<p>In the early eighties, college was just a stepping stone for me. I just wanted to be a Navy pilot; and thus I had to be an officer which required a four year degree. I was initially very interested in the Naval Academy, but since we had been living in Europe for eight years, I didn’t think I could get an appointment to the Academy. So I decided to enlist (much to my parents dismay). After attending Boot Camp and various Navy schools, I applied for and was awarded a NROTC scholarship while stationed in Asia. When it came time to pick a school, and since cost was not a factor, my decision was driven by location and weather. Having enjoyed being stationed in San Diego, I choose to concentrate on USC, UCLA, and USD. I applied to USC first, and was initially denied but later accepted after submitting additional academic material. (I seriously doubt that they would touch me today given their much higher standards and stingy acceptance rate). </p>
<p>As far as majors, the Navy encouraged engineering so that’s what I opted to do. That was probably my biggest mistake because I had to work much harder than my peers for a major that I would never use. I was going to be a pilot after all…However, I really enjoyed my time at USC and would do it all over again, mostly because that is where I met my wife. The only thing that I would change is I would have majored in something that really interested me (economics or maybe history) instead of engineering. I would have also joined a fraternity because of the social scene and networking opportunities. And yes, the Trojan network is very strong. When I retired from the service, a fellow alumnus helped me get me my current job.</p>
<p>Lastly, my kids hope to follow in their parents footsteps although the cost of tuition is daunting. Perhaps ROTC is in their future too…</p>
<p>Based on the facts available then, I made an excellent choice: UCLA. I had good enough academic stats for admission almost anywhere. Add the “hook” that I was a very heavily-recruited football and baseball player, and remove the “almost” (except for Bryn Mawr or Wellesley, I suppose!). UCLA had good academics, a good location, strong programs in both sports, and coaches in both sports who were willing to let me miss some time to play the other. I figured I’d go from UCLA to a professional sports career, to an early retirement spent on philanthropy and travel.OK, so a tiny bit naive!</p>
<p>Signing a professional baseball contract while still at UCLA lost me my scholarship and my eligibility to play NCAA football (that was the rule back in the day), and my baseball career peaked with only a sixteen-day stint in the majors. Fortunately, my baseball signing bonus was sufficient to fund the remainder of my undergraduate studies, as well as a master’s and doctorate. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any particular passion for any academic area, even though I pushed through and earned a doctorate.</p>
<p>Knowing how things turned out, I wish I had gone to a small coed LAC in New England, followed by grad school in architecture (far afield from my own degrees subsequent career). I’m keeping my fingers crossed that my kids can find something to be passionate about (apart from their iPhones, obviously).</p>
<p>No regrets about attending U of Wisconsin-Madison. Regrets about being so frugal while in college. Was able to live on campus instead of commuting. Wish I had listed it first for NMS- maybe I would have had a four year scholarship instead of a one time award (a HS classmate and college friend both got the 4 years). However- I desperately wanted to leave town and listed an OOS school giving many NMS first. I am lucky Minn and Wis did not have reciprocity back then- a college friend did grad school at U of Minn and their Chemistry facilities were terrible in comparison then. </p>
<p>Whole new ball game now. Back then there were no need blind applications and many schools had barely become coed. Also, while I had excellent credentials back then they likely would have been different to fit current trends. ACT/SAT scoring, AP courses et al. Computers with ability to learn more about many schools- including scholarships available. I was lucky a top public flagship was in my own backyard (well- 8 miles away and a world apart from my suburb). Now there are probably a lot more less wealthy students at some of the top private schools. Even if I were accepted to Harvard back then I would have never had the money for ordinary day to day expenses, clothing or travel/vacations et al. I was frugal even at my public U- not work study like some, however.</p>
<p>Son only applied to two elite schools and UW. He had a great experience with a top dept at UW. We could have afforded to have him apply or go anywhere but he only wanted MIT (told my sister he would pick UW over Stanford- I can see why myself). He was barely 16 when he did applications- stubborn…</p>
<p>I have become a lot more philosophical as I have grown older and wiser (wiser, not necessarily wise). There is a lot more to life than pure academics. The liberal atmosphere for college was excellent. Lack of Greek life importance another factor. Intellectual but not other elitism…</p>
