be paid a la carte. These include the Bulldog Café, Tate Café, the Red Clay Café (East Campus), Jittery Joes Coffee Shop (Miller Learning Center), the Village Market (East Campus), and more.

Flying Chalks’ recommendation: UGA has award-winning on-campus dining. The food in the dining halls is spectacular. If you are living on campus, it is definitely worth it to buy the meal plan. Surely you will live near at least one of the dining halls, and you can always take the free bus or walk to access the others. East Campus dining hall is known for their smoothies, O-house for their stir-fries, and Snelling for their 24-hour-a-day service Mondays-Thursdays.

Campus transportation:

The UGA campus is extremely large, but not to worry: there are free and easy ways to get around. UGA offers a complimentary bus network that spans the entire campus. You do not need anything special to ride this bus; just use the map to locate which line you need and where to catch it and hop on a bus at the bus stop. You can also use these buses to get to downtown Athens, which is located at the far north of campus, just north of North Campus. For more information on bus routes check out this site.

A few students use bicycles to get around campus. You can probably buy one once you get to Athens if you prefer this method of transportation.

If you are traveling farther away from campus, you can take city buses for free by swiping your UGA ID card when you enter. For more information, click here.

Flying Chalks' tip: The campus is extremely hilly and the weather can be brutally hot in spring and summer.

Flying Chalks' fun fact: You will always be given enough time in between classes to get from one building to the next on foot. If the registration system suspects the distance between one class and the next is too far to get to by foot in the allotted time, you will see an alert on the screen during registration. However, you will usually be able to make it in time with the free campus bus.

At night, you can get home using Designated Dogs’ (https://ugadesignateddawgs.com/)  free ride service (Thursday and Friday nights) or you can pay for an Uber ride. 

UGA is an incredibly socially-oriented university. There are many opportunities to get involved in student life; attending sports events, Greek life events, student organization events. Downtown Athens, within walking distance of North Campus, is filled with a ton of bars, restaurants, and hot spots where students commonly socialize. For more information, visit the International Student Life website: http://isl.uga.edu/

This is the famous Arch at the top of north campus at UGA. The legend says students who walk under it don’t graduate so you’ll see everyone walking around it until graduation day.

Orientation program:

Incoming international students have two orientations to attend: the International Student Life (ISL) Orientation and the Office of International Education (OIE) Orientation. Even though only the second one is required for international exchange students, it is strongly recommended that all incoming exchange and sponsored students attend both. The ISL orientation for Fall semester is one-week long while the one for Spring is slightly shorter. The OIE orientation is always a one-day meeting. Note: both orientations are required for sponsored (BSMP) students.

The ISL Orientation will cover many aspects of the Student Life at UGA. It includes interactive sessions on topics from immigration to course registration to UGA sports, resource fairs featuring local apartment complexes and university resources, social activities including a Walmart Trip and a pool party, and the opportunity to make friends with other new students and the World Leaders.

The OIE Orientation is also very important because it addresses more specific aspects such as immigration issues, health insurance enrollment and waivers, tuition prices, student account payment, course requests, and others.

Buddy Program:

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Student clubs:

As an international student, you can get involved in any student organizations you are interested in. For a list of student organizations that are internationally-themed, click here.

UGA is known for its varsity sports teams, including football. Football games are an occasion to tailgate beforehand and go out partying downtown afterwards.

University events:

Each year, several ISL student organizations elect to host evenings of culture that showcase a variety of global traditions, customs, performances, and culinary delights. These evenings are referred to as Ethnic Nights and provide a wonderful way to travel around the world without leaving Athens. Some Ethnic Nights are ticketed events and the actual number of cultural evenings varies from year to year. Also, there’s an International Street Festival every spring semester featuring cultural displays and performances.

General key school events include home football games during the fall semester (August-December), homecoming during the fall semester, Twilight (a bike race through downtown Athens) in the spring, and Athfest in the summer.

A comprehensive calendar of events in and around campus can be found here.

