I applied to two colleges back in the day, PSU and Cornell. I was accepted at both but got full tuition merit scholarships at PSU so I ended up there in the honors program back when it was called the Atherton Scholars program. I think it was rebranded as the Schreyer Honors College before I graduated, but I’m not positive. Memory is fuzzy but I want to say the honors program had a separate application in addition to the general university application.
My H, who attended college after serving several years in the Navy, applied only to PSU after the Navy. When he was a senior in high school he applied to two or three colleges and I think got into all, but decided to enlist instead. Interestingly, I don’t think he applied to PSU while in high school, but later on I guess it was more attractive to him.
Also, my daughter did ask me to proofread her essays. I helped with grammar and punctuation, but never content (even though I might have changed a few things). She asked for ideas on a couple questions and then wrote them on her own. At the time, I thought they could have been a little better, but clearly she did fine on her own.
I think the opposite was true for me - I applied to several schools (probably 8-10) because I was going for a gymnastics scholarship, and all were out of state. A year later and one injury, and I was back at the in-state school with no more scholarship. Both S16 and D18 only applied to 3 in-state schools (2 overlapping). I was sure D18 would expand her search, but she dropped from 6 to 3 really quickly in October since the 2 OOS were not as selective as our in-state flagship, and the other in-state school was too small for her. Part of the reason why I am really hopeful that she gets into the flagship in-state, since I think the two OOS would have been great alternatives and perhaps would have offered merit $.
I love hearing about all of the different colleges our kids are pursuing in this group - such a wide range of interests and such variation in what campuses offer!
In 1977 when I applied it was all hand written apps sent through Usps. Visited Lafayette and Lehigh on same day In January with my Dad. Changed my application to early decision. Got in and 6 years later got a degree (Long story)
Back then no merit money to speak of although my first year room board and Tuition was Only $5,500 By the time I graduated $10,000. Today 65,000.
Congratulations to your D on all of those acceptances, @jbsanderlin! I totally get that the decision comes down to money. That’s true for most of us I think.
I applied to a total of 2 schools, both state schools. I remember typing out something (essays?) on the typewriter. I think the change came with the advent of the Common App, but also with the skyrocketing costs of college. I think lots of kids apply to way more because they are chasing merit and because it’s just become so more competitive - because of the Common App. Older D applied to way more schools than D18. Many lessons learned with older D that helped inform the process with D18.
I applied to six Northeast schools in 1987 - all handwritten applications - and I STILL HAVE COPIES of them. Oh, they are marvelous. Just recently, I dug them up and read my essay for Dartmouth (where I went). Wrote about working in my dad’s dental office. I loved that essay then and love it now even more (thought adult me sure would have filled in a few blanks in the essay; I found myself reading it and thinking, “Need a specific example here…”)
I went CC route, my parents were useless and offered no support. I do know that back in my day, 1984, working thru college was do-able unlike today. Most of my peers went to San Jose State or the CC’s. I can only think of a few that went elsewhere. Most went to work or vocational schools. My high school was a low demographic school and upper ed was not the thing.
I personally think the kids should write their own essays, they don’t have our experience and education and their essays should read like a 17/18 yr old wrote it. Just my opinion.
Back in 1987 I applied to 4 schools but 3 of them were colleges that were part of Rutgers, back then you had to apply to each college within Rutgers separately. I also applied to The University of Delaware where I ended up. I honestly don’t even recall writing essays, but I’m sure they were part of the process haha.
I applied to 13 schools back in the late 80s. I was looking for an athletic scholarship, back in the day when most schools were just starting women’s programs in my sport. Ended up getting waitlisted at my top 3 - an Ivy, a Top 20 and a highly competitive OOS public - and gave up on going anywhere until one of my safeties called in early June to see why I hadn’t made a deposit. On my moms advice, I deposited at the safety, and attended for a year before transferring out the next year to a school that hadn’t even been on my radar during my senior year. The new school had started a program in my sport during the year that I spent at my safety. I got to play my sport at the new school, which is a Top 20 now, but hadn’t reached that point yet when I attended. I had a great experience and still feel very connected to my alma mater. That’s the very long story behind why I believe things will work out in the long run when it comes to colleges, even if there is some initial disappointment for some of the kiddos going through this process now.
