<p>My SAT’s were in the 99% and I had a 4.0 average in the toughest curriculum offered by my high school (many fewer AP’s than nowadays, however), plus some volunteer work and NMF designation, and that was more than enough back then to get me into the second-tier school I attended, and would likely be more than enough nowadays, too, except that nowadays I would ALSO be applying for merit aid.</p>
<p>Not at all confident that I would have gotten the merit packages my children were offered, though - and the T20 schools that admitted them would have been a huge crapshot regardless of stats that would have put me in the top 25% of applicants. I would have fallen far short in the EC and academic awards categories, I’m afraid. I spent nearly any free time I had outside of schoolwork, family chores (my mother worked and I had to walk the dog and get dinner ready for when she came home, etc.), or babysitting for neighbors or volunteering at the local hospital as a candy striper either socializing in a rather humdrum and unstructured manner with friends or older relatives or neighbors, doing crafts, baking, or reading. (I used to read two or three books a week for pleasure.) I suppose I could have “packaged” my activities to sound more impressive, though…</p>
<p>My son is at my alma mater, so it’s an interesting question. I think my grades and scores, and my small-town geographical location, might still be good enough–but I didn’t have nearly the level of achievements outside of school that most of the admittees have today.</p>
<p>I could get into my undergrad college, and probably both my DD’s. However, they did well enough to get some merit aid. I may not have gotten that.</p>
<p>Yes, I am confident I could get into my school and my D’s. I was #2 in my class, not many EC’s but a 20 hour a week job, female in engineering, NMF. We didn’t have AP designated classes, but I took a couple tests (English Lit and Calc) and did well on them.</p>
<p>Like JHS - maybe. My safety certainly wouldn’t be Penn! I was a legacay at Harvard. I had decent school ECs, and was very involved in Girl Scouts - was on some national committees, and for our equivalent of the Gold Award organized a clean up of the C and O Canal that involved all the Boy and Girl Scout troops in DC and we got Supreme Court Justice Douglas to provide us publicity. I took a lot of APs for the time - 4 my senior year and was in 5 AP courses - I don’t think anyone had more. My SAT scores were pretty good including a recentered 800 on the verbal. </p>
<p>As for my son’s school, I wouldn’t want to go to Carnegie Mellon in computer science, but I should have considered it for architecture. I should have considered a college with better architecture offerings period. Maybe even JHS’s alma mater!</p>
<p>No way. I was a terrible hs student (family issues) and only got into SDSU with a great SAT score. Today you need at least a 3.6 and those same SAT scores for admission, much to my everlasting amusement. Back then (30 years) you could virtually walk onto the campus and get admitted.</p>
<p>And LOL all you needed to get into UCLA back then was a 3.0 and decent scores!</p>
<p>Certainly my stats from back then would still get me into my alma mater (Hamilton) without any trouble. Whether the same degree of intelligence and effort would get me those same stats now might be a tougher question. At my high school in the early 70s, if you were smart and paid a reasonable amount of attention in class, getting an A required very little effort. It couldn’t be a starker contrast to what my son has experienced.</p>
<p>nightchef, you hit the nail on the head. We didn’t get the amount of work these kids do and alot of the stuff they’re learning in high school was what we did in college! Even if it’s not an AP!</p>
<p>It is hard to say as the world has changed. SATs were rescaled down a few years ago and I think my SAT scores would have been high enough given the rescaling. I didn’t study at all for the SATs and only took them once and think that playing by today’s rules, my scores would be pretty strong. Grades were good enough (top 5 out of 400). What would not have been good enough were my ECs. However, I was playing the old game and if I knew I needed more compelling ECs, I would have done so. So, I think I would be in the ball park, but it is such a crap shoot now.</p>
<p>I don’t recall working much in high school, but I don’t know that the courses were that much different. I see Social Studies and Biology as being much more advanced than when I was in HS. Math was the same; physics and chemistry also, I think; not sure about English. The fact that we didn’t have to work as hard doesn’t mean we wouldn’t have.</p>
<p>Ha! I attended a Title 1 rural public with fewer than 400 kids. I did not take math past Geometry Soph year and don’t think our school offered anything past Alg II. I met what were then ( I think) the a-e requirements and my GPA was high enough that all it took for me to get into the UC system was a 900 math/verbal. When the SAT rolled around fall of Sr year I had no prep, no math for 1.5 years before and I tanked it. But it was enough for UC eligibility and I got into all three campuses I wanted…the ones with beaches close by of course.</p>
<p>No, I couldn’t get into my alma mater though my D was accepted last year and the only way I could have gotten into DDs’ school was if they decided to disregarded the math debacle.</p>
<p>But if I were applying today I would have taken the SAT for the first time early Junior year and done serious prep before taking it subsequent times. In other words I would have done what was necessary to get a chance at being where I wanted to be.</p>
<p>My alma mater is a great school, but not really selective so I know I would have no trouble getting in now with my grades & test scores from back then. D’s school is a different matter. On one hand my ACT score was high enough (I didn’t take SAT’s, went to school in the Midwest), but my grades wouldn’t get me in. However, I also knew I didn’t have the options available that D did , so I didn’t work as hard. My HS had honors in math & english only and very few students took them (I did in math). No AP. So it is kind of like the whole apples to oranges thing.</p>
<p>UCLA —undergrad, no (I only had a 3.8). But grad school, yes
I honestly don’t remember my SAT scores. And I don’t remember even being concerned.</p>
<p>I have an interesting situation. I could definitely get into my alma mater. It would be a safety for me at this point. But, I’ll bet I could now get into a number of the most ultra-selective universities because now I would be a recruited athlete who could handle the academics. No such thing as girls being recruited for athletics back in my day.</p>
<p>Do you know if this recentering (#33) applies back to the dark ages? I took the SAT’s in 1967; I always assumed that my scores would be more than acceptable even using the old system. Given my GPA and class rank, I definitely would still be in the mix at my alma mater, but since it’s a single initial school/single-digit acceptance rate now, obviously it would be a crap shoot. Can we talk about how the world has changed for EC’s?
And yes, I’m pretty sure I could get into my daughter’s school, although she did better in some of her SAT II’s than I did.</p>
<p>I went to a school that is now a top 20 LAC. I don’t know if they even had rankings back in my day, I just liked the school. I doubt I could get in today with my existing high school grades (B, I think?) and SATs (about 1250 then). I also took the ACT because one of my safeties required it and I think I did well. I don’t recall any AP or honors classes at my HS. I didn’t do a lot of ECs, but I did have two jobs year round. I know its much more competitive now just from following it on the CC Boards. My son’s school - no effen way!</p>
<p>I think so! I attended a top50 magnet latin high school (7-12). At the time I nor my family considered the potential impact of my not attending my local school. I sort of decided to accept the offer of admission at the last minute. It was a life changing experience. A large percentage of the teachers realized the academic potential of the students and on more than one occasion I had teachers who stepped aside to allow the students to set the curriculum. At the time (mid 70s) we were ranked number 3 the nation in the number of AP courses among public HSs. Yet several of my teachers stressed that we should not use or AP credit to opt out of college courses. I finished in the top 10%, had strong SATS and solid ECs (3 varsity sports, student government, a couple of clubs and summer experience). I ended up at a top10 LAC.</p>