Georgia Launches Direct Admissions Initiative for High Schoolers

Updated on October 17, 2023

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High school students will receive letters from the GEORGIA MATCH initiative telling students their eligibility for 22 Georgia technical colleges and 23 University System of Georgia schools.

Brian Kemp, governor of Georgia, speaks during Erick Erickson's The Gathering event in Atlanta, Georgia, on Aug. 18, 2023.

Credit: Image Credit: Bloomberg / Contributor / Getty Images

Earlier this month, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced the GEORGIA MATCH admissions initiative.
The program directly admits qualified high school seniors to a selection of more than 40 public institutions.
Georgia College & State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Georgia are not participating due to their holistic admissions process.
GEORGIA MATCH schools will waive application fees for students applying through the initiative.

The new GEORGIA MATCH admissions initiative is now helping the state’s high schoolers directly enroll in most of the state’s public universities.

Earlier this month, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced the GEORGIA MATCH admissions initiative, which will send the state’s high school seniors letters alerting them of their eligibility to 22 Technical College System of Georgia (USG) and 23 University System of Georgia schools.

GEORGIA MATCH is a great example of the historic success we can achieve when stakeholders across the education spectrum work together, said Kemp in the press release. This program will ensure that every high school student in our state knows they have options to learn and succeed here in the no. 1 state for business.

Once students use the GAfutures website to complete the application and submit test scores and high school transcripts, the institution will determine if they meet all requirements. GEORGIA MATCH schools will help students make up missing requirements if needed.

Georgia College & State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Georgia are not participating due to their holistic admissions processes that consider extracurricular activities, personal essays, and academic records.

Students are not guaranteed admission to any of their GEORGIA MATCH colleges, according to the GEORGIA MATCH website.

Students are eligible for different institutions based on their 11th-grade HOPE grade point average. Kemp said over 120,000 Georgia students would receive letters telling them which schools are holding fall 2024 spots for them.

Once students know their schools, they still have to claim their spot at up to three schools through the Student Dashboard. Students will select colleges they want more information from, then claim their spot at a school and send their name, address, and SAT or ACT scores to the institution.

Students do not commit to any fee by claiming their spot. After claiming, the institution will contact the student on how to apply and enroll.

All GEORGIA MATCH institutions will waive application fees. If a student is interested in a school not on their letter, they can still apply traditionally.

Across the country, states are turning to direct admissions programs to make it easier for high school graduates to enroll in college and to reverse trends of declining higher education enrollment.

This month, the University of Wisconsin system announced a similar program for high schoolers in the state. The system will determine which schools each student is eligible to attend and admit them without them needing to apply.

Last August, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education launched a direct college admissions program, which offers students at 327 high schools pre-admission into participating colleges based on their GPAs and/or SAT scores.