Oh…should we add costs in?
My undergrad degree was from Ohio University…all in…it was $750 a year (that’s the total for tuition, room and board). Graduated in 1973.
It’s beautiful. I was there a few years back. Still looks the same including 140 stairs to Flint Hall.
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Well, I didn’t have a high school GPA, since I went to an alternative school with no grades. Hardly anyone from my high school went to college and we had no college counseling. I learned about how to apply to college at the local public library.
But I had a super high SAT score with no prep at all! Perfect on the verbal, and quite good on the math? I don’t remember my exact score… but I was a way better natural test taker than my kids seem to be 
I applied to a few colleges, around 5… I only remember a couple of them. I got into all of them with full financial aid (I was an emancipated minor, my parents had moved away years before, and they were poor anyway…), with some merit scholarships in the mix.
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I swear I’m getting grumpy about all you high stats folks getting into top schools when I couldn’t pull it off with equally high stats. I think it goes to show that ECs always mattered, and that they did NOT care that I was working instead. And also the lack of finances thing. Anyway, a little salty, but it all worked out in the end.
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No one went on to non-criminal non-college paths (that were more common and available back then compared to now)?
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I remember buying a copy of Peterson’s guide, and I spent many hours dreaming of attending a school filled with smart, interesting people. But I had one brother two grades ahead of me & two that were one grade behind me. My parents were really hardworking people who didn’t earn enough to send us all to school. My dad didn’t go to college, and my mom graduated from a hospital RN program. My counselor was (I now know) completely useless … his only comment when we talked about my college list was that he didn’t understand why I would want to go to a school that didn’t have an athletics program. I told him about my financial challenges, and he never once mentioned that I would have been able to get financial aid. I didn’t want to get into a school and then not be able to go for financial reasons. I don’t have fond memories of the “guidance” I got from my counselor. But I wouldn’t be who I am if I took a different path, so I’m not bitter. But it may explain why I felt so passionate about working in financial aid.
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I did not know that financial aid existed until I talked to a librarian at the public library. It was very fortunate that I talked to her, because otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered to take the SAT or apply to colleges at all… I thought “going to college” was only for wealthy people.
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Late 70’s NYC large experimental public. All classes pass/fail. No GPA. No ranking. No competitive sports. Optional Independent study programs were part of the curriculum.
Only marks were from standardized testing.
Don’t remember exact scores, but this is about right: NYS Regents subject exams (95-100 on all), NYS Regents Scholarship exam (no recollection of score, but high enough to win scholarship), APs (5 on all three taken), SAT (mid 1500s), SAT II subject tests (>750).
Nothing much (by today’s standards) in terms of ECs.
Four applications total covered 8 schools. One app for 3 CUNY Colleges, another app for 3 SUNY Universities. Also put in two what-the-hell apps to Ivys.
Accepted everywhere probably due to SAT score.
Went to Ivy as it was the cheapest option. LOL
Much, much, much easier back then.
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I graduated in 83 from a large public high school with 405 in my graduating claas. Took all the honors and college credit classes available. I do not know my class rank except that it was in top 5%.
Even though the school was in an area populated by lower middle class blue collar families,everyone I knew went to college…and almost all of us were 1st generation. I had a huge social circle but did not know of a single classmate who went to an out of state school. A few people went to private colleges for religious reasons (this was a very conservative area in the Bible belt). Everyone else went to a public university or community college.
I do not remember anyone talking about writing an essay or studying for SAT tests. Looking back now, I am aware that our counselors effectively committed malpractice. My friends and I have had many, many WTH? conversations about the fact that neither of them ever suggested anything to us about the possibility of out of state schools, “elite” schools college scholarships or that there could be a lot of money riding on SAT scores. A few people told my parents that families with high assets could not get financial aid. By that time, they had significant IRA savings and a house just 3 years from being paid off, so they concluded we wouldn’t qualify and did not apply.
I enrolled in the 2nd largest school and like to joke that at the time the application was name, address and a deposit check…but really that’s the truth.
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When I was in high school, it did not appear to be the norm to study specifically for the SAT (or ACT). My 15 minutes or less of test prep (trying the sample questions in the booklet with the sign-up sheet) was probably typical. However, there were test prep books and classes available, including some books with hundreds or thousands of SAT words to memorize the meanings of (the SAT verbal section at the time was mainly vocabulary).
