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

Parent Cafe
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<p>1979 was the spring and fall of my college search. I went to boarding school. There were two copies of slightly old Peterson’s (or Barron’s?) Guides that my whole dorm shared. Those books were what we had instead of the Internet. A couple of paragraphs and a table of facts. With a list of prospects, I sent letters to colleges – snail mail, with stamps – and asked for catalogues, which colleges still gave away for free. So much waiting! Catalogues were how I really learned about a school. Imagining the classes I would take occupied a lot of my time. I also treated every photograph of campus like a sacred gift, especially the rare color shots. It was all I had to go on! I didn’t visit a single campus. The people who did always struck me as extravagant.</p>

<p>It’s hard to imagine the world worked that way.</p>

<p>In 1979 there was fighting in El Salvador and Nicaragua, and then of course the Iran Hostage “Crisis.” Congress was still debating the draft. I wrote my admissions essay explaining why I would not go to any of those wars if I were drafted. Such an idealist! It must have impressed the liberals at Vassar. It did not go over well at Duke, which I expected, and I only applied there because my dad insisted.</p>

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<p>Gosh I remember it pretty well. I graduated from a small private school in NYC (I was on a full scholarship) in 1984. My parents both had PhDs but were poor enough that we had food stamps for awhile (minister and PT college prof). My mom made it her business to understand how NYC public and private schools worked (I’d applied to 10 schools in 8th grade, interviews essays apps all of it) and also college admissions. Had there been a CC back then she’d have been on it.</p>

<p>I had an 1180 on my SATs, pre-recentering so maybe as 1280 by today’s standards? I only took it once. My essay was about the now-verboten-topic of the eye opening of a semester abroad experience (my HS had a great exchange program with a school in Paris that was basically free). </p>

<p>I had safeties (3 SUNYs that are today no one’s safeties but were back then), two Ivies (rejected from Yale, WL’ed at Brown), and accepted to Vassar, Emory and Oberlin. Vassar gave me a basically full ride so that’s where I went.</p>

<p>I didn’t like Vassar and didn’t enjoy being away from the city so left after a semester to take a year off then wound up at Hunter (a CUNY). </p>

<p>I did visit some schools. Friends took a People Express flight to Middlebury for around $25 each way. Decided not to apply.</p>

<p>Of course the apps were paper. </p>

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<p>Took the SAT (once), applied to one school (Northwestern), was accepted, showed up to campus by myself in Sept with one suitcase. Never saw the campus before I arrived, but it looked pretty in the brochures. Didn’t know who my roommate was until she showed up late that night when I was already asleep. But - everything worked out fine. I loved my classes, graduated on time, met my future husband and got married two weeks after graduation. </p>

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<p>I’m fascinated by how so many had college as a goal. I was only vaguely aware there even was such a thing and only remember one friend from high school planning to attend( an in state land grant university- he’s now
Neither H or I remember taking SATs, I suspect arrangements had to be made to take them rather than them being required for everyone, as they were at our children’s schools.
I’m wondering when did the push begin to enroll more first gen students?</p>

45

<p>I was 1st generation college and the first woman on either side of the family to “attempt” college as my grandfather put it. Small public rural HS without APs or honors classes. I took the ACT twice and SAT once. No prep for any even when trying to get one more point for the full scholarship. I only applied to the two best schools for my major. I was strongly encouraged to apply to Harvard but had no interest. I was ahead of my time as most would say H was not necessary for my major today. I chose the school that gave me the best scholarship (private). </p>

<p>I had only toured 1 of the schools while there for a state science fair. No official tours at all, even after acceptance. I did all the FAFSA forms myself for all 4 years. </p>

<p>My parents took me to dorm move in day before frosh orientation. They had no idea what their role should be and did not stay for the parent reception. They never came back to campus but my Dad did attend an academic awards night at a local hotel. Both came to graduation which was also off campus. </p>

<p>I have had great opportunities professionally and have never regretted my choice of school. I remind myself of that when the “college search monster” starts to suck me in. </p>

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<p>I did do a college tour similar in spirit to what we did with our kids, but in a much more geographically limited area, basically from New Jersey down to Virginia. It didn’t occur to us to look at schools in Boston or California, which was rather silly in hindsight. </p>

<p>Similar in spirit to Hunt, I applied to Penn, Northwestern, Georgetown, and WashU as my back-up. I took for granted I’d get in several of those, and got in all 4, even though I deliberately torpedo-ed my Penn application by not filling in a required essay. (My boyfriend a year older was going to Northwestern, which was not the reason I was interested – I wanted a specific program available only there – but my parents hated him and I was afraid that if I got into Penn and NU, my parents would make me choose Penn.) </p>

