I was just thinking, my dad and my grandfather got into Yale, but even with great grades and solid SATs, my son took his APs in his senior year because he has a learning disability and he took a regular English class and only a few APs. He was active in Mock Trial and Drama (tech) and Eagle scout, but no way could he get in. As far as I know, my dad was brilliant, but didn’t belong to clubs, and I’m guessing in the 50’s there weren’t the ECs there are today.
My husband went to MIT in the 90s. He had solid grades and limited APs because his high school didn’t offer. He was on Student Council and in drama as an actor. No research or anything, and there is NO WAY he could get in today and my son would have had an ice cube’s change in hell of getting in He applied to Caltech, but it would be a miracle if he gets in.
I went to Simmons College, a women’s college in Boston, and I can’t find any posts of what the stats are to get in. I had As and Bs and APs but I didn’t have much in the way of ECs. Though it’s not particularly competitive that I know of, still I think I might have a tough time getting in if I had to apply today.
There is no way I could get into my alma mater now. It’s one of the top universities now with a low acceptance rate. I only had 1 AP, member of the Honor Society, and a handful of EC’s. Plus, my SAT was not exactly stellar.
It’s ridiculous the hoops kids have to jump through now. And people wonder why kids are so stressed these days.
In the case of the top 50 colleges at least, it is safe to say that many students admitted 20 or so years ago would not be admitted today, ceteris parabus.
In just the past 10 years schools like Northeastern, BU, BC, USC etc. have become incredibly competitive.
A few of my friends occasionally discuss this - many wouldn’t get into their college today (since they have gotten more selective). We also discuss that we couldn’t afford to buy the houses we now live in (since they have appreciated so much in value since we bought them 30 years ago).
Everything is relative. If you were applying today, you would understand what is required & adjust your schedule to make yourself a competitive applicant.
In May of 1975, as a junior, I walked into the SAT absolutely blind, as did everyone I knew. No prep classes, no time in school spent prepping for the SATs. I signed up, went in, took them once and applied to CC… then 2 years later to one transfer school. I got in, and graduated in 1980. and got my Masters in 1984.
I’ve taught so many SAT prep classes that I’m absolutely confident that I could do far, far better than the uncentered 1230 I scored in 1975. (Funny, I remember the score all these years later because I called home from lunch at school-- at 12:30pm-- and got my scores from my mom.)
Its a frequent lament here on CC that admission to the top elites has gotten tougher each year. If you just look at the acceptance rates to those schools they are dropping every year!
More than twenty years ago test scores like 1550+ were rare. Nowadays an outstanding academic record in school and beyond can no longer distinguish an applicant because 4.0GPA/SAT1600/ACT36 are all too common. You have to do much more in ECs and others to stand out.
But to the question “Could you get into your alma mater now?” the answer is you probably still can. If your husband and father were HYPSM material then, they would most likely be now. It is just that they would have done ton of ECs to adapt to today’s culture beyond good grades.
I am pretty sure that I would not get into my Alma Mater today if I applied with the same stats that I had back then. However, I think that I probably would still get into the university that I wish that I had gone to instead (which is also a good one).
@Publisher I guess the better question is would you want to do the things required to get into your school today? For me, I wasn’t really interested in ECs, and I’m not sure I would have wanted to do them just to get in.
Here’s the big difference. I was probably in the top 10 in my high school, but with much lower stats than would be need today. In addition, nobody did academic competitions, or padded their resume just to look for colleges. We hung out in the street during the day and in the arcade at night in the summer, worked part time jobs for spending money, and played a bunch of different sports because it was fun. That I couldn’t get in to my alma matter today doing the same things it kinda sad.
But the real question is whether the same % of the class get in to a given set of schools as a generation ago. My hypothesis is that top colleges are casting a wider net today. So a higher proportion may get into top colleges from rural/disadvantaged areas than a generation ago (when they just wouldn’t have applied) and relatively fewer will get in from middle class suburbs.
I’d be interested to find out how things have changed at top feeder schools in terms of admits. My school in the UK sent a lot of kids to Oxbridge. In my generation it was 50-60 per year in a class of 200. Today it’s 20-30 per year. So undoubtedly the competition is tougher, because the intelligence of those kids hasn’t changed. The US may have even more of a shift because the population has grown much faster than the UK in that time. OTOH top prep schools may not face as much competition for various admit categories like certain sports, parents who are major donors, etc.
I went to a top 20 college. I’d say 20 out of my high school actually went to that college (don’t know how many were accepted). Now, out of my old high school, maybe 10-12 get in, and half that many go.
H and I both could not get into our alma maters now. Even S thinks he could not get into his college now as the business school has become much more competitive. BUT we’re all excellent alumni and as they say, timing is everything.
Not a chance. It had close to a 50% admit rate back in the day and it’s more like 10% now. No way would I have stood out from the crowd to that degree.
Maybe, possibly not. When my son was applying to my alma mater, I remember telling him I did not think I would get in if I applied today.
SAT scores are higher now than they were then. If we follow Publisher’s advice above and add 150-170 points, then my scores would be competitive for my alma mater. As they actually are, however, my scores probably would weaken my application considerably. But my grades, extracurriculars, and recommendations were strong, so maybe.
Certainly admission is much harder now than it was in the 1980’s.
