Another factor why it is probably more difficult to get in today as opposed to the 1970s and 1980s for the unhooked student is the number of recruited athletes. I went to a NESCAC school and I really don’t recall that many recruited athletes back in that era. Now it seems like every single member of a skilled sport team is a recruited athlete.
Pretty sure I could still get into UMich. 1490 SAT (recenters according to the above chart to 1560), and 5/950 rank. I still rankles me that Middlebury turned me down (not much ECs because I had to work, but really?)
And yes I’m a nerd who still remembers the numbers. I took 3 “Achievement Tests” as SAT 2s were called, and could rattle off those numbers, too. Same memory that helps me do good on tests.
Yes. My undergrad school, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, admitted almost anybody. From what I can tell, UAF still admits almost anybody. Lots of Alaska high school students prefer to leave the state for college, so UAF always struggles to attract students.
I got into Cal Berkeley in the late 80’s as an international (ended up going to a LAC with full ride). I can’t remember what I got on my SAT, but Verbal was 86% percentile and Math was 99% percentile – after one year of English. I was ranked 32/64 in my graduating class. Main essay was about how my love of romance novels helped me learn English (I remember my English teacher was appalled by the idea, but she helped me with the grammar.)
I don’t think I would get in today, but I still think my essay idea wasn’t all that bad 
I’m not sure if I’d get in to my alma mater now. I went to a Jesuit university that drew mainly from the tri-state area, and then outside of that, most of the rest were from New England. I think I was one of about 8-10 students from the Wash DC area in my class, and I was the only one in that group who had gone to a large public h.s., not Catholic schools like that had. I’m fairly sure no one from my h.s. had ever attended, let alone applied. However, I doubt I would even have applied b/c cost of attendance is well above what my parents were willing to pay, even factoring in inflation, etc.
Completely different story now…school has a much more diverse student body. Still live in the DC area, my daughter was around one of 10 in her small Catholic h.s. to apply who definitely fell easily within the stats, and probably top 3 who applied from her h.s. Much more popular university now in our area so more competition. She was deferred from EA, despite being a legacy, but eventually was admitted. However, not enough merit aid for us to even consider which was a disappointment but she is very happy where she ended up. No one from her class who got in chose to attend.
Went to my 35th HS reunion a number of years ago and this topic came up. Sat at a table with kids (well, not kids anymore) who went to Cornell, Harvard, Columbia, Barnard, UPenn, Princeton and MIT. Consensus was that not a single one of us would have even come close to being accepted were we to apply today with our stats from the past. There was also considerable bitterness from several over children with stellar stats being rejected despite legacy, and in some cases double legacy status.
My daughter is sort of a double legacy, my father went to Yale and his father too. I don’t think my dad was particularly happy at Yale, though I never got the chance to discuss with him before he passed away. I had no interest, but my brother did apply and was rejected. My daughter is not willing to be driven to the point of not enjoying her pre-adult life, and I’m personally okay with it. I do feel she will be much happier and successful at a non-Ivy LAC, but it is a shame that the family tradition is dying on the vine.
It’s tough. I went to Yale, at just about the high water mark for a Jewish kid from a private school in a populous state. So there’s no way I would be as much of a shoo-in as I was then. I think I would have had a pretty good chance, though. I was the top student at a strong school, I had decent local ECs, and I had done some things that were fairly unique and showed special talents in humanities. A fairly high percentage of people who look like I did on paper still get in, just not all of them.
However, I definitely would have to apply to more colleges than just Yale and Harvard (where at the time I was considered a legacy, now probably not). And I would definitely have a lot more stress in the process. I’m not sure where I would apply for safer admission. Wesleyan (as a legacy)? Sure, but that’s hardly a safety.
Fifty years ago, Wesleyan had its pick of First Gen/URMs from good public schools in the northeast. Only a handful of ivies (if, that many) were thinking in the same terms of socio-economic “diversity” as an educational plus; they were all about moderate Republican blue bloods and how well a city kid could assimilate their values. I had good ECs back then and I presume the same would hold true today. The question, IMHO, would be where else would I also get in and would I pick that place over Wesleyan? I think I’d have a decent shot at Williams, Bowdoin and Carleton - almost any place that is still considered too preppy or too remote for a city kid.
