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Late 80s for me.
And yes, the dreaded typewriter and correction tape - the things of nightmares!
I took my school’s SAT test prep class and did mediocre, so took the ACT which was much much better. (But I don’t remember prepping for the ACT at all).
My mom took me on some college visits. I applied to 3 SUNYS (which I think was just one application but I don’t remember), Bucknell, Colgate, Penn and Cornell. I applied ED to Cornell which I loved, and was deferred but then accepted RD. WL at Penn (but never visited). Colgate was my one rejection. And in at Bing, Buffalo, and Geneseo.
I distinctly remember being at school on Ivy Day for some kind of music rehearsal and waiting in a huge line for the pay phone to call home to see if the mail came. I remember my mom saying I got a huge envelope from Cornell and she opened it while I waited on the line.
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If I had a nickel…
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Early 80s, attended a competitive HS in an affluent suburb where people were already getting tutored for the SAT, buying the first edition of the Fiske Guide, and were obsessed with getting into the best college. I’ll never forget someone saying that they couldn’t believe that a brilliant friend of mine was “only going to Penn.” I hated the whole scene.
I toured and interviewed at several SLACs and a few Ivys. My safeties were my parents’ alma maters both of which have single-digit acceptance rates today, but back in the Stone Age those schools were less selective and gave great weight to legacies. I got into several schools including Columbia, Tufts, JHU, and Wesleyan, but chose Haverford for its low-key vibe and non-competitive environment. I’ve never regretted my choice.
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I’m some ways it was totally easier. Love your story!
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1969 (I know…the Stone Age), I applied to three colleges and the winner was the one that cost the least amount. I transferred after freshman year to one of our public state universities. I really should have just gone there from the get go. I never toured a college. Never saw my freshman school until move in day. The only reason I visited my transfer was to attend a few parties my HS friends were having there. No tours…no info sessions.
My kids…2003 kid toured a bunch of schools but only applied to 7. But as a music performance major, that was the threshold of auditions he wanted to do. He only did one accepted student visit and that is to where he matriculated…they were awesome setting up a special day for him.
Kid 2 was 2006. Visited a bunch of colleges. Applied initially to only 3. Was accepted to these three before Christmas senior year. She added a reach and we then asked her to add a closeby choice in case she changed her mind. She did three accepted student visits to those first three colleges.
The common application was just beginning to be used. Neither of my kids used it…applied using the college specific applications.
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I love this image. Sigh. Waiting for the pay phone and the big envelope. It’s a John Hughes movie that someone else should make now.
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My kids applied to less schools than me. They only put in 3 applications, all state schools as hopeful NMFs. I applied to 5, and never heard of the terms safeties and reaches. Our guidance counselor wasn’t very helpful. I just pored over that huge college book and picked schools. And just assumed I’d get in everywhere. Fortunately I did, but times, and tuitions, were very different in 1983. John Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon, Villanova, UVA (as OOS), and Penn State main. All for engineering. Went to VU and loved it. But would never be able to afford it at current prices. It’s nutty out there with tuitions today.
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I’m still amazed how little I knew and where I ended up. High school class of 1968 in a small Midwestern town and parents were not college graduates but wanted me to go somewhere. History teacher thought I could go to a school back east so I looked them up in the Readers Digest almanac and wrote off for catalogs and applications Applied to 3 and ended up at Yale; my first trip east of the Mississippi was when I matriculated Talk about culture shock!
My DD13 toured at least 10, applied to 8, got into 5 including an Ivy. She knew what she was getting into and was very well adapted
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I applied to one school…our biggest state school.
Never visited any schools.
Just knew I wanted to go to a big school.
I never worried about not getting in. From what I remember, as long as you were in the top half of your class and took the ACT you got in.