<p>I took the SAT once – taking it several times was what you did if you were stupid, not smart – and filled out applications sitting on my bed one Saturday night, probably watching Saturday Night Live. I didn’t take the ACT – that was for (sniff) midwestern state schools.</p>

<p>I was one of those students with really great test scores and GPA, and some clearly-defined and articulated academic interests for which I’d won awards, but not a lot of leadership beyond being secretary of various school clubs. I did have a part-time job during the school year. </p>

<p>While I didn’t apply to U of Illinois, I had a friend who did, and I seem to remember seeing the application which was some kind of Scantron where you bubbled in your classes, grades and so forth.</p>

<p>There was some angst, of course, but nothing like today. It was just assumed that a top student would indeed get into at least one top school, if not several. </p>

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<p>I attended a very good public HS where it was expected that most students went on to college, especially those in the honors classes. Our guidance counselor met with us in a small group, and the group may have been arranged by academic standing, or perhaps he pulled us all out of the same honors English class. We may have met as early as 10th grade as I recall the rush to become a Candy Striper in hopes of adding volunteer work to the resume. I was the total over-involved student, running half the committees & clubs at school…well, not the academic ones. Worked twenty hours/week, but never felt pressed for time the way students are today. I am still half convinced that it was ECs, LORs, and very good SAT scores that got me in, because it really was not my GPA.</p>

<p>We all took the PSAT in fall of Jr year, SAT May of Jr year and Oct of Sr year, and then Achievement Tests in Nov or Dec of Sr year. The school offered an inexpensive ($35) SAT prep course on the four Saturday mornings prior to the May SAT. A math teacher led the math section and our Latin teacher covered verbal. I suppose some students may have sought outside tutoring but that was not widespread. We all seemed to know where others fell in the rankings, more or less. There were only 170 of us and we could probably name the top ten and then move down through the deciles. To a certain extent, I was swept along in the college application process by my friends. Others around me seemed so much more invested in the process; I just felt it was something I had to do b/c I was told it was the next step.</p>

<p>My parents took me to visit one school where the interviewer decided I wasn’t the proper fit for the program and referred me to another school within the university. My father decided this experience had not gone well, so that was our one and only college visit. Friends toured many schools but my father attended college after emigrating to the US, so his exposure to the US college system was from a very different perspective. My parents were not involved in selecting the schools I applied to and no one proofread the applications. Ambitious students found white-out that matched the application paper color, but I think I wrote mine out longhand.</p>

<p>A limited # of students applied ED, which struck me as very well-prepared as I filed every app right up against the deadline, and even missed applying to one school as I had the deadline wrong. I think we each had the Barron’s Guide but the Yale Insider’s Guide was my bible. It was much smaller then–the size of a novel. I recall many students racing home (or calling home) to check the mail every day around April 15th. I had received a likely letter in March, so I was calm on April 15th, but still wanted the acceptance in hand.</p>

<p>Wait lists existed back then, and I recall friends moving off the lists. Oh such a different process than the one we finished last year with my son. What a fun thread!</p>

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<p>One thing that’s changed significantly is that high college ambitions are much, much more widespread than they once were. Anyway, so it seems to me. Also - I guess this is related, but I don’t know which is the cause and which the effect, or even what mechanism connects them, exactly - it seems like students were more easy to stratify than they are now</p>

<p>B was a good grade, and As weren’t all that common. Not a single member of my class (well-regarded suburban public high school, with 500 students a year) graduated with straight As. A GPA above 3.0 made you one of the reasonably smart kids. Pre-recentering, the SAT also drew finer distinctions at the top, because there was a 30- or 80-point range that now just gets topped-off at the 800 ceiling. In my class, only about 5% of the students took an AP class, and I was the only one who took more than two AP exams. I just looked at the current statistics for the same school: 88% take an AP exam, and the average number taken per participant is 4.5. </p>

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<p>When I went to high school, only about a third of the graduating class went to four year schools, mostly state universities (heavily biased toward the nearby ones). A large portion of the rest went to community college, some eventually successfully transferring to one of the state universities. There were only about 6 or 7 AP courses back then, 3 of which were the level 4 foreign language courses.</p>

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<p>@CT1417 “What a fun thread!” Yes it is. I love reading all these stories.</p>

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<p>I wanted to be a veterinarian, and since we lived in Illiinois my only option was UIUC. At that time, if your home state had a vet school you had to attend in-state. Pizzagirl is right, the application looked like something that would be fed into a computer. I recall that we did need to write an essay, but I was convinced that no one would actually read it. I’m pretty sure I wrote something sarcastic and didn’t spend much time on it. I remember my mom 's friend begging me to apply to Vassar. She couldn’t imagine that someone would actually choose to attend a state school. I ended up switching to plant science after getting a part time job in the Chemistry department with someone studying plant hormones. Sometimes you just go where opportunity presents itself and everything works out just fine.</p>

