University of Georgia

The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the first state-chartered public university in the United States. It is the flagship university of the University System of Georgia.

In addition to the main campuses in Athens with their approximately 470 buildings, the university has two smaller campuses located in Tifton and Griffin. The university has two satellite campuses located in Atlanta and Lawrenceville, and residential and educational centers in Washington, D.C., at Trinity College of Oxford University, and in Cortona, Italy. The total acreage of the university in 30 Georgia counties is 41,539 acres (168.10 km2).

The university is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High research activity and doctorate production", and is considered to have "Very High" undergraduate admissions standards with "Higher Earnings". The University of Georgia's intercollegiate sports teams, commonly known by their Georgia Bulldogs moniker, compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I as part of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The university has had more alumni as Rhodes Scholars since 1990 than nearly all other public universities in the country. Alumni also include a United States poet laureate, Emmy Award winners, Grammy Award winners, and multiple Super Bowl champions.

History

Antebellum history

In 1784, Lyman Hall, a Yale University graduate and one of three medical doctors to sign the Declaration of Independence, as Governor of Georgia persuaded the Georgia legislature to grant 40,000 acres (160 km2) as an endowment for the purposes of founding a "college or seminary of learning." Besides Hall, credit for founding the university goes to Abraham Baldwin who wrote the original charter for University of Georgia. Originally from Connecticut, Baldwin graduated from and later taught at Yale before moving to Georgia. The Georgia General Assembly approved Baldwin's charter on January 27, 1785, and the University of Georgia became the first university in the United States to gain a state charter. Considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Baldwin would later represent Georgia in the 1786 Constitutional Convention that created the Constitution of the United States and go on to be President pro tempore of the United States Senate. The task of creating the university was given to the Senatus Academicus, which consisted of the Board of Visitors – made up of "the governor, all state senators, all superior court judges and a few other public officials" – and the Board of Trustees, "a body of 14 appointed members that soon became self-perpetuating." The first meeting of the university's board of trustees was held in Augusta, Georgia, on February 13, 1786. The meeting installed Baldwin as the university's first president.

For the first 16 years of the school's history, the University of Georgia only existed on paper. By the new century, a committee was appointed to find suitable land to establish a campus. Committee member John Milledge purchased 633 acres of land on the west bank of the Oconee River and immediately gave it to the university. This tract of land, now a part of the consolidated city–county of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, was then part of Jackson County. As of 2013, 37 acres of that land remained as part of the North Campus.

Because Baldwin was elected to the U.S. Senate, the school needed a new president. Baldwin chose his former student and fellow professor at Yale, Josiah Meigs, as his replacement. Meigs became the school's president, as well as the first and only professor. After traveling the state to recruit a few students, Meigs opened the school with no building in the fall of 1801. The first school building patterned after Yale's Connecticut Hall was built the year later. Yale's early influence on the new university extended into the classical curriculum with emphasis on Latin and Greek. By 1803, the students formed a debate society, Demosthenian Literary Society. Meigs had his first graduating class of nine by 1804. In 1806, the school dedicated the first legacy building, Franklin College (named after Benjamin Franklin). The building is now known as Old College.

Organization and administration

The university has 21 schools and colleges, where the titles "college" or "school" do not indicate any distinction between them for the university. The university added a medical school that has its first class in the fall of 2026 and provides education leading to the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree from the University of Georgia as well as extensive facilities for medically related education and research at the University of Georgia. In the construction phase is a $100 million facility set to open in 2026 to provide training for at least 60 more University of Georgia medical students. In 2025, a school of nursing was authorized for classes to begin in 2027.

The President of the University of Georgia (Jere Morehead) is the head administrator and is appointed and overseen by the Georgia Board of Regents. University of Georgia has had 22 presidents since its founding in 1785. Each individual college and school is headed by a dean. The university has a student-to-faculty ratio of 17 students per faculty member.

According to the 2026–2027 estimated cost of attendance, based on a nine-month academic year for an average undergraduate student, the tuition and fees for Georgia residents is $10,881, and $32,551 for non-residents. The tuition and fees for an average international undergraduate student (based on a nine-month academic year) is $33,475.

Campuses

The University of Georgia's main campus is made up of 465 buildings covering an area of about 762 acres (308 hectares). The campus was ranked among the nation’s most beautiful by Travel + Leisure. The university owns an additional 39,743 acres (160.83 km2) of land in 31 counties across Georgia, and has off-campus facilities including in Washington D.C., at Trinity College of Oxford University, at Cortona, Italy, and at Monteverde, Costa Rica. Near the main campus is a Botanical Garden and the university's 56-acre UGA Health Sciences Campus. As of October 2020, UGA employed 11,127 people of which more than 2,500 are faculty members. The main campus sits across from Athens, a consolidated city–county located 60 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.

The campuses' dominant architectural themes are Federal, Classical and Antebellum style. Though there have been many additions, changes, and augmentations, the University of Georgia's campus maintains its historic character. In 2000, the entire campus was designated as an arboretum, the University of Georgia Campus Arboretum. It is estimated to be home to about 9,000 trees with over 154 identified species including native trees such magnolias, red oaks, white oaks, and beeches, as well as non-native trees such as the North Africa Atlas cedar, the Chinese parasol and royal paulownia, and the Japanese zelkova and black pine.

North Campus

The North Campus is bounded by Baldwin Street to the south, Lumpkin Street to the west, Broad Street to the north and traditionally by Jackson Street to the east, but also extends past Jackson Street to East Campus Road. Several of the buildings that make up the old campus are designated as historic, covering part of the 37 acres (15 hectares) originally gifted to the university in 1801. The entire Old North Campus of the University of Georgia is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district.