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I haven’t read the entire thread but my experience is pretty different - neither of my parents attended college (one went straight into the police force, the other managed restaurants) - I had zero guidance and didn’t know the first thing about applying to college (1976). I think I got “lucky” because my junior & senior years of hs were at an open education “alternative” k-12 school. There were 10 in my graduating class, I was an overachiever - as were my schoolmates. I received a letter in the mail from Western Washington State College in Bellingham, offering me a full ride scholarship. I had zero intention of going to college, I had already been attending our local “city college” as part of my senior year (now called community college) so thought I “might” continue there. I showed the letter to my head teacher who suggested I accept it. So I did. I took Amtrak from Los Angeles, alone, with one suitcase. Took a bus to the campus. Hated the school although I was doing fairly well. Left after a year. Ended up at city college and eventually landed at Chapman University - but left when I discovered my love of filmmaking - I have held some high-powered positions including national revenue manager for a Fortune 100 company and marketing director for a nationally recognized landscape architecture firm…all without a degree in hand.
My D was a good student but I never cared about grades, instead I was interested in her experience(s). She applied to 3 schools, was accepted to all. She ended up at a women’s college, and although she was excelling, she also didn’t care for the school overall, so applied to transfer to Parsons for fashion design with a dual degree in culture and media, both of which she enjoyed. And eventually went on to an advanced degree (12 years later) in costume design.
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Late 70’s graduate. I was a top student at a very good high school. Unfortunately, college counseling was a joke, my parents didn’t go to college, and we had four kids within 3 years of each other. I didn’t know anything about financial aid. Many of my friends were going to UMichigan, but even in state tuition was a lot (given that I would have to pay). I knew about a very highly regarded co-op college about 45 minutes from home. My brother was dating a girl whose sister was a student there, so I visited & liked it. I applied, was accepted, got matched with a co-op position near home, and that was that. That was the only school I applied to, because I didn’t want to get accepted to a school I couldn’t afford. No regrets, as it was what worked for my situation.
I knew all about financial aid with my kids, since I worked in the field. D visited a lot of schools, and she applied to 10. She went to two of them (transferred after freshman year). S wasn’t very invested in the process. He visited two schools, applied to 5 or 6, and went to two (he also transferred after freshman year).
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I graduated from a rural HS in OK in 1979. The one math class I had was Algebra in 8th grade. I think I took two science classes. The girls had oodles of typing, shorthand, office practice, and home economics classes to choose from and the boys had shop, auto mechanics, and ag classes. Gym class was basketball year round for both boys and girls. I did well in English classes and my teachers loved me because I read a lot. College counseling was non-existent except for the school notifying us of the ACT dates and location in our town. I got a 23 (but always scored in the 95+%ile in the verbal sections of standardized tests). I applied to the commuter school in my hometown, then applied and transferred to OSU 3 years later to study Forestry (which required 145 credits and a 9 week summer field camp, so it took me another three years to graduate). My parents assisted with nothing and paid for nothing. I’ve worked about 28 years as a Forester. My husband’s experience was much the same except that he attended a large HS school in a large city with more academic and EC options. After doing badly at his local commuter school, his mother ordered him to apply to a specific out of state school, and his parents gave him $1,000 his first year and then nothing else.
My kids applied to way too many schools and I helped them way too much with their applications because of my experience of having to do everything on my own. One kid chose to go to a private HS. She went to a lot of soccer ID camps at colleges and we also took her on a lot of college visits which she enjoyed a lot. She ended up at Bryn Mawr. The other kid went to a pretty good public HS, was 6th in her class of 395 and ended up at Virginia Tech in engineering. She had tagged along on her sister’s college visits so really just wanted to visit a couple of colleges.
Our and our kids educational and family support experiences were polar opposites.
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Haha! I graduated in 1978 and had only applied and went to one university. One of our big state ones. Just drove through it once to pick up the the brother of my friend, not a visit. I just went there because my friend was and everyone else it seemed.
So easy to get in those Universities then. If you were a resident, all you needed was a 2.5 GPA. My SAT’s weren’t anything to write home about either.
Now, they only accept 40% in-state students and the competition is fierce. One son didn’t get in, the other was accepted to a bridge program first, then got in that way.
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My dad was a college graduate (a teacher for 42 years), my mom’s parents told her the only way they’d pay for college is if she became a nurse or a teacher. Neither of those were for her, so she paid her way through a business school/secretarial program, got a job as a secretary at IBM and worked her way up over the years to a systems analyst position (and took college classes along the way to support that).
