Having had a daughter at Southern, as well as many kids we know, here is my take on the students there.
15 years ago, a lot of them would've gotten into UGa but now it's very hard to get into UGa. A 1200 may not get you in. If it does, you will get zip in scholarships.
So...most of the kids we know who were UGa wannabes ended up at Southern. Many probably would've had the grades but they were *huge* partiers before they left high school. They went off to Southern and continued their partying ways and well, all 7 from our children's high school's class of 2002 flunked out and had to come back. In one semester.
Southern has raised the SAT it requires by a lot (it's now 980) but it'll be awhile before the party crowd goes elsewhere. We sent our oldest there in 2000 and weren't worried about her because she's so levelheaded. Would I send another child there? Not one of our partiers.