One never knows, but I suspect that my application (augmented by extra ECs/enrichment/test prep) would have gotten me into Princeton because I suspect that the adcom folks had no idea what to do with my essay about my proposed intellectual interests. I had worked at Bell Labs writing software in high school (I actually wrote code on the first Unix machine, which they wouldn’t have appreciated at all) and wrote my essay on how I wanted to use math, statistics and numerical methods to model human behavior, probably in legislative voting. I suspect the English major types in admissions would have found this baffling whereas I think the 21st century equivalent of what I was doing at Bell Labs and the 21st Century version of what I might be saying I was interested in would seem hot. [Who knows? Machine learning and predictive analytics tied to behavioral economics?]
It’s still very different in the UK, because it’s not a holistic judgement. I’m pretty sure I would still have gotten into Cambridge, simply because the top 20-30 in my school get in now (compared to top 50-60 then) and I was in the top 10 or so (out of 200). But I suspect I would have applied to more than 1 university, back then I saw no need for a safety.
Probably not if someone today had the high school credentials I had decades ago. Back then (based on what I found out later about the admission process), I was in the upper end of the range of admits to UCB (for any major). Now, someone with the same high school credentials would probably be in at UCSC/UCR/UCM, with UCSB/UCD/UCI as matches to high matches (depending on major), UCSD as a high match to reach (depending on major), and UCB/UCLA as reaches to high reaches (depending on major).
Then again, today as a kid, you might work just as hard to keep up with today’s bright young high school kids and be in that top percentile to get admitted. In the old days, kids did not work hard to get into top schools.
I disagree with everyone who says that you would just have to work harder to get in. I don’t think my SAT’s would ever have been high enough to compete nowadays, and I would have had to have taken many more honor and AP’s to get into my alma mater, which would have seriously destroyed my grades. I think the kids today are being pushed to the max and are completely stressed out. They don’t get to enjoy life the way we did years ago because they’re killing themselves trying to win one of the very few spots in the best colleges. I think it’s sad.
No, I went to HYPM and there is no way I could get in today. Acceptance then was 12%.
On the other hand, I wasn’t the standard candidate for a number of reasons so I don’t think I’d be run of the mill. I guess I’d give myself a much better chance than the average candidate but that would still leave me in the much less than 50/50 category.
I just cannot figure out why no new colleges and universities are being built. Demographics have soared not only population but also the % of folks who attend college. If more schools were built esp outside of NE and the West Coast, I’m sure if they were good students might choose to attend colleges closer to home.
I don’t think you even need to go back 20 years. I have met kids at Northeastern and Boston U that told me as juniors and seniors, that the school is so much more competitive since they were in HS, they would have trouble getting in now. 5 years may be enough for some of the recently popular schools.
Funny, but I went to Tulane and transferred to Boston U 30 years ago, and though of both as safe schools.
Not today…but I think I would still be a competitive applicant at either, was a top student at BU.
Students today are prepared for AP classes- they are not as scary as you think. If you aced classes you would likely do fine (especially since your study habits would be modern).
Having observed my kid for 4 years of HS, I ended up respecting my kid for the things he managed to do during 4 years. And I am sure other kids in HS accomplished even more than my kid did. In fact, my kid got good sleep almost every day, so I can’t say he went beyond the normal boundary; it’s just that he was consistent in maintaining certain level. There is no way I would have been able to keep going at certain high level for 4 years because I just don’t like the school setting too much. But if I did, I am pretty confident I would have went to a top 5 college. I realized quickly that my personality meant I had to set up my own business rather than working for any organization and moving up the ladder, so that’s what I did.
Definitely not. I was a very good student (3.8+, all honors, no APs…we only had one and I had a class conflict), lots of ECs, mediocre SATs (1300s…one sitting…no prep…hung over) CSF Goldseal Bearer. I got in to Penn because I was applying from Southern California and in the early 1980s that made me geographically desirable.
The question is would I today kicked my competitive gear into overdrive and figured out how to get a better SAT score and to take the AP class. I’m not sure but maybe.
No