<p>At my top public CA HS, I never heard of anyone prepping for the SAT, or taking it more than once. Actually, I remember hearing that it was not possible to study for the SAT. The only people I knew who applied to more than one school were the ones who applied to Stanford. Otherwise, it was one application, one UC school and that was it. But Stanford was always difficult–one of my friends was 4.0, School paper editor, great SAT’s but was rejected. USC was a piece of cake. No one with good grades would actually apply there–the word was if you could pay, they’d let you in. This was 1973. I never heard of college visits, unless it was to go up to UCLA to party with somebody’s older sibling in the dorms. If there was an essay for UC, I don’t remember it, it must have been no big deal. EC’s? What the heck is that? I don’t think that was part of the application. Why would a college care if I was in the school play?? It never occurred to me that I could be rejected. The cost of my UC education? $627 per year. Oh, and my very generous parents used to give me $180 per month to cover my rent, food, books, whatever else. It’s much harder now, and expenses are out of control. I remember filling up my VW bug with gas for about $5–maybe $.30 a gallon. And remember, they used to wash your windows, check your oil, fill your tires… I guess I’m really old now.</p>