Mid 80’s high school grad. I wanted out of dodge (NY State) for college. I applied to two SUNY’s at the insistence of my parents and spread a wide net to several large midwestern universities that had successful football teams that regularly played on national TV and in bowl games. That was my criteria. I wanted tailgates and cool weather fall football games. Applied to 6 schools (applications were pretty easy back then), got in at all 6. No visits other than to the 2 SUNY’s. I was pumped to either become a Buckeye or a Hawkeye but my parents were not willing to pay for me to be halfway across the country, so to SUNY I went. No regrets other than no football, which I’ve more than made up for by going to games at my daughters’ universities. My husband teases that I live vicariously through my daughters’ college experiences, which is probably true with regard to the football games - I really wanted that experience.
I went to a good high school in an upper middle-class area of NY, where probably 70 percent of my classmates went on to a 4-year college. I don’t recall much chatter about where everyone was going to college. I may have known where my close friends were going but that was it. It has only been during the Facebook era, and reconnecting with high school friends, that I’ve learned where everyone landed after high school.
Someone upthread mentioned the college brochures - they were massive, and the cover photo was a make-or-break as to whether or not I would even consider applying 
At our high school, they were kept in the guidance office, like a mini library, and we could check them out to take home and look at.
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Yup. The skinny envelope was a bad sign back then . . .
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Everything seems way more competitive now. I had like an A- average (but very high rigor at a competitive math/science academy), and I think a 1400 SAT (it was around there) in 1993… and I got into a couple of top-20 schools. I think I applied to 7 schools and none that were considered a safety. Basically the same stats as my S23… but now it seems like that would be a minor miracle to get into a Top 20.
On the plus side, it’s way easier to find good programs all over the country, and figure out fit by talking to students and recent alumni. There are youtube videos made by students that give a general idea of what its like, and tons of ways to interact with current students.
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Went to college in mid 80s and much of same experience as other with parents that did not go to college but insisted it was important for me.
One more thing to add was this concept now vs then of “rigor”. I remember talking to my mom about whether I should take an honors or non honors class and we were like oh too much pressure in honors / makes more sense just to get an A in non honors.
My dad only let me apply to one OOS school (Penn State) because he thought that sticker on his car would be cool.
I don’t remember feeling pressure to get good grades or study much in high school. My parents just wanted me to graduate (Bs we’re fine) and go away from home to a 4 year college.
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Decades ago, I took the SAT once and applied to 3 schools: Penn State, Elon, and the school I ended up attending. We didn’t visit any schools; the only college I’d ever been to was Embry Riddle because that’s where my brother went to school. Our GC made us apply to at least 3 schools. I really wanted to go to Elon. I’d never been there; it was my dream school at the time, but I couldn’t afford it. I found it when I was researching schools in the old “big book of colleges.” I fell in love with the description and pictures. Even back then PSU was one of PA’s more expensive options. I went to my school because it was the cheapest option at that time; I was able to commute and work. DH had a totally different experience; he was a recruited athlete at PSU, UDEL, Dartmouth, Clemson and a couple others. His parents really wanted Dartmouth, but he shocked everyone and switched to Clemson at the last moment.
Fastword 3 1/2 decades, D20s process was similar to my own except we did visit her chosen options. She took the ACT once and only applied to a handful of schools; she only liked 3 of them but felt she should apply to more. Her application process was pretty easy, other than all of the supplemental essays; she decided she wanted to stay within 4 hours of home. She was accepted to all, so there was no drama.
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Interesting about rigor. We had four tracks in our public HS in the 80s - AP, Regents, Regular, and Remedial (called something different). Everyone who went to college took a combo of AP/Regents classes. I don’t think we were allowed to take all APs and there was a prescribed order to the curriculum, but I remember maxing out what I could take.
ECs were also important, as was class rank, which was still reported.
I felt a ton of pressure to do well. I was the first to go to college on either side of my immigrant family too.
I also forgot to add that my mom and I visited Dartmouth but it didn’t make my list.
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