Is Georgia Tech or WashU harder to get into overall?

WashU is typically harder to get into than Georgia Tech when you’re talking about the university as a whole. WashU has long been viewed as one of the more selective private research universities in the country, while Georgia Tech is extremely selective too but has a notable split between in-state and out-of-state admissions that affects the overall picture. For a broad, schoolwide comparison, most students should treat WashU as the tougher admit.

A big reason is that Georgia Tech’s overall selectivity is influenced by its public mission. Georgia residents often have a meaningfully different admissions landscape than out-of-state applicants, so the school’s overall admit profile is not the same for every applicant. WashU, as a private university, does not have that in-state advantage built into its process, so its applicant pool is judged in a more uniform national context.

That said, the comparison can shift depending on who you are. An out-of-state student applying to Georgia Tech, especially in a popular STEM area, may find Tech just as difficult or in some cases similarly difficult in practice. A Georgia resident with strong quantitative preparation may see Tech as more attainable than WashU, even though both are reaches for most applicants.

If you want the simplest way to think about it, put WashU in the slightly tougher overall category, and treat Georgia Tech as potentially just as intense for certain applicants, especially nonresidents. For building a list, neither should be treated as anything other than highly selective.