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<p>I was going to major in theater; that had been my #1 EC, and I had actually spent my senior year taking just the required English and Social Studies classes, and then attending an acting internship that was pretty selective (by audition) at the local, professional theater (in Baltimore). I had pretty good SATs for 1979 (1440/1600), good GPA, honors classes but no APs (my HS only offered APs for 4th year science, AP bio or chem, I think, and I was busy acting sr. year). ECs were mostly theater (lots), AFS, and a paid job. I was told I could go “anywhere I wanted” academically and my parents figured the money would work out because we were fairly poor and my older sister (first in the family to go to college) had gotten all her need met by MIT, and my brother had been able to go “independent” after freshman year and get lots of aid for Johns Hopkins. </p>

<p>So I was looking at CMU, Ithaca College, and a few other schools with decent theater programs. I got no help from the GC. Deep down I knew I wanted to keep my options open to change major, and coming from a large HS I wanted a large school. I also wanted to go out of state. Then I got a mailing from Michigan State, inviting me to come take a test for a scholarship. The top 10 scorers got a free ride, the next 10 got free tuition. I told my parents, and my dad was all over it - said I should take the test, they could drive me up (12 hr drive) to do it. But one of the requirements was that you had to apply to the school. They pretty much guaranteed that you’d get in, if you were invited to take the test. The app had no essay, just basic info on gpa, scores, ECs, etc. So I tossed it off and signed up for the test.</p>

<p>Then I procrastinated about the other apps. I really hated writing essays. Then we went up to MSU to take the test (which was insanely hard - I never realized that other HS students were learning some of that stuff! I thought it was going to be like an IQ test, or SAT, but it was a test of knowledge, not logic or reasoning, and we just hadn’t covered a lot of the material), and I fell in love with the campus, the theater, everything. I could really see myself there. I didn’t get the scholarship (though I later met one girl who had gotten the free tuition), but I never applied anywhere else.</p>

<p>Went to MSU, dropped out of the honors program sophomore year, changed my major about 4 times, and ended up with a degree in biochemistry and physiology. (Later became a computer programmer and then went to law school, after getting waitlisted for the one medical school I applied to.) My parents paid my OOS tuition for 4 years and dorm/meals the first year, mainly from the SS benefits I got because dad was over 65, and I worked for my living expenses the last 3 years.</p>

<p>Got a great education and never regretted not applying elsewhere. Where I went was a bit exotic for my HS; we had lots going to the local schools (UMdCP, UMBC and CCs), a few going to privates or elites (ivies and the like) a couple going to military academies, one to St. John’s Annapolis (she was a friend of mine, and became good friends with another classmate who went to the Naval academy), but very few going as far as Michigan, or to a State school in another state.</p>

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<p>I took the SAT exactly once. The only prep I had was a group computer course at the local Jewish Community Center. It consisted of taking sample tests “online” (this was 1983) and clicking on what we thought was the right answer. I don’t remember there being an actual person guiding us. I scored a 1350 out of 1600, which was good enough for me. I didn’t agonize. </p>

<p>I do remember my friend signing up for the Princeton Review classes, which had just been created. It sounded like an awful lot of work and a pain in the ass.</p>

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<p>My experience was similar to that of @CT1417: I attended a very good public HS where a high percentage of the kids not only went to college but went to exceptional colleges. My friends wound up at Harvard, Dartmouth, Princeton, U Penn, Columbia, Brown, Rochester, Duke and, of course, Rutgers. I had sufficient foresight to apply to University of Rochester ED, for their nursing program, but thankfully was deferred. I wound up applying to Northwestern (reach), had the Rochester app in (target), and also applied to Wash U in St. Louis (safety – can you imagine?!!). I was accepted to all three and went to Northwestern because it was the “best” of the three. I flew out by myself, took a taxi to my dorm, and that was the first time I saw the place. My parents visited once and did not enjoy themselves. </p>

<p>I’ve been lucky in that Northwestern’s reputation, prestige and selectivity have increase significantly through the years, so people now think I must be really smart to have gotten in there. </p>

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<p>Like so many others have pointed out, it was a totally different world then (late 70s for me). I went to a good private HS in California - my kids go to it now - and it had a college counselor but as I recall I never talked to her. College rep visits were posted on the bulletin board and you just went to the presentations you wanted to. My parents and I took an East Coast road trip summer after junior year that was notionally to visit colleges but the six I picked to visit were fairly random, mostly chosen so that we could visit states I’d never been to, like New Hampshire (Dartmouth) and North Carolina (Duke). I had great SAT scores and good grades, and the whole concept of reaches and safeties was unheard of in the process. Only three APs, with ok results, and it never occurred to me that I should have any more. </p>

