<p>Looking at the kids here listing their 2010 applications made me reminisce. Here was my list:</p>
<p>CUNY-Queens College
SUNY-Stonybrook
SUNY-Binghampton
UDelaware
Rutgers
Cornell-College of Ag (state school)</p>
<p>I didn’t even consider applying to private schools since I knew there was no way we could afford it. I was accepted to all but Cornell (wait listed).</p>
<p>I didn’t have a “list”. I submited one and only one application to Michigan and never even considered any other school. Likewise, for grad school. I applied only to Stanford. I guess I was ahead of the curve on the “power of positive thinking”</p>
<p>Oh Brother…that was a LONG time ago…</p>
<p>Bethany College (W.VA)
Albion (MI)
Oakland (MI)
Oberlin (OH)</p>
<p>I went to Bethany for one year and transferred to Ohio University.</p>
<p>I didn’t really have a list either. I applied ED to Wake Forest and was accepted. (I think I had been considering UNC and UVA prior to visiting Wake) As a matter of fact, I still have my ED acceptance letter from Wake. It’s dated October 1, 1974! Talk about a no-stress senior year for me!</p>
<p>Wow, I don’t even think I kept any of my acceptance letters…and that was only 4 months ago! Do you keep it framed?</p>
<p>I threw all mine away like a week after I got them lol</p>
<p>Nope, not framed . . . although, that’s not a bad idea! It’s just in a box of old stuff from h.s. and college that I cannot seem to part with. My daughter probably doesn’t think we still have her college acceptance letter, but I’m sure I have stashed it away somewhere. It was too exciting not to keep. . .</p>
<p>I can only imagine what shrines you make for you diplomas! :p</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, my father never applied to colleges. He got recruited by Albert Lea (no longer exists) in Minnesota to play football and was therefore spared of all that stress. He ended up passing the offer up to go to the community college I’m now at, but I always look at his experience (even as an athlete) as an example of how stress-free the admissions process used to be compared to now. It seems like people only picked a few colleges they liked, applied, and didn’t have to go through all of the “game” we do now.</p>
<p>Question: Did any of you have to pay application fees, or is that a new(er) thing? What were your applications like?</p>
<p>No shrine for the h.s. diploma (just a small NC public school) - it’s in that big box of stuff! The college diploma (which is a real sheepskin!) is gold-matted and framed and hangs beside by husband’s UNC-Chapel Hill diploma, which is matted in Carolina blue. The frames for both are matching, of course! They are not readily seen in our household, though, for they hang in a small upstairs hallway. We are proud of them, but we don’t push them on our friends!</p>
<p>Boston University
Ithaca College
American University</p>
<p>My college list was sort of silly, as at that time I equated choosing a college with choosing a major and hence a career. My schools all had Communications–Radio, TV, Film, and Journalism, which I decided might be a fun career, and I didn’t even consider any school that didn’t have a Communications major. Really no more thought went into it than that. That’s why I picked them. Went to BU, but ended up as a history major. It was fine, I have no regrets about how things have turned out, but I do wish I had approached college selection differently, and opted for a really fine liberal arts curriculum at the outset.</p>
<p>I don’t recall any application fees way back then . . .</p>
<p>I do recall that I only took the SAT one time (junior year) because my parents didn’t really see the need for anyone to take it again. When I later found out how much other people had raised their scores from re-testing, I wondered why I hadn’t been encouraged to do the same.</p>
<p>I also had an interview on campus at the end of my junior year, and the interviewer (head of admissions) pretty much said that with my grades and class rank I should have no problem getting in! I don’t even think there was an essay part on the application! My, have times changed . . .</p>
<p>In those days, we were encouraged to apply to three schools:</p>
<p>Radcliffe College (60 out of 200 students from HS–all-girls–applied)
Wellesley College
Boston University</p>
