Georgia Institute of Technology (GaTech)

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Preface:

Georgia Institute of Technology, more commonly known as GeorgiaTech, is one of the most reputed public research universities in the world. Founded in 1885, GeorgiaTech initially started with core programs like mechanical, civil and aerospace engineering. But in the early 1900s, it started a host of other programs, and now is highly reputed for ALL of its courses as well.

Another thing to be known about GeorgiaTech is the fact that it has ‘satellite campuses’ in France, Ireland, China (Shanghai) as well as Singapore. Students are often given options of specialized programs wherein they spend one year at the main GT campus and another year at one of the foreign campuses.

Location:

GeorgiaTech is located in the beautiful city of Atlanta in Georgia. Now, the institute is more or less part of a ‘student village’, which means that there isn’t really too much in the place apart from the colleges.

Fortunately, Atlanta itself is a pretty big city and a really cool place to be in, so students don’t really have to step out much. And that’s a good thing, because there aren’t really any ‘major cities’ around.

Infrastructure and Residing options:

Now, there isn’t a hell of a lot to do in the state of Georgia, but thankfully the GT campus is more than enough for students. The campus is self-sufficient, complete with state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities for just about anything a student might want to do. They have a brilliant library, and some dazzling research centers and laboratories as well.

Most GeorgiaTech students live very close to GT, if not on campus itself. Home Park, immediately to the north has a very high concentration of students. A lot of students live in Midtown as well.

Weather:

Atlanta (where GeorgiaTech is) has a humid subtropical climate, which means it has extremes of temperatures across the year. Summers are hot and humid, while winters are very cold. The coldest month is normally January, where the average temperature is about 6°C, although temperatures often fall to about -7°C at night. July is normally the warmest month, and temperatures can go as high as 36°C, with 31°C being the average.

Atlanta does not receive a terribly high amount of snowfall in spite of the low temperatures, but rainfall occurs almost throughout the year, though it’s never exactly ‘torrential’.

Courses Offered:

• Aerospace Engineering
• Bioengineering
• Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
• Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Computational Science and Engineering
• Industrial and Systems Engineering
• Operations Research
• Supply Chain Engineering
• Materials Science and Engineering

Faculty and Pedagogy:

One thing that no one complains about at GTech is the faculty. All professors are said to be absolutely excellent, many of them even being Nobel laureates. While some students begrudge the fact that many professors are more involved in their research than in teaching, it would be unfair not to consider that they are more than helpful if students show enough dedication and sincerity.

Fees:

The tuition fee at GeorgiaTech is roughly $1,600 per credit (Total number of credits are around 30). An average student would also end up spending anything between $500 and $1000 per month on various other expenses, depending on his or her lifestyle.

Financial Aid:

Many students (specially Asians) get some scholarships in the first semester, but then onwards it becomes really really difficult. RAs and TAs are almost impossible to get, as the PhD students are naturally given preference.

Eventual Placements:

Students get placed in a host of companies and normally have enough choices on their table. The average packages for most engineering courses are in the range of $65,000-80,000 per year.

Crowd and Campus Life:

Being primarily an engineering institute, GeorgiaTech has rather low female enrolment, but this has been significantly improving over the years. Around 40% of the students in graduate programs are Asian, but overall there is an excellent mix of students from a variety of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.

As for the campus life, well it’s pretty much like every other top university in the world. There are so many things to do – clubs, committees, sports, recreation, and of course, partying. There’s always some party to go to in GT, if you know the right students. Then of course, you have the standard bars and hangouts, such as Moe’s & Joe’s, Moondogs, and Famous. Most of the hangouts are located pretty close by, in Midtown, Buckhead, East Atlanta, Virginia Highlands, etc.

One thing to be slightly cautious about, though, is the crime rate here. More often than not, crimes that take place in Atlanta are larceny, although as many as about 30 violent crimes are reported every year.

Verdict:

GTech has been consistently ranked in the top 10 international universities every year, and there’s a very good reason for this. Should definitely be one of the institutes you aim for.

Website:

www.gatech.edu