<p>I highly doubt it. I went to Brown in the late 80s-early 90s when it was considered a “hot” school, and I still suspect they admitted me under a false assumption on their part. At the time I applied to colleges, I was living overseas for my parents’ work. Even though we applied with a US address, I was invited to International Student orientation; come to find out halfway through soph year that the school had just discovered that my FA was coming out of the international pool and all my loans had to be switched around. I told them repeatedly from the beginning I was a US citizen and still they treated me like I was foreign for over 3 semesters! </p>
<p>So I am pretty sure that I only got admitted in the first place because they thought I was English (I did do my 5th year/junior yr in an English school and took O levels, but then graduated from a US overseas HS). I do not think if I had applied with my above average but nowhere close to perfect SATs, or very few ECs (though highly committed to each) I would have been accepted from the US. My US high school was much more competitive than the one I graduated from and I would have had a hard time cracking the top 5% there; as it was I did graduate 2nd in my (very small) class.</p>
<p>I will add that I took advantage of my situation (mistake or not), as I did graduate and in 4 years to boot!</p>
<p>I interview as an alum now and there is no way in h*** I would EVER get in today. We see so many exciting extraordinary kids and it saddens us when 99% of them don’t get in.</p>
<p>Although school admission has gotten more selective, so have the grades of high school students. Back in my day our valedectorian did NOT have a 4.0. His grade in our math class was lower than mine. When my kids graduated from high school, there were at least 15 kids in every class that had a perfect 4.0 when they graduated. </p>
<p>So although I certainly would have gotten into the school that I went to, it would have been close to the top 25 school that I was admitted to but chose not to attend. My 3.6 GPA would not cut it today, but it was near the top of our class back then.</p>
<p>I have thought about this. probably would not be admitted with the major i had, but might be admitted under a different major. A single, unprepped SAT test junior year would definitely not fly these days. But I didn’t feel like wasting another Saturday at the time. And of course, I would have more than the two safeties that I applied to (one of them was Colgate, a different admissions game in the 80s). In fact, I would not have even had safeties if mom hadn’t forced me to…I didn’t even consider that I would not be admitted to dream school.</p>
<p>Don’t know. It was a different world then. No practicing on the SATs. Not the same kind of coaching that kids get now. No push for private schools. I was bored in one of the best school systems in my state – I was skipped twice, though I unskipped myself back once because I was in my sister’s HS classes, which was awkward). My mother did ask if I wanted to go to private school, but we were middle class and Jewish and the private schools were (in my mind and largely in reality) upper class and Jewish and I was afraid I wouldn’t have fit in so I turned down her offer. I attended three of HYPSM (undergrad and grad). I think my scores would have to be higher and my extra-curriculars a lot stronger. But, with practice on the SATs and guidance on extra-curriculars, I would probably still be a credible candidate. But, there are so many more applicants now and I had no hook. I think I would have been as strong as the stronger candidates I have interviewed, but the numbers of applicants are so high that it is a crapshoot as to whether I got in.</p>
<p>I applied to three Ivies, the leading honors college at an OOS school, and a very good private school as a backup. The latter two were safeties. Seems pretty quaint.</p>
<p>Meant to say in the above – the private schools were upper class and WASPy (not Jewish) and probably anti-Semitic [we lived in a WASPy town that was definitely anti-Semitic, and I was not looking forward to a more concentrated dose. Interestingly, there were vestigial overtones of anti-semitism at my undergraduate school, though I believe that is much diminished if not gone by now]. </p>
<p>Most likely not. The strength of the new bloc of Asian-American applicants is mind-boggling. Thank Horus for legacy tipping. Although back then we didn’t have the Internet or digitized anything. It was all typewriter, Wite-Out, carbon paper, stone clubs, this new technology called The Wheel.</p>
<p>Academically and EC-wise, sure, but given the current holistic approach mantra, my belief in the US Constitution, individual freedom, my disdain for wanton national debt, my dislike for government programs that favor one group / people over another, and my understanding that there is no real value to money without requisite production backing it up would probably keep me out of a lot of top colleges today. I would be a heretic to many and my dorm room would be the site of protesting students. :-* </p>