Also, it did not appear to be the norm to study for Achievement tests (later called SAT subject tests) or AP tests beyond taking the associated class.
The above is very different compared to the current norm on these forums of spending dozens or hundreds of hours studying for the SAT or ACT, and studying many extra hours for the AP test beyond what one normally does in the associated AP class (or similar for SAT subject tests with respect to the regular high school class before they were discontinued).
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I graduated in the 1980s from a large average public school in the midwest.
Graduated as salutatorian with a 3.98 GPA or so (all A’s and one A-).
SAT scores: 640 math, 740 reading; NMSF based on PSAT (couldn’t figure out quickly how to convert to current scores). Took test once with no prep other than doing the practice test pamphlet on my own.
Extracurriculars: fast-food job, heavy theater involvement, very limited community service. And that’s it.
Applied to four schools, admitted to all.
Today’s admit rates to three of those schools: 7%-47%. Last one was 80%.
Attended a top-10 SLAC and accumulated $8,000 in loans.
College search consisted of one 10-minute visit with my school counselor, reviewing the brochures I received from everywhere after I did well on the PSAT, and three visits.
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I can’t remember. Is that the Harry Potter looking building?
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Graduated early 90s from a large public high school in CA. If I had my way, I would have only applied to one school. I knew exactly where I wanted to go (small, private school in the same town I grew up in!) and getting in wasn’t an issue. My parents made me apply to a few UC schools anyway. I got into all of them. My twin went to the big UC and I was happy at my small private school that was smaller than my high school!
I don’t remember GPA or test scores, but I know I was in the top 60 students out of around 800 or so. There was a special recognition Junior year for the top 60 students in the class.
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This reminds me that we also did ECs because they were fun or interesting, never because they would look good on college applications.
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Well and for the pics in the yearbook 
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I thought of something else. My freshman year of college was paid for as I had several scholarships. My parents couldn’t pay anything but they made too much for financial aid. My biggest expense was long distance calls back home to my friends still in high school 
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Sometime we did ECs because a cute boy was participating…
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That is always a good reason!
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Graduated in 1989 with a 3.4, maybe 3.5 weighted GPA, good enough to be in the top 15% for a below average public high school in South Florida. I was very lazy my first 2 years of high school. I even got an F in biology honors during my Sophomore year. I watched Guiding Light right after school, then played outside until it got dark. I watched some more sitcoms after dinner (the Wonder Years was my favorite), and did maybe an hour of home work each night at the most. My mom wasn’t happy after that F in biology, so I decided to get serious starting in the 11th grade. I got mostly As the rest of the way in a mix of regular, honors, and AP classes. As mentioned earlier, the Peterson’s Guide to American Colleges was a great resource. I also went to a college fair at a nearby high school. I remember asking for a brochure at the UNC Chapel Hill booth. The rep said, "before I give you the brochure, are you ranked in the top 10% of your class, and have at least 1100 SAT " or something like that; I said no and that was that, moved on to the next booth. I ended up applying to 5 colleges, got into University of Florida, USF, UCF, USC (Southern Cal), rejected by Pepperdine. My SAT was something like 1060, I’m first gen/low income and did not study for the test at all. Varsity tennis/cross country, DECA, FBLA, JA, worked Subway during the Summers. I toyed with the idea of enlisting in the US Army but ended up going to UF. My family was ecstatic since very few kids from my high school went to a 4 year college. Tuition was $800 per semester back then and I graduated with $1,200 in debt. My daughter is now a Senior and how times haved changed. She laughs at my stats and says, “how could you get into UF and USC with those stats.” Well, they both had > 75% acceptance rates in those days. My only regret is I wasted my 1st 2 years of high school.
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Went to elite high school. Probably top 25% of class. APs, sports, some clubs. SAT 800m/680. But for some reason I wrote a poem for my personal statement. …. Only school that let me in was the one that was nice enough to ask for a real essay. Nice overpriced LAC, but I loved it. My girls also hitting up similar types of schools, D23 and D24. But way more competitive now, but also was pretty darn stressful and disappointing back in the 90s too.
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