More on Where UGA Students Come From

Where do UGA students come from? Comparing 1998 to 2014 data for full-time undergrads, here are the top Georgia counties in the table below. Notice Cherokee County, which moved  from 16th to 7th thanks to population growth. Bibb County dropped from 9th to 14th. The counties with the greatest percentage growth tended to be those that had both surging population and relatively (by Georgia standards) poverty rates.

Top 10 1998	Top 10 2014
Gwinnett	Gwinnett
Cobb	Fulton
Fulton	Cobb
DeKalb	DeKalb
Clarke	Forsyth
Chatham	Clarke
Fayette	Cherokee
Columbia	Fayette
Bibb	Oconee
Oconee	Columbia

Forsyth County has seen a 481 percent increase in the number of students sent to UGA over the time studied. Wow. Cherokee County, a 145 percent increase.

There are a jillion other ways to cut the data, and I haven't started yet on the fresh state data (as in, what other states lead sending kids to UGA). But let's take one interesting variable -- the percentage of black students from each county that attends UGA. Again looking only at full-time undergrads, and sticking to the biggest counties, we find some interesting results.

• Gwinnett in 1998 had only 1.8 percent of its students listed as black. By 2014 that was up to 9.3 percent.
• That up-and-coming Cherokee County? only 1.8 percent of its students in 2014 were black. Oconee County? Just 2.1 percent. Forsyth County? A stunning 0.8 percent. None of these counties have a sizeable black population, but if I had time it'd be interesting to see how well they do if we control statistically for that.
• In 2014, all of Quitman County's students were black. Then again, it's only one student. That's why we stick to the larger counties, but I thought I'd toss that in as an example of the difference between a statistical and a substantive result. Beware of small numbers.
• DeKalb sends the greatest proportion of blacks from its students to UGA, nearly 1-in-4 by 2014. Fulton County, less so, with 6.8 percent in 2014.

Another day, gender and Hispanic breakdowns from 1998-2014.