<p>UVA for Northern Virginians</p>
<p>UCLA and UC Berkeley</p>
<p>I think every respectable college is significantly harder to get into. You can see for some colleges there is a 50 point difference in avg SATs in the space of just 5 years or so, pretty impressive. I think before, people tended to go to college in state and were less worried about going to a great college, unless they were a 5th gen legacy or whatever.</p>
<p>Or you could look at it like this: If you were jewish/black/asian 100 years ago, your chances were near zero at HYP.</p>
<p>I think the grad schools of UCLA and Berkeley were still hard to get into. My dad went to UCLA and its law school, and said he was worried about getting into the law school at the time. My dad went to school in late60s early 70s.</p>
<p>This is stupid. Of course colleges are harder to get into now than they were 25 years ago. Even the elites were easier. But the kids who got into Harvard back then would still get in now. You may say that they only took one AP class, got 1300 on their SAT, and barely had any ECs...but back then, admissions wasn't the ridiculous game it is now. Transport those students from 25 years ago into today, and I'm sure they'd sign up for every AP class and have 1500+ SATs. The incentives are greater now, because even the average students have good applications.</p>
<p>jpps1, thats not necessarily true, simply because people tended to go local (instate) for college, ie less competition. Of course, back then, there were also a lot of people wanting to go to elite colleges, but this group is probably confined to new englanders and legacies.</p>
<p>I would put NYU at the top of that list, but you could also add Barnard and even Columbia; New York has gotten hot. Boston has also gotten hot and BC, Tufts and even BU are much harder to get into than before. Washington, D.C is the 3rd East coast city that has gotten hot; apps to GW and American have doubled in the last five years and G'town got hot about 15 years ago and has stayed hot.</p>
<p>Outside of the East, I'd add Carleton, Wash U and Pomona as three that come t mind.</p>
<p>"jpps1, thats not necessarily true, simply because people tended to go local (instate) for college, ie less competition. Of course, back then, there were also a lot of people wanting to go to elite colleges, but this group is probably confined to new englanders and legacies."</p>
<p>Yes, and elite schools enrolled smaller classes accordingly.</p>
<p>BESIDES the decreasing acceptance::applicant ratio...
we are basically equal with them, because we have BETTER resources, $$, knowledge and direction. </p>
<p>Scoring 1600 twenty years ago is much more unique than a 1600 nowadays. and remember a time when a 4.0 was really worth something? now it is looked down upon (atleast at my school)</p>
<p>4.0 looked down upon? sounds like some weird priorities.</p>
<p>I'd put Duke at the top of the list. It's still not a top undergraduate school - US News notwithstanding - by any means - but it was definitely a third-tier, regional not too long ago. 20 year ago. You could get in if you were from out of NC and could speak some form of English.</p>
<p>Quote: "I'd put Duke at the top of the list. It's still not a top undergraduate school - US News notwithstanding - by any means..."</p>
<p>I don't know where you are from, but this is an interesting opinion. Here in New England, Duke is definitely considered to be a top undergraduate school. Have you looked at the companies that recruit at Duke, and the success its graduates have in gaining acceptance in to graduate and professional schools today? It certainly is not a regional school now!</p>
<p>The only place I hace ever heard such bashing of top schools is here on CC. :)</p>
<p>"I'd put Duke at the top of the list. It's still not a top undergraduate school - US News notwithstanding - by any means - but it was definitely a third-tier, regional not too long ago. 20 year ago."</p>
<p>Sloppy trolling, BigGreen. </p>
<p>20 year (sic) ago, Duke was more popular than Ivies like Columbia or Penn. In 1984, New York Times Magazine featured Duke on its cover for an article about "Hot Colleges, and How They Got that Way." (other "Hot" schools at the time: Yale, Brown, UVA). In 1985, Duke was ranked #6 by USNews. In 1987, Duke hit a record in applications that would hold for fifteen years.</p>
<p>True.. and it even has a great reputation today</p>
<p>Colleges whose relative selectivity increased significantly as of 2003, vs. 1972, include:</p>
<p>Washington University
NYU
USC
UC Berkeley
Washington & Lee
Notre Dame
Claremont
Bard
Emory
U Richmond
Georgetown
UCLA
Boston College
Duke
Carnegie Mellon
Northwestern
Georgia Tech
U Pennsylvania
Stevens Inst.
Connecticut college
Barnard
Vanderbilt
Columbia
Manhattanville
Villanova
Trinity U
Carleton
U Virginia</p>
<p>upenn, columbia, and georgetown are probably the most significant ones</p>
<p>upenn and columbia because no one liked city institutions back then, not sure about georgetown but I think it was because they had large religious affiliations</p>
<p>its true that a lot of the top schools are tougher to get into, most of my family went to very prestigious schools and they all say it would be sooo hard for them to get in now. but so much has changed--particularly demographics and $$$. my aunt talked about visiting amherst and the dean basically saying she was guaranteed a place there because my grandpa was an alum. don't see that happening now (lol, i got waitlisted :))</p>
<p>it's difficult to compare because the culture of college admissions has changed. what would these alums be like if they were in our shoes today?</p>
<p>then again, what about schools that are easier to get into??? can anyone think of any? it may be easier for white males to get into UCs, i know my dad got totally shut down for med school because the affirmative action policy was so strong in the early 80s...</p>
<p>All I've got is circa 1972, not early 80s or later.</p>
<p>But FWIW, schools that were easier admissions on an absolute basis circa 2003,as compared to circa 1972, included:</p>
<p>UC Santa Cruz
UC Riverside
SUNY Albany
SUNY Buffalo
Bryn Mawr
Haverford
Franklin & Marshall
Brandeis
Sarah Lawrence
William & Mary
Colorado College</p>
<p>There are other colleges that have lost ground relative to other schools during this period, though their absolute admissions % didn't change much.</p>
<p>Some specific data points, circa 1972, % applicants admitted:</p>
<p>Cooper Union, Yale 17%
Harvard 18%
Brandeis, Princeton 20%
Tufts 22%
Bryn Mawr 43%
Smith 49%
Barnard 65%
Carnegie Mellon 74%
UCLA 70%
Notre Dame 68%
Cal Berkeley 72%
NYU 72%
USC 83%
Washington U 81%</p>
<p>Didn't Harvard used to have open admissions? And 100 years ago, Princeton was the playing ground of the rich who were there just to get a degree before inheriting the lucrative family business.</p>
<p>Hi moneydad:</p>
<p>Where is that list from?</p>