I stated above I vistited Lafayette and Lehigh on same day and changed to early decision however, I see I failed to state that I changed to Lafayette earliy deicison. Big rivalry between the two schools so wanted to make sure everyone understood that I choose Lafayette early decision over Lehigh…lol
I was offered several full-ride athletic scholarships, but turned them down and applied ED to Dartmouth, with the backing of the XC coach. I remember hand-writing the application and going into the counseling office to get another copy of one section because I made a spelling error on mine!
My mom was worried I wouldn’t get in because I put the stamp on the wrong side of the envelope!
It all worked out and I had four lovely years there, but had to work two full-time jobs during breaks in addition to being a three-sport athlete to afford it. They “meet full need”, but my dad wasn’t putting anything toward my college expenses and wrote them a letter stating as much. They said anyone could write a letter like that and they couldn’t take it into account. So they incorporated his income into my award and it basically meant I had to make up about $10k/year that my mom couldn’t afford.
I was awarded an endowed scholarship after the first two quarters which helped, but I ended up graduating with $28k in loans!
I only applied to the Cal State schools. I think there was just one application and you checked which ones you wanted. My parents said I could either go to a CSU and get a car for graduation or go to a UC and no car. I chose car like any idiot 17 year old. Never considered going OOS since boyfriend was going to be at UCLA and I didn’t want to be too far from him. Guess it worked out okay since we are still together 30 years later
I just just see the cost of going to college and it is beyond me. I honestly have no clue how people do it. especially when you have two or three kids going to college at the same time. It was so much easier in the 80;s and for sure a gift in comparison to today’s numbers. My parents always reminded me that even with their small amount of savings, they were able to afford our colleges because the banks were paying 12 to 15% on CDs. At the time, the Florida schools had one application and you basically had to mark or ranked your top 3 options. It was pretty easy.
My daughter applied to 8 Public Universities one of which is our not so easy to get in instate Flagship… We told her that in order for any of these OOS schools to be an option, they would have to offer close to instate tuition. It seems like the process is somewhat of a numbers game. Today the majority of us are chasing affordability (Merit). Getting accepted is not good enough. We want to know that we are in and and what the bottom line is and the sooner the better.
As an example, she was accepted to the University of Pittsburgh back in early October and to this date she has not been offered any merit and based on some of the posters here, she will probably not get any. I think the excitement lasted a full 2 days. Pitt was probably on her top choices before applying but right now it is not even a thought.
On the other hand, a school that was somewhat lower on the list due to the fact that it was a little bit of reach both academically and financially, has been the great surprise. This is now her top choice even though she is still waiting for a couple of schools. For sure a surprise and not one that I would have guessed this past summer. I think any of the schools would have worked fine. Sometimes, I think the overall game is bigger than the final score. We are all going to be OK.
@MomOutWest Oh my, I can only imagine reading my (hand-written) apps from back in the day!
In 1983, I remember having to send away to get the applications themselves. I might have actually typed a couple on my really cool electric typewriter (with fancy correction ribbon). At the time I was heavily into quilting and dragged my creations out on the lawn to take pictures, which I then sent with the apps. Why, I can’t really remember lol.
I applied to (and got into all of them):
University of Rochester
Cornell
St. John Fisher College
Syracuse (where I went)
Ithaca College
Feels like there was one more - Colgate?
I’m not sure which of those I could get into these days, if any. =))
So funny - I clearly remember trying to fit those applications into the typewriter and line everything up. Typing so carefully to not make a mistake! I applied to 4 schools and it was so much work, each with separate essays. I would say that the advent of computers plus the Common App definitely increased the average number of schools to which students apply. Our GC says it is 6-10 at our school.
I’m pretty sure I just recently got rid of my fancy electric typewriter with correction ribbon. Not sure why I kept it so long, but it was so cool back in the day.
I only applied to two colleges. There were only 2 in state options that offered my major. Got into both. Never considered going out of state.
My mom had to send away for applications for me, back in the 90s. I applied and got into: UGA, Georgia Southern, Barry of Miami, and Spring Hill College. We were looking for any combination of Catholic college, regional schools, journalism major, and need aid (my high school grades weren’t the greatest, so I had no merit aid). Spring Hill was where I attended.
In 1986 I applied to UT-Austin (Plan II), UGA-Honors, UNC, UVA, Sewanee and W&L. I really wanted to go to UVA but was wait listed there and UNC. Of the others it came down to UT or W&L, but I was wait listed for Plan II and had a good financial deal at W&L so that’s where I ended up.
We are not sharing S18’s college acceptances generally on Facebook, but once he picks a school I suspect we will do some sort of post in a college t-shirt or with a banner or something, if he lets us.
