The path to the University of Georgia looked different for David Goodchild and Emma Caesar, but both ended up with a spot in one of UGA’s most competitive freshman classes.
UGA said it met its goal to enroll a first-year class that is more than 80% Georgia residents and about 20% non-residents. Both Goodchild and Caesar earned one of the 6,250 spots in UGA’s class of 2030, despite coming from different states.
UGA received more than 20,730 early-action applications from out-of-state and international students, compared to 13,530 early-action applications from in-state students. After reviewing both pools of applications, UGA made more than 4,600 offers to out-of-state and international students and 6,100 offers to in-state students.
The class of 2030 academic profile reflects the competitiveness students face in the application process at UGA.
A Georgia Path to UGA
David Goodchild, from Dunwoody, Georgia, said he knew that getting into UGA would not be easy. Goodchild, who graduated from Dunwoody High School in spring 2026, had a 4.2 GPA, an ACT score of 31 and 15 AP courses when he applied in 2025 in the early-action pool.
His GPA and ACT score fall in the GPA range of 4.13-4.40 and ACT of 31 to 34 for the middle of students admitted.
Goodchild said he “definitely” felt that the university was becoming harder to get into.
Goodchild was relieved to see that his hard work had paid off after seeing the acceptance online fireworks from UGA. Although he felt uncertain about his chances, he said he was “very excited” when he found out he would be joining the class of 2030.
From Memphis to Athens
Emma Caesar, an out-of-state student from Memphis, Tennessee, took a more extensive approach when it came to building her high school résumé. She participated in cross country and competitive dance, and held club and class leadership positions at St. Agnes Academy on top of nine AP classes and two dual-enrollment classes.
Caesar also had a strong academic profile when she applied to UGA. She had a 5.2 GPA and scored a 34 on the ACT, placing her above the middle 50% ACT range of 31 to 34 for UGA’s admitted class of 2030.
Caesar also completed an internship at St. Jude, the children’s research hospital, following her junior year, worked at a preschool and worked a job at Chicken Salad Chick. Caesar applied and was accepted to multiple schools, but picked UGA.
She is among the 20% of out-of-state students in the class of 2030.
“And then I just saw myself here more, I wanted to challenge myself to do something different,” she said.
This story was written by Reporting II students in these roles: reporters Murphy Ray and Peyton Everett; editors Diane Frazier and Layda Elena Lara Sandoval, and data gatherer Fuller Houk.