Located at a central location in North Campus and constructed in 1806 as the first permanent building, Old College is the oldest building in Athens and one of the oldest in Northeast Georgia. The building closely resembles Yale University's Connecticut Hall. It was designed with identical front and back to allow the university to grow in either direction. Currently housing the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, the building originally served both instructional and residential purposes. New College was built in 1823 as a residence hall and was rebuilt in 1832.

Other historic buildings in the National Historic District include Waddel Hall, Demosthenian Hall, The chapel, Phi Kappa Hall, Lustrat Hall, Moore College, and Holmes–Hunter Academic Building. Named after UGA's fifth president, Waddel Hall is the second-oldest building on campus. Built in the Federal style of architecture in 1821, it is also one of the smallest buildings on campus. Home to the oldest student organization and debate society at UGA, the 1824 Demosthenian Hall houses the Demosthenian Literary Society named after the Greek orator Demosthenes. Founded in 1803, the Demosthenian is among the oldest literary societies in the English-speaking world. Located between New College and Demosthenian Hall, The chapel is a Greek Revival-style building which resembles a classic temple. Considered "the most beautiful building on campus", the interior features a large painting of the nave and aisles of the St. Peter's Basilica, painted by the artist George Cooke. Also built in the Greek Revival style in 1836, Phi Kappa Hall is home to the university's second-oldest student organization and debate society, Phi Kappa Literary Society, founded in 1820 to rival the Demosthenian Literary Society.

Academics

Undergraduate admissions

The university considers many factors in admissions decisions: high school grades, particularly the rigor of high school study—a student's studying in a school's "advanced" or "most difficult" curriculum, taking of advanced placement, College Board Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, early college enrollment and other rigorous classes; scores on standardized tests (SAT or ACT); academic and personal achievements; extracurricular activities; the mandatory school counselor evaluation letter as well academic letters of recommendation from teachers; the student's personal statement. University admissions are need-blind for domestic applicants.

As a state university, UGA automatically admits applicants that graduate first or second in their class at an SACS-accredited high school in Georgia. For others who go through the traditional application process, based on the report of the U.S. Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics, UGA is considered to have "Very High" undergraduate admissions standards with "High" applicant completion. The Princeton Review gives the university an "Admissions Selectivity Rating" of 96 out of 99. The ACT Assessment Student Report places UGA student admissions in the "highly selective" category, the highest category. In the 2020–2021 academic year, 69 freshman students were National Merit Scholars.

In 2023, the university received 43,416 applications. It extended offers of admission to 16,729 applicants, or 37.2%. 6,150 accepted students chose to enroll at the university, a yield rate of 38.1%. Of the 70% of incoming students in 2023 who submitted SAT scores, the interquartile range was 1230–1410 with an average of 1320; of the 47% of incoming students in 2023 who submitted ACT scores, the interquartile range was 27–32 with an average of 29. Of all matriculating students, the average high school GPA was 4.14. The average enrolled student had completed an average of ten Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or college duel-enrollment courses in high school.

For the class beginning in fall 2025, the university received nearly 48,000 applications. It extended offers of admission to 15,800 applicants, or 32.9%. Of admitted students, the middle 50% had a core GPA between 4.08-4.35, SAT scores between 1,300-1,470 and ACT scores between 30-34, while taking 8-14 AP, IB, or dual enrollment courses. The accepted students cumulatively occupied more than 16,500 volunteering roles and over 23,000 leadership roles.

Research

The University of Georgia is classified in the highest ranking, "R-1: Doctoral Universities – Highest Research Activity" with "comprehensive" doctoral programs across the arts, sciences, engineering, law, and medicine according to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. According to the National Science Foundation, the university spent $495 million on R&D in fiscal year 2020, and the latest report by The Center for Measuring University Performance ranked the University of Georgia 37th among the top research universities in the nation. The university has increased overall research and development funding by 75% since fiscal year 2015 resulting in $654 million in R&D expenditures in fiscal year 2025. In 2024, the university was the No.1 recipient in National Institutes of Health funding for universities without a medical school.

More than 1,200 different products originating from University of Georgia research are on the market. As of 2026, for the fourth consecutive year, the university was ranked No. 1 among all U.S. universities for the number of research-based products brought to market—the university's eleventh consecutive year it was ranked either first or second. The university has never appeared out of the Top 5 of the Association of University Technology Managers rankings. The University of Georgia Research Foundation (UGARF) has over 1000 active licenses with technologies licensed in countries on all continents. In 2020 UGARF held more than 684 US and foreign patents. The University of Georgia consistently ranks in the top ten among all universities for most licenses and options with industry as well as for the most licensing income. As of 2021, based on university research, over 200 companies have been launched by the University of Georgia, placing the university in the top 20 of universities for active startups.

In November 2018, the University of Georgia launched a number of research initiatives funded by a $3 million NSF grant, including a project to transform the school's science education. The university also added a new $143.6 million Interdisciplinary Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (I-STEM) building that was completed in 2023.

Of only 16 universities nationwide, the university is designated an Innovation and Economic Prosperity University recognizing it as a national leader in economic development and innovation and its institution-wide commitment to and strategy for economic engagement, growth, and economic opportunity.

Student life

The University of Georgia has registered almost 800 student organizations, academic associations, honor societies, student government organizations, cultural groups, sport teams, religious groups, publications, social groups and fraternities, volunteer and community service programs, philanthropic groups, and others that are all run by both graduate and undergraduate students and are integral parts of student life. In 2015 (the latest year), UGA was recognized by the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The honor is the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement. The latest designation marks the ninth consecutive year UGA was named on the honor roll.

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