120,000 Georgia high school seniors were sent the first letters from the new Georgia Match program in October 2023. The program, made up of 22 technical colleges and 23 colleges from the university system, provides these students with a list of participating colleges they are provisionally eligible for admission.
Samantha Collier, one of Midtown’s college advisors, believes this program will be beneficial for students.
“I definitely think it is going to be different because in the past, there was nothing that was a guaranteed admission,” Collier said. “I think it is really going to change the game and that it is going to be positive once students know it is a thing.”
Collier said the Georgia Match program is advantageous for students because most states do not offer such opportunities.
“I think Georgia in general is very innovative with stuff like this, like with the Georgia Hope Scholarship,” Collier said. “There are similar programs [in other states]; Florida has Florida Stars, but not all states do that, so I think it is a privilege and luxury that we have Georgia Match.”
Senior Brigitte McNulty believes this program will help students determine where to apply.
“I think this could totally help some students, especially if they were looking at those schools before,” McNulty said. “It’s a good way to know where you are in terms of ability to be accepted to those schools or schools at a similar level.”
McNulty also said Georgia Match provides security during the admissions process.
“[Georgia Match] was something that was helpful as something to look,” McNulty said. “It felt nice that I could just be accepted to any of those schools.”
Despite this, there has been criticism of the rollout process of the Georgia Match program, which Collier said made it difficult for many students to learn about the program.
“The governor gave an address about what the letter was, but unless you are really tuned in to politics you may miss that, so it was really up to the schools to help aid that rollout,” said Collier. “We weren’t even really trained on it until it was really close to coming out.”
McNulty agrees with Collier’s sentiments.
“I hadn’t heard about it except for a couple of rumors and one article a couple of weeks before it came out, but I did know what it was when I got it,” said McNulty.
Amy Smith, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Marketing and Student Success at Georgia Southern University, said the new program does not affect the admissions process.
“We have added additional communication plans for students who reach us through the Georgia Match program, but that is just part of our work to personalize communications and ensure students receive the information relevant to them in their college admission journey,” Smith said.
Smith does not believe the new program will change acceptance rates.
“I do not anticipate Georgia Match impacting our acceptance rate,” Smith said. “Georgia Southern University admits all students who apply and meet admissions requirements.”
Collier believes the Georgia Match program will not affect college acceptance rates until more people hear about it.
“I think that maybe this year the numbers won’t change that much, but as more information gets out about the program and it becomes well known I think it’s going to change things,” Collier said. “Being in its pilot year, we will just have to see.”
Some colleges have made new programs to help students with the process. Smith said GSU has created new plans to assist students who apply through Georgia Match.
“Now that Georgia Match has launched, we have developed new communication plans so that students finding us through the program know how Georgia Southern can help them obtain their educational goals,” Smith said. “We are very excited about the program and how it helps Georgians recognize the many outstanding higher education institutions we have in the state that they could be eligible to attend.”
