Interesting!
Recent convo with a parent of a graduating senior I just met at an event at our kids’ high school (keep in mind, we are in CA so going to the midwest for college is less common). Me - “so where will your son be going?” Her - “Mizzou.” Me - “Oh! I went to Wash U.” Her - “Oh wow, that’s really hard to get into.” Me, chuckling, “well, it is NOW. It wasn’t so bad 30 years ago.” Her - chuckled as well and further convo about how much harder everywhere is now than 30 years ago.
Also - backing up what @BooBooBear said about the SAT vs ACT in the 80s. ACT for the public midwestern schools, SAT for the private schools. I didn’t apply to public schools outside of the midwest so not sure about UC and other states at that time.