I was a lazy student who thought it wasn’t worth doing the homework if I could not do it and still make a B. I graduated 24th in my class of 221, so just outside of top 10%. High SAT score, maybe a 1400, which was good for 1980. Somehow, I got into every school I applied to. Ended up at Mount Holyoke. I might get in there today, but if I were applying today, I imagine I would have worked a lot harder in high school. The competition is a lot more intense, and students feel it at a much earlier age. We didn’t even discuss college until junior year, when they made us take the PSAT.
My husband’s SAT score was a little lower than mine, but he was salutatorian and ended up at Stanford. He would definitely have been rejected today!