<p>When it came time to apply, I was interested in studying two things: languages, and politics. So I applied to Georgetown, which had good programs in both and a foreign service school that I figured would combine the two. I applied early action, didn’t bother applying anywhere else, got in, and figured I was done.</p>

<p>Then in mid December my father suggested casually that I might think about Harvard. We’d visited it on that road trip, I thought it seemed like a perfectly fine place, but I didn’t see any reason to go anywhere but Georgetown and had no interest in filling out another application. Prestige wasn’t so much of a thing then, in the pre-US News days, and that just didn’t enter into my thought process. My father said “oh, why not just send in an application,” so I called them up and had them mail me an application. Mailed it back on the day it had to be postmarked and put it out of my mind. Then after their acceptance letter came, I took another look at their catalog and realized that they had a LOT of departments, in fields I didn’t even know existed. (History of Science wth??) I figured that if I ever changed my mind about what I was interested in, there would probably be more options there. So I changed my plans and went there.</p>

<p>I wound up not changing my mind about majors - majored in linguistics just like I thought I would. Harvard had a decent department, maybe not as good as Georgetown’s would have been then, but I liked the classes and definitely liked having the variety of other class options. </p>

<p>Now my D1 just went through the process last year and it was not just eye-opening but horrifying to see how different it now is, with formal weekly college counseling sessions, kids taking 8 or more APs, hours spent poring over college websites, multiple essay drafts, and of course the whole EC insanity. I tried to dial all that back and make her process a lot more like mine, except with a few more college visits just to get a sense of different atmospheres. She wanted to go far from California so the decision process just came down to pick a size, pick a location type, look at which places have departments or programs that look good, don’t obsess about grades and scores and ECs, and assume it will all work out. And it did, and she got in everywhere she applied, and is happy now in her first year. So maybe it doesn’t HAVE to be so different for our kids than it was for us, and we should all just take a deep breath.</p>

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<p>^^^ Someone should needlepoint that on a pillow.</p>

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<p>My experience wasn’t too different than now…except without the internet.
I got mailings that I looked at and plus we looked up info in a Princeton Review like book.
For spring break Junior Year we did a tour of colleges.
Then i applied to a few (with those paper apps).
I was lucky my Dad could afford to pay $10,000/yr for CWRU.</p>

<p>I am not sure if kids today could do all the ECs I did…Varsity Basketball, Soccer and Softball plus Marching Band!</p>

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<p>I’ve posted versions of my experience elsewhere, but here’s the whole story. I graduated third in my class of 650 in 1976 and went to my dream school with a full scholarship – the local beauty school. (Hey, all I ever wanted to do all my life was hair and, yes, they did give scholarships.) My best friend went to the University of Michigan. Mid-way through her first semester, her roommate left, and university housing told my BF that if she couldn’t find a roommate before second semester, they were going to move a girl she couldn’t stand from a triple down the hall into her room. She BEGGED me to come to school and be her roommate “for just one semester, PLEASE!!!” I really wasn’t interested, but she kept insisting that she’d fill out all the paperwork and pick some English classes for me that covered books we’d already read in high school. All I’d have to do was fill out a couple of essay paragraphs (by hand in those tiny spaces) and that would be it. I had enough money from my bookstore job and a bit from my parents to cover one semester ($685 tuition, about $1,000 R&B), so I agreed and became a freshman at U-M in January ’77.
I didn’t intend to stay, but there was this gorgeous boy on the hall who pretty much attached himself to me. When he found out I was going home for good in June, he panicked and found a full tuition/R&B/stipend scholarship for me to apply for. I got it and never paid another dime to U-M. I graduated on time, Phi Beta Kappa, with a degree in English and got a great-paying technical writing job with a well-known company in the area three weeks after graduation. Oh, and that boy and I just celebrated 33 years of marriage last month. </p>

<p>Needless to say, our high school senior is currently facing a much different experience. Even with his stats from an elite high school, Michigan is a reach.</p>

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<p>What a wonderful story @ChoatieMom‌ !</p>

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<p>The comments about taking the SAT just once make me laugh. I don’t think the idea ever occurred to anyone I knew that we might actually take it again … and I can’t imagine if we knew we could, that we would have bothered. I’m not sure if it was a different “time” or different “place.” Maybe the lack of an internet-connected world meant that the angst of some didn’t make everyone else worry! ;)</p>