Parents... What were YOUR admissions experiences like? Times have changed!

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I am extremely interested in CC’s parents’ experiences in applying to college, especially if it differs from how it’s done today.</p>

<p>My story, to start: My parents had zero money to give me for college and did not seem too interested (except that my father, and me also, I guess) wanted me to be an aeronautical engineer. I had a little -VERY LITTLE - money saved from my $1.10 per hour part-time job (this was in the Sixties). I knew I would have to rely on scholarships and the money I would make from being a Co-Op student - alternating quarters between school and work. A few friends of mine and i did our own school visits around the Southeast (by Greyhound bus). </p>

<p>I applied to one school, and one school only - Georgia Tech, because (1) they had no application fee at the time, (2) they had a co-op program, and (3) I absolutely, absolutely fell head-over-heels in love with the city of Atlanta! When i got my co-op offer of $2.05 an hour, I could not believe I could make that much. With that pay and some small scholarships, I could - if I could get past the first quarter - pay my way for out-of-state tuition. It was a five-year program, but hey, I was in college. On my first day of college, my parents dropped me off at the Greyhound station with all of my possessions in one trunk. I walked - dragging the trunk - from the station in downtown Atlanta to the dorm I was staying in at Tech. But I was in heaven.</p>

<p>My grades and SAT scores were good but I have no idea what would have happened if I had not gotten the scholarships and the co-op job. Or if I had not been accepted. </p>

<p>How much are we talking about? It makes me laugh now that I had so much trouble making enough to cover it, but out-of-state tuition at the time at Ga. Tech was $333 per quarter. The dorm was $80 per quarter, and the 2-meal plan in the dining hall was $140 per quarter (or vice versa).</p>

<p>Times have changed a bit.</p>

2

<p>I didn’t attend college after high school and neither did my husband, but I’ve heard stories about attending colleges that they never visited, even if it was just a few hundred miles away!</p>

3

<p>My experience was actually pretty close to modern experiences: in 1971, I visited some colleges I was interested in. My parents both went to college (as did multiple generations before that, on both sides–my grandmother attended the London School of Economics in 1906, for example). There was a college counselor at my private all-girls school, who helped with applications. I took the SAT twice and took a bunch of ACH (SAT2) tests too.</p>

<p>And yet, it was very different. I applied only to MIT and Yale–no safety school. I handwrote my applications on the application form, in pen, and I remember writing additional information in the side margins of my MIT application (sideways, in tiny little print). </p>

<p>I also remember completing the application the day it was due, standing in the post office so I could get it postmarked on time!</p>

4

<p>

…smiling… Yale and MIT? That’s even worse than me. MUCH worse. Wow.</p>

5

<p>I did it all myself, no real help from GC or parents. I had to send off for the apps and make sense of all the deadlines and testing myself. Took all the tests once. My mom and one English teacher proofread my app. I remember those hard copy apps, trying really hard not to make writing or typing errors on them. I wrote all the essays over Xmas break. </p>

<p>I applied to three schools, two super reaches by today’s standards and one safety. I got into the reaches, but can’t remember if I ever heard from the safety. It was a rolling admissions public U, OOS, probably open admissions back then. </p>

<p>Like you guys above I think now what hubris I had. I had a safety, but I had barely investigated it. I was a pretty unusual applicant, though, so maybe I didn’t give myself enough credit. </p>

6

<p>Applied to one college, the directional state u that my bf was already attending. It was the closest college to my hometown so lots of kids I knew were going/already there. My Mom took care of all the financial aid stuff for me. My father passed away when I was in 6th grade. Mom was a bookkeeper at our church, not a lot of $$. I got social security benefits , the BEOG, some sort of military benefit (father was WWII vet). </p>

<p>After my soph. year, I married DH (NOT the same guy mentioned above!) and transferred to the directional state u. that was in the city where DH was employed. Had a work/study job and small loans to get through. </p>

<p>Prob. could have gone to “better” school than the directional schools but it just really didn’t make that much difference at the time</p>

7

<p>First generation college here both sides of the family and all cousins- I did not have any help with the application from my parents (they paid my instate tuition) they did not know what to do. I don’t think there was an essay. My guidance counselor told me I would not go to college because my parents were blue collar? a girl? I will never know. I took the SAT once never studied. and went to Penn State because I really did not realize I could have gone to other schools on scholarship- I am sure I would have qualified for academic one. I just went to my first and probably only high school class reunion 40 years this year. I was amazed at how many people went to private schools as I was not aware that even existed as a possibility.I loved Penn State. It was my dream- to go to college and get the H#&& out of my home town. Way too good old boy. I still see that when I go back to visit my mother! I worked at an office the first 2 years to help with money and it was $2.10 per hour. I did just fine and just kept going on for an education- stopped at 30 years old when I finished residency. All I wanted to do since I was a little girl was to go to college. It really did not matter to me what I did as long as I went.</p>

