The Georgia Institute of Technology

Georgia Tech is a complete waste of time for International Students.
1) They make you take all the stupid humanities courses that not only waste your time but are also frigging annoying and add a huge workload to already busy schedule. Why the fuck do I need to take US politics and history electives even though I am an international student?

2) There are no job opportunities for international students after Bachelors. Every company that recruits on campus only asks for US citizens and GT degree is worthless when you are applying for jobs outside USA (for that fact even outside Southern USA). Even finding a single internship will be hard during your college career.

3) The undergrad research they mention is a complete joke. The only thing you will be able to work on is building some stupid software that will never be useful unless you are a biomed major or by aiding PHD students by doing the dirty work they do not want to do.

4) The course work in engineering courses is filled with completely outdated stuff. You never learn any skills that are useful in real world unless you learn them on your own. Some of the professors in Engineering are so unfamiliar with the practice of the art that they cannot do the basic engineering stuff from real world. Oh do not believe all those comments about engineering classes being hard at GT. They are damn easy if you are someone from India or China or from a country where there is an emphasis on Maths during high school education. Only the instate students who get into GT just because they are from Georgia find the classes hard.

5) You never get any advice regarding courses and career paths. Professors always give neutral answers on these. For example, even if a professor knows that DSP (subfeild of EE) does not have many jobs he/she will still say that there is bright future for it.

6) Social life sucks. GT offers diverse population. But most of these people never interact with each other.

7) Institute policies, especially those pertaining to the dead week and exams, are most often not followed unless they have something to do with the office ladies in your department or Registrar.8) Overall, GT does not make you a better engineer or add to your social life. You can and will become a better engineer if choose a college that does what it boasts about. GT does not do or provide even 1% of the things it boasts about to its international student.

4th Year Male -- Class 2012

Campus Aesthetics: A, Education Quality: F

I started undergrad at Georgia Institute of Technology back in 2003 and finished in the winter of 2007. I took classes during two summer semesters as well. Upon graduating I found a good job at a Fortune Global 500 company doing software consulting. I survived the great recession of 2008-2009 without being laid off, and I'm doing quite well with compared to most of my peers at the moment.

Looking back on my 4.5 years at Georgia Tech, I have to say the frustration and bitterness I experienced during that time still affects me to this day. I constantly wonder how my life would have turned out if I had gone somewhere else and had a more pleasant college experience. Despite making some great friends, I still have vivid memories of the misery we went through. It was as if Georgia Tech was a bonding experience for us like people would have bonded through an epic war. We had a common enemy and it was the ridiculous workload and unhelpful professors. Images of students bursting out in tears during tests, people joking about suicide, friends taking Redbull, Monster, and Adderall to help pull multiple all nighters are burned into my memory. I remember one time watching the sun rise up from inside the library after pulling two consecutive all nighters and wondering what the heck I was doing with my life... questioning if this pain and suffering would be worth it one day. The negativity of the atmosphere has sadly made me a more cynical and sardonic person.

Academically, Georgia Tech had the potential to be a great school. The professors definitely knew what they were talking about, but for the most part classes seemed very rushed and if you wanted to understand concepts better, you would need to invest time outside of class to ask them questions. Many times professors would be very busy with research and defer your questions to the TAs. Individual attention was not expected. What helped me the most was working through a lot of problems with my classmates on conference room whiteboards. I feel like my teamwork skills improved drastically during this time.

Socially, GT is not as bad as people make it out to be. There are many interesting people, just as there are many strange and uninteresting ones. The school definitely taught me that associating with certain people helps elevate your mood more than associating with others. You definitely learn to pick your friends here. One thing that helped me get through the tough times was working out at the CRC. The gym facilities were amazing and served as a sanctuary when everything else was going to hell. It was also very difficult to meet girls at Georgia Tech, and I ended up dating girls from other schools in the Atlanta metro region during this time.

After I graduated in December 2007 it was not difficult to find a job. I found a job after living at home for a few months which turned out to be nothing closely related to what I had studied. Instead of doing hardcore electrical engineering, I ended up doing software consulting for engineering software. Fortunately for me this opened up a career path into areas which I could excel and prosper in the growing software/IT industry.

I also ended up relocated to a different part of the country. What I found disappointing was the fact that nobody outside of the south gives GT alumni the recognition you feel you deserve. The school is simply not well known outside the south by the people who matter. When I say people who matter, I'm not talking about technical coworkers. I'm talking about people who matter towards your employment prospects who are mostly managers and HR people.

In conclusion, I had to put up with more hardship than the average person during undergrad and it did not make a huge difference in terms of results. Unless you are serious about being an engineer, and engineering is your passion that you will devote most of your life to, I would advise against going here. I was motivated by wanting an above average salary, and I got what I wanted. However I could have accomplished the same at someplace moderately easier but similarly ranked. A moderately easier school may have also helped me in the search for a graduate program. This is really the next step I am looking to take and I feel like having a sub 3.0 GPA has really hurt my chances of getting into a top tier graduate program. I'm into my late 20s now, and for what it's worth I look back and slightly regret missing out on a more enjoyable while I was 18,19,20, and 21. I have a solid career now, but one thing I cannot have back are those lost years of my life.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000

Well, I don't know where to start. I guess, I'm on here to vent my frustration in hopes that what I will tell anyone who reads this website gets some good advice. Please, be aware of GT's housing policy. Also, to avoid the problem of having a dickhead roommate who thinks he is a gangster rapper and just go ahead and just find someone ahead of time to room with.

I had HOPE scholarship and everything going into college there, money stashed away in a bank account, etc... I was a computer science major when I started there. Things between Tech and I ended after attending school for a year and a half. What happened resulted in me being academically suspended, extreme depression and a partially wrecked GPA. As a result my bank account took a huge hit and wound up costing me more than just a year of my life!!!I chose to go elsewhere to complete my undergraduate degree and have wound up accepted to law school. Please, please, please be aware that opportunities can be found elsewhere. Your potential attendance at GT should be considered an enormous liability. Those "rumors" you keep hearing about it are in FACT true!

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000