<p>I wish I had looked at schools outside the Boston area, but my parents had no clue about the US college application process so I was on my own.</p>
<p>I don’t remember anything about applications fees and did only one interview (BU didn’t require one). Had to cancel my Radcliffe interview because my father suffered a massive stroke the night before it was scheduled. I do recall the essay question for Wellesley–my philosophy of life. Being somewhat idealistic and naive at that time, I mentioned Albert Schweitzer (I must have read something about him close to that time). At the end of the interview, the dean of admissions asked me if there was anything she needed to know before ending the interview. Passionately (because I had fallen in love with the campus during the tour), I told her that I really wanted to go there. Her response: “Well, I’ll see what I can do about that.” Ever since then, I’ve encouraged anyone applying for college/job to let the interviewer know about your passion for going/working there if that’s really the dream school/job.</p>
<p>Tuition, room, and board when I graduated was low; $7,500/year rings a faint bell.</p>
<p>audiophile:
Your list looks a lot like mine! With absolutely NO guidance or assistance of any kind I decided to just apply to the University centers:</p>
<p>SUNY Albany
SUNY Binghamton
SUNY Buffalo
SUNY Stoneybrook</p>
<p>It was too bad too. I was a good student who would have really benefited from a smaller school. Went to SUNY Binghamton and hated it all 4 years.</p>
<p>Applied to two schools:
Stanford
Whitman</p>
<p>I remember the application fee to Stanford was $25. The reason I know is… After handwriting the application essay on the form (no computers back then), I was very nervous that it might not be good enough, and I really wanted to go to Stanford. (My older brother was there.) My mother wanted to read it, but she had a tendency to be critical, and I didn’t want to hear it wasn’t good when it was too late to change it. So I wouldn’t let her read it. She said if she couldn’t read it, she wouldn’t pay the application fee. So I paid it. (She really was a great mother most of the time.)</p>
<p>(Accepted at both; attended Stanford)</p>
<p>applied three:</p>
<p>Middlebury
Washington College
Rutgers</p>
<p>Waitlisted by Middlebury, big writing scholarship to Washington, accepted by Rutgers.</p>
<p>Went to WC, not happy there, transfered to UMichigan, very happy there.</p>
<p>Williams
Amherst
Dartmouth
Colgate</p>
<p>Applied ED to Williams and withdrew the others. I think the application fees were $10 to $15, but don’t remember for sure. I remember my Williams essay still … and that Dartmouth had several essays.</p>
<p>I applied in my junior year to the school I wanted, was accepted, and the adcom came to our house to talk to me and my parents! (4 hour drive away) Never thought about anything else. Things were different back then. You picked a school and pretty much knew if you were going to be accepted. Can’t think of anyone who was rejected. No thought of applying to reach schools then. Only 1 student went out-of-state and she went to Vassar. We were in awe! Definitely we all thought the ivies and top LAC’s (we actually had heard of them) were for the rich and elite only, so no beed to bother if you couldn’t afford it. No such thing as financial aid that we knew about. The GC’s didn’t do anything except send out whatever we asked for. No help in choosing a college, etc. No games like there are now, either. I picked my school because a teacher recommended it, I read about it, and applied.</p>
<p>hmm … </p>
<p>Cornell
Dartmouth
MIT
Penn
Penn State
RPI
UVA
Yale</p>
<p>A list basically driven by geography and majors … looking at the list now it is too ecclectic a list (big & small, city & rural) … and no LACs (didn’t have a clue about them). I got my Penn State admission very quickly in the fall so that helped my senior year worries … also was accepted rolling admissions at a couple more schools in February. I still have all 8 letters (in a box full of all sorts of old stuff)</p>
<p>The schools I visited were:</p>
<p>Williams
Yale
Brown
Harvard
Amherst
Dartmouth</p>
<p>I had a clear first choice and early decision eliminated the need to finalize a list, but I recall kicking around Duke and Davidson as possible less selective (at the time) strong regional schools if necessary. I did not visit either of them.</p>