8

<p>Without giving it much thought (this was in the late 70s), I applied to Duke and got in. I have no recollection of filling out any sort of complicated form and I didn’t even tell my parents I was applying.</p>

<p>After admission, I decided to attend a so-so state school that was 4 hours from my home because a boy that I had a crush on, <em>used</em> to go there and i thought if I went to his former college, then we would have lots in common and he would fall for me.</p>

<p>I actually enjoyed my 4 years there and it led to great career success. And I never had contact with that boy again…</p>

9

<p>I was valedictorian and wanted to go into engineering. Back in 1980, that meant I could go just about anywhere. But UT-Austin was in my backyard and was ranked very highly in civil engineering, so I applied there and no place else. I remember my senior year of high school getting to go to a big Christmas party at the UT President’s house, for kids who’d been accepted into the honors engineering program. I was impressed!</p>

<p>The next year, my high school boyfriend was accepted to MIT and I was SHOCKED when he told me it would cost his parents over $10,000 a year!! UT was $4 a credit hour back then, so my parents’ main expense was my room and board. They splurged and let me stay in a beautiful dorm with amenities including a swimming pool and sit-down meals (every lunch and dinner) served by male student waiters. :)</p>

10

<p>@MaineLonghorn‌
“…served by male student waiters.” Still laughing!</p>

<p>Notice how many of these posts involve old boyfriends! And we thought OUR kids had weird reasons for wanting to so to a certain school.</p>

11

<p>I applied to five colleges: four were Ivy League or “Little Ivy,” and the safety was the local state university, for which - in those days - my GPA was high enough for automatic admission. I got into all of them (including the state honors program, which I didn’t even know existed). My parents had nothing to do with my applications: I don’t think they even knew the whole list of where I was applying. Tuition, room and board were in the middish-four figures. I was a long way from being the first in my family to go to college: both parents have professional degrees, one of my grandmothers was a PhD, some great-great-something was a doctor in the mid 19th Century, and there are assorted writers, engineers, generals etc. in there too.</p>

<p>I never visited any of the campuses, though I’d been to football games and things at the local state university. I’d never been east of Chicago, actually.</p>

<p>I took the SAT once without any prep, a couple of subject tests, and three AP exams, which was the most of anybody in my school, as there were only two AP classes (calculus and physics, with basically the same students in both).</p>

12

<p>My experience was very similar to dmd77. There was never any discussion about whether I would go to college. It was just a given. I had no restriction put on me at all. I could apply anywhere in the country. I was also at a private high school and we had college counselor who helped with our apps and everyone took all the necessary SAT/Achievement because every one at my school was going to college. But none of us prepped for anything. </p>

<p>I applied to 4 schools (Syracuse, Ithaca, Skidmore and CU-Boulder) and chose the one 2000 miles from home, sight unseen. I chose it because I thought it would be a cool place to go to school. And it was. </p>

<p>My parents didn’t take me to see any of the schools because I didn’t want them to (they took my sister all over two years earlier.) I visited them on my own, staying with friends on campus. </p>

<p>My parents also did not come with me to move in. I flew out by myself and moved myself in. </p>

<p>They did come in visit a few times but I’m pretty sure there were no such things as parent’s weekend then. </p>

13

<p>I was in the top 10% of a class of about 550. I took the SAT twice after taking a trimester English class that involved SAT prep. I don’t remember my scores but I remember them being ok, not great. We had no AP at my HS. I appled to 4 schools-two OOS publics with reciprocal agreements with my state and two very large popular privates. My major was pharmacy. My guidance counselor couldn’t even name a pharmacy school. My dad, a pharmacist, gave me suggestions, I researched them at the library. I got into all of them, chose UConn because it was the only one guaranteeing a dorm space and that was my parents’ only requirement. Both were college grads. The following year I switched to journalism. I don’t regret it, though Dad was a little hurt, but not surprised. After all, in HS I was an editor, not in the science club.</p>

<p>My H had lost both parents by the time he reached college. They had been service workers-maid and janitor. Only his older brother was a college grad at that point. H lived in the family home and went to community college, where, with a certain GPA you got automatic admission to UW after two years. He didn’t take the SAT or ACT, and in HS didn’t take more than 1 science class, didn’t go beyond algebra. This HS is now one the most expensive Catholic HS’s in the area, and very rigorous. At the time H paid for it with his paper route. He was discouraged from attempting college. He’s actually quite bright, but black students weren’t exactly considered college material back then. He went on to get two degrees from UW, though it took several years as he’d have to stop and work FT to save up enough to pay for a full course load from time to time. When I think back to how easy I had it, I reflect on what it took for H to get where he is.</p>

