<p>With my oldest child at the tail end (lord, I hope!) of his college search process, it's staggering to me how different the whole process is from when I applied to college in the mid-80s. Aside from the huge increases in sticker prices - my entire (private school, east coast) 4 year tuition rivals most of the bills for just one year at my son's top picks - it all just seems so darn INTENSE now. Back then, I didn't know anyone who applied to 12+ schools.....I don't remember Junior days and diversity weekends...heck, I didn't interview at any of the colleges I applied to. Of course the internet opened up endless opportunities to communicate to prospective students......tho' I'm not sure if it's always a good thing. </p>
<p>What are the big differences you notice...Then and Now?</p>
<ul>
<li># of applications. I think I applied to two schools (we have two state flagships in our state). Never did any official visit (had been on campus a lot, my parents were alums of the one I ended up attending).</li>
<li>Don’t recall any parent involvement with my applications. I handwrote them. Don’t recall any essay requirements, either.</li>
<li>No one at my high school took standardized tests more than once. I did take the SAT and ACT (unusual at my high school, don’t recall why I did). I knew one person in college who took the SAT twice (he had a 1600 2nd try) – I thought it was an odd thing to do, although I know he had scholarship money, so it was probably a smart thing to do.</li>
</ul>
<p>I had this enormous typewriter that weighed about 15 pounds that I clacked away at my essays on! I don’t remember asking teachers for letters of rec. I’m pretty sure the guidance counselor had a form letter she sent out…but that was it.</p>
<p>No, with less people applying to colleges, less options for financial aid and no common app, universal app or way to fill out apps other than by hand or typewriter, applying to a handful of colleges at most was the norm. I think I applied to 3. Got into my top 2 and wl by my safety, lol.</p>
<p>Applied to our state flagship because it had my major and we could afford to pay for it.
Applied to a small local private because it had a pretty campus (imagine that for a reason!), was offered a tuition scholarship and had a great 4 years there.</p>
<p>The public flagship would have been fine too, I’m sure.</p>
<p>I took SAT and ACT and achievement tests (precursor to subject tests). I probably took SAT because I was a NMSF, ACT because the state of Ohio gave scholarships based on ACT scores, and achievement tests because I was planning to major in engineering. </p>
<p>I took 2 AP tests even though our school did not offer AP classes, and tested out of English comp with a 5 and into Calc 2 with a 4 on the AB test. I later dropped back to Calc 1 and understood it much better the second time around!</p>
<p>I only applied to one school (local private U) and I think I heard back early so I would have had time to apply to more if necessary. My parents did not take me to visit any colleges, so I applied to one across town and went there. My parents also did not give me any money so I had to pay through working, loans, scholarships, a co-op program, and living at home one year and commuting.</p>
<ol>
<li>SAT was out of 1600 and it was before the scoring was recentered, so getting an 800 was almost impossible and getting a 700 was extremely hard.<br></li>
<li>SAT2s were called Achievement Tests. </li>
<li>You filled out your UC application and it got peddled to your first choice, and if you weren’t accepted, the app got moved to your second choice, and down the line, so that UCs didn’t have to evaluate a ton of apps.</li>
<li>I applied to only 2 schools: UCLA and Cal Poly SLO; got accepted to both. I only applied to UCLA because it had pretty brick buildings.</li>
<li>There was no “extra point” for grades in AP classes or honors classes. The “extra point” started 1 year after I graduated…drats, just missed it!</li>
<li>My best friend was enrolled in a SAT prep class and I thought she was crazy.</li>
<li>Don’t remember anything about the app itself, but I don’t remember any LORs </li>
<li>One day, I as told to take the PSAT. Didn’t know anything about this or what it was for. Just showed up and did it.</li>
<li>Still remember that there were around 8 NMSFs in my class…1 went to Harvard, 1 to Princeton, 1 to UCLA, probably a few to Berkeley, probably a few to Stanford.<br></li>
<li>I remember typewriters and the white paper that you type over to fix your errors</li>
<li>Parents did take me on a visit colleges tour. Went up and down the coast visiting UCSB, UCLA, UCI, UCSD.</li>
<li>Parent had not idea and not involved in anything related to college apps or testing. The only rule was to “take the hardest courses possible, honors or AP”.</li>
<li>My good friend had a 3.0 (no weighting in those days) and got into Berkeley.</li>
</ol>
<p>Applied to college in mid 1970s. SAT prep consisted of sharpening 2 pencils. I applied to 2 state schools because that’s what my parents could afford. They did, however, then pay for (private) law school. The total yearly COA at law school was less than what yearly room and board costs now. Other than paying, my parents had no involvement.</p>