Flying Chalks' recommendation: UGA’s School of Music puts on concerts – orchestral and choral – very often throughout the school year. These events are usually free and are held in the beautiful music halls in the School of Music on East Campus. Especially unique is the African American Choral Ensemble (AACE): a multicultural choir performing spirituals and gospel pieces. Another special treat is hearing one of UGA’s three award-winning acapella groups. ‘Noteworthy’ is an all-female group, ‘The Accidentals’ is all male, and ‘With Someone Else’s Money’ is a co-ed acapella group. These concerts are usually free.

Similarly, the Art School puts on exhibitions a few times a year when you can view students’ art pieces in the School (which is an architectural art piece itself!) and these events are usually accompanied by wine and appetizers.

UGA is located at the center of a “college town” called Athens, GA. Most of the residents of Athens are affiliated with the university and most businesses in the town cater to student needs. Athens is located about 1.5 hours drive northeast of Atlanta (on highway 316), which is Georgia’s capital city. Directly to the north of UGA’s campus lies “downtown Athens” where you can find a few streets of densely packed bars, restaurants, and shops. Another commercial center near campus is Five Points which is at the intersection of Milledge and Lumpkin.

For food:

These are some of the outlets around campus:

• For Thai food, check out Siri Thai or Thai Spoon
• Last Resort Grill in downtown Athens offers high quality seafood
• Mama’s Boy is great for traditional American brunch
• Clocked in downtown has the best vegetarian burgers in town
• Check out the Royal Peasant in Five Points for a twist on English pub food and pints
• Taqueria del Sol is good for fusion Mexican-Southwestern-Southern food
• If you’re hungry late night while out on the town try Little Italy for dirt cheap slices of steaming hot pizza or The Grill (a 24-hour 1950’s diner) for its fries with feta dip.
• Cali n Titos on Lumpkin – It offers decently-priced Cuban food in a very festive environment (there’s a caged parrot and fake palm trees). Order the fish burrito which will come with maduros (fried sweet plantains) and spicy sauce inside.

For nightlife and entertainment:

Culturally, the west side of downtown is more “hipster” while the east side is more “fratty”/preppy.

Flying Chalks' recommendations:

• Allgood is a great bar, in the middle of east and west. The bar has lots of charm with string lights and outdoor patios.
• If you’re looking to dance the night away, you can check out 9D’s bar, which exclusively plays 90’s music. For live music, check out the 40 Watt and Georgia Theater. Both are unique venues with interesting histories.
• Flagpole, a free newspaper, is a good resource to see what’s going on around town.
• Try a local brewery (if you’re 21+): There is Copper Creek Brewing is in downtown Athens. You can also try Terrapin Brewery which is a bit farther from town. They have a wide grassy yard where people play Frisbee and listen to live music during the evenings after doing the $10 beer tasting and brewery tour. 
  • Flying Chalks' tip: if you go to Terrapin and are the designated driver, you can still try a (small) amount of beer for free. Just tell the clerk at the front entrance that you’re the designated driver and they will give you a small plastic cup with tickets to exchange for samples.

For daily necessities and groceries:

There’s a Kroger on Alps (191 Alps Rd, Athens, GA 30606) and a Walmart that has a groceries section off exit 1 on the The Loop highway (1911 Epps Bridge Pkwy, Athens, GA 30606).

For shopping:

There are boutique clothing shops in downtown Athens, e.g. Pitaya. There is an interesting but expensive vintage shop downtown called Agora. Even if you aren’t going to buy anything, it’s fascinating to walk through. Georgia Square Mall has a movie theater and department stores. Click here for more on shopping.

Flying Chalks' tip: Athens isn’t known for its shopping; if you’re really serious about shopping, it’s best to go to Atlanta and check out the malls there: Lenox Mall or Perimeter Mall both have a lot of options.

From Atlanta airport to university:

The closest international airport is in Atlanta, which is the capital city of Georgia just 1.5 hours southwest of Athens. Students flying into the state through the Atlanta airport and heading to Athens are encouraged to take the Groome Transportation Shuttle, which is the easiest way to get to the UGA campus. The shuttle works on an hourly basis and it stops in different places in Athens.

For students who plan on living on campus, the closest stop to get off the shuttle is the UGA Georgia Center, which is on campus. Tickets can be booked online: select “Shuttle from the Airport”, fill out the form with personal information and complete the booking process by choosing payment type.