14

<p>I attended a well known public high school in NYC but didn’t really know what colleges I could get into. I am an immigrant so my family didn’t have any experience with college applications. I know I wanted to be either an engineer or study history. My parents told me to forget history so it was engineering. I had visited a couple of campuses, one of them Princeton. I knew that my family could never afford Princeton so I never bothered applying to Ivy League schools. I had good SAT scores (not great) and academics and ECs, and applied to a bunch of SUNY schools and the Polytechnic Institute of NY (which I visited). I was accepted into all my schools, but in the end wanted to stay in NYC so it was Poly. Looking back, I wish I’d gone to a ‘real’ college vice a commuter school, but it is what it is.</p>

15

<p>I applied to one school: my state flagship. I took the SAT once, no prep. I knew with my class rank I was going to be accepted. No stress whatsoever, only excitement at going away to college in a beautiful city. My worries mainly revolved around how to pay for it. I don’t know if we knew anything about financial aid back then; we may have qualified.</p>

<p>My parents helped to move me in before my freshman year and came to my graduation. As far as I remember, that was the extent of their college visits.</p>

<p>DH didn’t even think about where to go to college until MAY of his senior year! He and his best friend decided to apply to one of the big state schools (rolling admission), didn’t visit any schools at all, and moved themselves in happily a few months later. They pledged the same fraternity, did just okay in school, had a wonderful social life, graduated, and went on to become fabulously successful businessmen, husbands, fathers, and community citizens. </p>

<p>It’s no wonder that DH goes through life thinking things will just work out and worrying about things is pointless and unnecessary. </p>

16

<p>I remember accompanying my 1-year-older boyfriend and his family on his college visits to Univ of Southern Ill - Carbondale, Miami University (OH) and RIT. I loved the Miami University campus and loathed RIT (all concrete.) At Christmas, my parents (Dad & step-mom) gifted me this huge book of colleges. My Mom limited me to nearby states, so I looked out all the schools in my and neighboring states where my PSATs would make me an average student. </p>

<p>I wanted a school population under 10,000 in a non-urban setting with a good engineering program, but other options if I discovered I didn’t like engineering. (I loved math & science so my guidance counselor suggested I consider engineering but I really didn’t have much of a clue what that meant.) I was my high school salutatorian with strong SATs and ACTs I only took them once and I prepped on my own because I enjoyed the academic challenge. We didn’t have AP classes. My math teacher <em>strongly</em> recommended that I take the Calculus AP test, but I was afraid my parents would balk at paying and would be mad if I didn’t pass, so I declined. It turned out that my math teacher was right and essentially repeated 2 semesters of calculus. </p>

<p>I visited 3 schools (Lehigh, Lafayette & Bucknell) and fell in love with the Bucknell campus. I applied ED and was accepted. I did love the beauty of the campus, but I’m not sure I was a great social fit. Eventually, though, I found my crowd and have many fond memories. I started out in engineering, but ended up with a math degree – I really wanted computer science, but it wasn’t offered. BU did, however, have a very strong computer science department so I feel like I double-majored (10 math courses, 10 comp sci courses). In that era, you could major in English and get a software engineering position as long as you had taken one programming course!</p>

<p>My parents involvement in the college search process had to do with setting limits and transporting me. I think they made all the interview, campus tour arrangements, etc. once I gave them the list of schools. I filled out the application and I don’t believe I asked for any feedback. I recall it was green and I was nervous about writing paragraph responses in pen. Mostly I thoroughly enjoyed the process, but it helped that my SATs ended up even better than my PSATs had predicted so I was on the high end of the stats. I also recall being highly annoyed that most of the parents who asked where I was going had never heard of Bucknell and would give me pitying looks that seemed to say “Oh, that’s too bad you couldn’t get into a good school.”</p>

17

<p>Digmedia—this will sound horribly arrogant in today’s world, but I considered MIT a sure thing. I’d interviewed there, really like it, and the admissions director told me I’d probably get in. In fact, I did get into MIT, and I was waitlisted at Yale. I also wanted to apply to Reed–but my mother forbade it, since she considered the suicide rate too high. (It was a bizarre reason then, made even stranger by the fact that MIT’s suicide rate was much worse.)</p>

18

<p>Applied to Texas A&M, UMissouri/Columbia, Duke and UGA. Was in-state in TX, MO and GA because my dad was in the military. Typed all apps on a manual typewriter. My parents never saw them. Paod all fees myself. Got into all four, Duke offered me a scholarship, but it was not enough. Mom drove me to school, dropped me off and handed me $50 and said “You’re on your own.” Had I not had a $1500 external scholarship that I begged the Bursar’s Office to split into two quarters instead of three, I would have had to go home immediately, since I did not have enough $$ to pay my fees otherwise. Mom would not complete FA forms til spring quarter of freshman year. At that point I was a zero EFC kid and I started the process of going independent for FA purposes (back when that could be done). It was a breach in our relationship that I still feel.</p>

