Georgia Regents University, Georgia's Newest Research University

Today, I had the opportunity to tour Georgia Regents University in Augusta, Georgia.  This newest member of the University System of Georgia was born from a merger of Augusta State College and The Medical College of Georgia.  It has been given the charge of becoming the fourth "Research University" in the State in the next five years, behind Georgia State, Georgia Tech, and University of Georgia.  What does this mean for potential students? More opportunities! More opportunities to conduct research, more opportunities to pick from a higher number of potential majors, more opportunities to take courses from highly qualified professors, all at a price that is $6,400 per year for tuition & fees, almost half of UGA and Georgia Tech.  What is even better, GRU will freeze tuition rates for the four years that a student attends GRU.  This prevents rate hikes each year and will better help the student and the parent to plan costs.

This trip was established to introduce students who are interested in pursuing a degree in medicine to all of the opportunities they could have at GRU.  What I learned is that there are a myriad of other majors offered there.  In fact, our tour guide is going to college to become a school social worker, and two of her colleagues are education majors.  Business fraternities and a performing arts center on campus indicate the prevalence of other options as well.  

Admissions standards are reasonable at a 3.2 academic average GPA, an average of a 1040 (Critical Reading + Math) on the SAT, and a 22 on the ACT.  Remember, these are averages.  People do get in with a little less, but it is once to clear the bar with some room!

This is an exciting time to be on campus as there are many growth initiatives that are being promoted.  The construction of several new buildings, like the School of Dentistry building, the most expensive building in the University System of Georgia to date, is making GRU a state-of-the-art place to learn.  GRU's school of Dentistry is one of twenty-seven in the United States, and the only one in Georgia.  

Common Living Area

Housing is always a student's and a parent's biggest concern.  Housing at GRU is set up in apartment style living.  Two and four bedroom/two bath apartments joined by a common living room/kitchen area apartment style dormitories provide students with just the right amount of community and privacy, all for the price of $6,800 per year.

Kitchen

Our hosts in the Admissions Office, Matthew Smith and Scott Argo, planned a day full of unique opportunities that parents and students who go to GRU on a regular visit would never have.  Here is a brief breakdown of all that we got to do at each stop:

Nuclear Medicine Lab- 

At this stop, we learned about how nuclear medicine is used to diagnose a variety of issues with the heart, kidneys, bones, brain, and many other parts.  Nuclear isotopes are either injected, ingested, or inhaled into the body (depending on what they are trying to image) and very sophisticated imaging equipment is used to show problems in the functioning of specific organs.  Graduates of this program start out at $25 to $35 per hour.  To go into this program, a student will apply in their sophomore year of college.  They will work on prerequisites during first two years.  

Phlebotomy Lab-

This facility trains 150 nurses each year, and has an Athens facility as well, where 40 nurses are trained each year.  This lab is equipped with mannequins that are computerized on which students can test vital signs- complete with "abnormal" sounds, like heart murmurs.  Participants in today's experience got to practice taking blood (from mannequins, of course). 

Emergency Room-

Nurses can make up to $105 per hour with a huge variety of settings and day to day job requirements.  Job out-look is really good.  A nurse becomes more expensive with every skill that they gain.  Participants learned about what life is like for an ER nurse.  These settings seem to be well suited for people who react quickly to a given set of data, people who work well with ever changing scenarios, and people who have the ability to identify solutions to problems quickly.  

And last, Driving Simulation-

This facility is used to help patients with any type of macular degeneration caused by things like multiple sclerosis to improve their driving abilities in a safe environment.  Students had the opportunity to drive in the simulator to see what MS patients do in a test.  This facility does both training of patients, evaluations of a patient's ability to operate a vehicle and a conducts research for other such facilities that help ensure the safety of both the driver and others on the road.

In all, this was an amazing day, where we all learned that GRU is a school of great opportunity for prospective students.  If you didn't get to go with us today, Matthew Smith and the rest of the staff would be happy to walk you around and talk with them.  You can make your appointment by clicking on this link: http://www.gru.edu/admissions/sneakpeek.php.