The University of Georgia will, at long last, accept the Common Application, better known as the Common App.

The Common App is a single undergraduate college admission application that about 900 colleges and universities accept, including most in Georgia.

Because a high school senior only has to fill out one application, it simplifies the process. The UGA freshman application for admission for fall of 2021 will open up Sept. 1.

On the university's Admissions Blog, David Graves, senior associate director of admissions operations and evaluation, also allayed student concerns about possible transcript and extracurricular issues related to the coronavirus shutdown.

“We will calculate a GPA based on the grades that are on the official transcript, and P grades will not hinder a student’s chances of admission (though we cannot use them in a GPA calculation),” he wrote. “UGA also understands that different student activities might have been altered due to the coronavirus epidemic, and we will take this into account in our holistic review process.”

David Graves of UGA

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From the UGA blog:

Big News!! For the UGA Freshman 2021 application, the UGA Admissions Office will accept the Common Application as an option for prospective student applicants. Okay, now that you have recovered from your shock (it only took us 10+ years to choose this option), here are the details for applying for next year.

UGA will accept any of the following freshman applications: The Common Application, The Coalition Application and the UGA based Application (only submit one application from one of these options).

We will still accept documents from all the same providers (SCOIR, Naviance/Parchment, documents submitted through the UGA admissions site, mailed in materials, etc.)

We will still require a Secondary School Report (SRR) from a counselor, an official transcript sent from your school, and we will accept optional letters of recommendation from teachers/community members.

Currently, we will still require an official SAT or ACT exam result sent to us from the testing agency. If the University System of GA and UGA change this policy, we will announce it ASAP.

UGA will require two essays, a longer personal essay (250-650 words) and a shorter essay (200-300 words). The longer Personal essay will use the Common Application prompts or Coalition Application prompts for 2021.

Review Process

UGA still intends on having both Early Action and Regular Decision rounds, and we currently are still working on the same deadlines for both rounds as last year. If we need to change the materials deadline for one or both rounds, we will make an announcement as soon as we have made this determination.

UGA understands that Spring courses and grades might look very different for some students and school systems this year, and we will take that into account in our review of an applicant's academic record. We will calculate a GPA based on the grades that are on the official transcript, and P grades will not hinder a student's chances of admission (though we cannot use them in a GPA calculation). UGA also understands that different student activities might have been altered due to the coronavirus epidemic, and we will take this into account in our holistic review process.