<p>Took the SAT three times, had two self-study APs, 3.98 UW, top 3% of class, yearbook EIC, lots of awards in journalism/social science related stuff. My HS didn’t offer APs, and retaking the SAT was unheard of. Biggest regret in HS was not being able to resolve scheduling conflicts for pre-calc and trig. GCs sent out transcripts – no recommendations, etc. Never talked to me about where I was applying.</p>

<p>Lived in a town and culture where girls didn’t go away to school. My parents were not supportive. Only 30% of my senior class even went to college, 90% of those to the local four-year directional. DH, who worked in audit in admissions at his Ivy UG, told me I would have gotten in there, no problem. He was self-supporting, too. The concept of coming up with $8k/year for school compared to $2800 at the flagship was way beyond my imagination.</p>

<p>The top guys in my HS class went to Georgia Tech. One app, one acceptance, no worries. GT had a preference in admissions for in-state at the time, so as long as you had a 1150 M/V, you were pretty much assured of acceptance. I had well over that, but was not confident enough to swim in shark-infested weeder courses. IIRC, the only non-engineering courses back them were Industrial Management and Architecture. Those guys all sent their kids to GT as well. Between HOPE scholarships and GT’s reputation, they considered it a no-brainer.</p>

19

<p>My parents went to publics in the mid-West, but we were in California, so they had no idea about colleges or costs. My school was a very small religious (non-Catholic, not very academic) school. I was the first NMSF they’d ever had, and my SAT was about 150 points higher than any previous student. (I wasn’t the valedictorian, though. I got a B in Bible kind of on purpose.) The bright kids usually went to Cal States instead of CC or straight to pregnancy.</p>

<p>This was the early 80s. Pretty much my only advising was the mail that came to our house from colleges. I applied to MIT, RPI, and the UC system (it was rank your top 3 campuses back then, I believe). I was accepted to MIT, RPI, and Berkeley. The only one we’d visited was RPI because relatives lived in CT. My mom almost told me I couldn’t apply to RPI, because the adcom we talked to bragged that RPI had the highest beer consumption per capita in the nation. I must have visited Berkeley come to think of it, because it was about 30-45 minutes by BART, but I don’t recall touring it.</p>

<p>I loved the MIT application (well, not the typing). The application asked for two poems I’d written, and I thought it was so cool that an engineering school would want poems. Loved the interviewer, too.</p>

<p>My parents and I never had a money talk before I applied. When the financial aid offers came in, my parents said they couldn’t afford any of them, except that I could commute to Berkeley via BART from home (with my dad, who commuted to Oakland). MIT was $15K CoA then, and our cost would have been $8K. My dad believed in kids paying for college somehow, though he went to college on the GI Bill.</p>

<p>About that time, Texas A&M sent me a letter that I’d been accepted and just needed to sign a form to get scholarships that equaled a full ride. (I hadn’t applied to or heard of A&M.) So, that’s where I went.</p>

<p>I have no idea why neither my parents nor anyone at my school had any input into where I applied. My parents did at least rent a camper and drive me to Texas. I only managed to fly home one summer.</p>

<p>I spent a week at West Point during a high school summer at some program where the application only asked for PSAT scores and number of varsity letters. It was fun and good food, but I wasn’t at all tempted to apply (because the female counselors admitted that fairly serious hazing of females was to be expected and tolerated).</p>

<p>I also applied for the TASP summer program, since the mailing made it sound interesting. I got an interview, which I’ve seen here is actually kind of rare. I suspect I didn’t do so well on the interview, since I was still working on “getting over” some of the narrow-minded opinions that were my primary exposure from my parents/church/school.</p>

20

<p>My parents did not assist with my college search in any way (and I didn’t ask them to). I applied to one school, because it was the one I could afford. My friend’s sister attended, so I visited her when I wanted to see the campus … such as it was (dorm, administration building and classroom building located next to a GM plant and across the street from a shop-bar). Getting in academically was the easy part. Every student had to be “sponsored” by a GM division/plant in order to be accepted to the school (100% co-op). As a shy 17-year old, interviewing was stressful - but not as stressful as waiting to find out if I got hired. Fortunately, I was hired and so was accepted to the school. As I said, it was the only school I could afford - but to be honest, I hit the jackpot. I had a great time, received an excellent education, and had a really good job waiting for me when I graduated. I can’t complain.</p>