<p>When we went for the parent part of son’s summer orientation I walked parts of the campus again. Also stayed in a dorm overnight. Some things have improved, others remain the same. Would not want to be a student again- it is for the young! Therefore, when I look at all of the marvelous improvements I also look at where I am today with computers, cell phones et al. I consider my mother’s college era as well. I am part of my generation.</p>
<p>To the person who said Northeastern instead of BU, not me. I would go to BU all over again. I have a grad degree from Northeastern so am not unfamiliar with it. My heart still belongs to BU!</p>
<p>If I had a do over I would apply to Stanford.</p>
<p>P.s. @wis75 I am at UW for the weekend. Nice place! Not my first time here but always nice to visit again.</p>
<p>Had great numbers and went to Indiana-Bloomington… because my mother went there, that’s all I knew and it’s where a dozen people from my high school seemed to go each year. In retrospect, I didn’t do any of the visits, research, etc. that’s standard procedure these days. I’m fairly confident 16 and 17-year-old me would have fallen in love with and applied to Northwestern and Georgetown if I had had any exposure to them.</p>
<p>I was an undergrad at Cornell and would do it again in a minute …although my acceptance would be a lot more iffy now. In my time on CC the LACs have become very enticing … however when I visit with my kids they are just too small for me. UVM is a possible alternative … it seems like a more fun version of Cornell in many ways.</p>
<p>I just hated being at a large state U, even tho in Honors. Joined a sorority cuz only way to leave dorm. Wish I had gone to Wellesley, tho I later got to work there. I’m clearly a LAC gal. I was so hung ho to leave Philly, but UPenn, Bryn Mawr, or Swath were so much better choices for me. I saved my parents lots of tuition money, as finished in less than 3 years. What I learned was to expose my son to various campuses, and not make money the deciding factor. </p>
<p>I loved Bard in the mid-70s (it was NOT the gleaming Bard it is today, but still a small world in a dream to me with the most amazing professors) and would certainly want nothing but to go back, but I am sure my HS record would be much too poor for me to be admitted now in comparison to today’s studets, and besides, my family could never afford the $64,000 tuition. When I went, it was $8,000/yr and I paid for more than half with a part-time job and scholarships.</p>
<p>ps, Bard English major. Got me into Columbia MA, then to NYU for Ph.D. (I transferred to NYU because they gave me a TA and Columbia didn’t). To Columbia’s discredit, the TA interview I had with the team there was the most poorly conducted, inane confusion of a meeting I have ever attended. NYUs, in comparison, was polished, professional, and quite a delight in which to participate and listen and learn. </p>
<p>If I had a do-over as a high school senior today (as opposed to years ago actuality), my application list would shift in a generally less selective direction from what it actually was years ago.</p>
<p>Then: reach. Now: don’t bother, due to no realistic chance of admission.
Then: assumed match, but found out later were really safety. Now: reach to high match.
Then: safety. Now: probably low match.
Then: nothing else. Now: additional less selective schools as safeties.</p>
<p>I would still go to Lafayette. Best four years of my life. When touring schools with my DD last year, I saw no others that I could see myself attending instead except possibly the school that my D ultimately chose. I will always be a LAC girl. Whenever I visit Lafayette I get that overwhelming feeling of “coming home”. I thrived on the personal education I received there. I think I would still get in. I was salutatorian of my class and had the SAT scores and EC’s required.</p>
<p>Hindsight is 20/20. I should have taken the full ride merit scholarship offered by state flagship, rather than borrowed to attend the faraway private school.</p>
<p>I didn’t have any real beef with the college I attended, and even if I did, it wouldn’t have mattered because my parents made me go there. I would have made different choices once I was there, though. I definitely would have changed my major, or at least the focus within my major, and not worried so much about my social and dating life. Both my sons fell in love with my alma mater and ended up going there but I insisted they look at a couple of other schools so that at least they’d be making an informed choice. </p>
<p>I don’t know why everyone keeps saying their high school record would be too poor to go back. Do you think these kids are innately more intelligent than you? No. They work differently. I’m pretty sure if you all went back, it’d all shake out pretty much the same way since you would be a student doing it the way they do today. They didn’t recenter the SATs cuz the kids were doing BETTER on them than we were. sheesh.</p>
<p>Interesting point, @poetgirl. I just tried to search by to my college of choice to see if I could find SAT ranges for acceptance back then. No luck with Google, at least not obviously. That would be a very interesting thing to see.</p>
<p>Back in the day, I attended Southwestern University. If I were to do it over again, my dream college would be Carleton College, but my more realistic option would be the other Southwestern in Memphis (which has since changed its name to Rhodes College). </p>