<p>I went to a private day school in the midwest in the late 1970s/early 1980s and it was the norm at my school to take the SATs twice. I also took the Achievement Tests (now called SAT Subject tests.) Some of my classmates took prep courses for the SAT (Kaplan) but I did not. There were definitely teacher recommendations. I remember asking for them and I remember who wrote them on my behalf. I applied to about 7 schools. My parents did not take me to visit any schools, so I arrived as a freshman shell-shocked at a school (BU) and city I had never seen (Boston). My parents didn’t come with me. I flew with two other girls that I met at a send-off party hosted by alumni the summer before (the other girls’ parents also didn’t go along, but I think both of them had at least visited BU before.)</p>
<p>I applied to college in the late 60s from a large private school in Hawaii. It was the norm at my school to take the SATs twice. I also took 3 achievement tests. Here are the key differences from my experience:</p>
<p>1) Parents were not as involved / invested in the process. I’m sure my parents were supportive and encouraging, but I’m also sure they didn’t do the equivalent of hanging out on CC for years, either. I think they relied almost completely on the school’s guidance counselor.</p>
<p>2) I only remember one alumni interview - it was with MIT and I ended up not applying, partly because I didn’t care for the interview.</p>
<p>3) I applied to 4 colleges and got in to all of them.</p>
<p>4) The only reason I had visited the college I attended was that my older brothers had gone there and I had gone to their college graduations. When I arrived on campus for college, the last time I had been there was 4 1/2 years earlier, when I had been in 8th grade and had little interest in colleges - so it might have well been the first time I’d set foot on campus.</p>
<p>5) My parents put me on a plane to go to college - no big deal about parents helping you move in to your dorm room. I think the only people whose parents helped them lived locally to the college.</p>
<p>6) Other than a couple of close friends, I had no idea where other kids in my graduating class of 400+ had applied or where they decided to go.</p>
I had a dear friend (just saw her last week in fact) who took the SATs with little if any prep back then-- and got a 1600. Small data point-- we took the SATs on the day when the National Guard was showing up on the campus of Kent State, 2 days before the shootings.</p>
<p>I still remember my SAT scores, from almost 43 years ago. Just looked to see what the recentered score would be. Not too shabby, but not as good as my kids :(</p>
<p>Only applied to Texas (my state flagship), got in with my SAT score (didn’t even have to write a single essay) because it was the way you did auto-admit back in the mid 80’s… took it 3 times because I missed it by about 10 points the first 2 times, but didn’t study or prepare for any of those three sittings. If I hadn’t gotten the score the last time, would have attended summer school at UT, hopefully made my grades, and been admitted for the fall (no full year of CAP back then). My visit consisted of a weekend I went to stay in the dorm with an older friend from high school, we went to a football game and a boatload of drunken parties, which of course, sold me. ;)</p>
<p>I think one of the biggest differences was that you had to write away for the application packet. And typing those applications–man, did I curse the school that decided to get fancy and print its application on gray paper; every correction showed.</p>
<p>So Jym, considering the context of college applications back then (1970), did your friend go to college? I had similar SAT’s, got into good schools, but worked in Appalachia, then moved to the woods. The young men had to go to college to avoid going to Vietnam, but young women didn’t. I felt vague guilt about this, but I really didn’t understand attending college in those days of riots, bombings, and shootings. The careerist language of today’s college applicants was not in vogue, that’s for sure. My protest was silent, private, and certainly had painful consequences over time.</p>
<p>Took the ACT once, no prep. Got into every college I applied to–all 4 of them :D. Some schools would accept you off your PSAT scores too. I have to admit I was pretty clueless about the process–especially merit aid. I just know I got big scholarships but didn’t really know why. It was just something that came with your financial aid package back then. Didn’t tour any schools, however I think I was outside of the norm at my school for that. My parents were of no help in the process at all.</p>
<p>Applications were handwritten. I remember some schools saying they would not accept applications that were typed. Part of the evaluation was to make sure you could write and they didn’t want your Dad’s secretary typing your applications for you.</p>
<p>I remember junior year in college when the library installed a “computer lab” and the Apple II’s were just the cat’s meow. WAY better than the IBM Selentrics where you could backspace 20 spaces to correct a letter!!!</p>
<p>Great stories!!! I may have to start a new thread about the actual college experience…calls home on the floor public phone, mainframe computers…</p>