<p>Only ten years later for me. I think I would get similar admission results, but more importantly I would apply to the same five schools. No less and no more. In the past ten years, there isn’t a school I have regretted not applying, and the bunch that presented no interest has not changed at all. Same for graduate school. </p>
<p>It’s an interesting question that I think about from time to time, and I’ll never really know the answer. On paper the answer is probably “no” vs the stats required today, but I’d like to think that I’d have risen to the task back then if the bar had been higher. I knew what I needed to clear back then, and that’s what I did. </p>
<p>The BIG DIFFERENCE I feel of then versus now is that there was a greater chance of REDEMPTION back then. I mean, you didn’t need to be perfect or have a perfect transcript & EC’s. The trend was your friend, and was often enough. You could redeem yourself at a later point in the cycle. The admissions world seemed more forgiving and understanding of unfocused youth. By the time I “got it” in life there was still time to recover – still time to prove you were capable & worthy, with a newer track record of recent accomplishment. Now I feel as though you need a glide path of perfection beginning at least your freshman year in high school (as it relates to selective undergrad admissions) You need to be on the most rigorous track. You cannot make up for prior stumbles. You can still, however, go to a fine, albeit less selective school and do exceptionally well and be in the running for grad school. But even this is less forgiving today, because I feel that I personally “got it” mid-way through undergrad and was still able to gain admissions to selective grad schools by overcoming some mediocre early undergrad years. Now, with all the perfection that is out there today there seems to be no room for any periods of mediocrity or lapses anymore when you are talking about highly selective programs. Indeed, I’ll take this argument one step further and say that the title of the thread could also have read “Would you have gotten your successful job if you had applied for it today?”. I think about that too. </p>
<p>As someone who graduated high school with a 2.8 and ended up graduating from Umich, I’m not sure there is less redemption now. Perhaps you just have to work harder for it-- I had to sacrifice 2 years at a residential college and go to community college instead, but the opportunity was there. I guess that’s what happens when more people apply to college.</p>
<p>It’s interesting to me that you all say you didn’t prep for the SATs and that you took it only once. I did prep – not with a course, but with one of the study guides, in order to learn vocabulary and understand the math problems. Also, I took it twice, and did improve both scores the second time. </p>
<p>I don’t know if that was typical in my town (we had a ton of folks go to excellent schools) or in my family.</p>
<p>^^ We did not prep because the SAT was not a business at that time; it was just a test. The SAT current test industry is another issue on itself. I should make clear that I am not railing against the SAT test industry. People are free to spend their money on what they wish. I explain below the test industry shifts the score base upwards,.</p>
<p>Note, if not many did intensive prep, then the relative scores between the range of students would stay the same. If all students prep, like today, the relative scores stay the same, but the scores are all just higher. Test prep is simply SAT score inflation controlled by the students; the position of the students stay the same score-wise, so colleges back then could still tell the acumen of each student re SAT.</p>
<p>^^Agreed. I graduated high school and went off to college in 1985. I only took the SATs once. There was no push in my school (or in my family, as I was a first-generation college student) to take them more than that. My scores were good enough to get me into the school of my choice (Boston University), so that was enough for me. </p>
<p>My husband and I both went to BU. We talk all the time about whether or not we would be able to get in nowadays. I’m not sure if I would have – maybe. My husband – definitely not, especially in his major (engineering). He tells our sons that all the time. We’re both in awe of the hoops that kids have to jump through today to make it to the end of the college rat race. </p>
<p>Yes, definitely. I think the reputation of the college I attended was better at the time. I regret not going to Northwestern where I was also accepted, but the other school just had a much better financial package and I did not want to burden my family. I did not apply to that many schools- 3 in total- and don’t recall any angst over the process. </p>
<p>The boy I was would still be a reasonable candidate for my college (Yale), but he would sure have to apply to more colleges than the two I did (the other was Harvard, which was my safety because I was a legacy). I was the clear top student at a good private school where, at the time, being the top student meant you could pick where you wanted to go to college. These days, it means maybe you get into HYPS, but more likely you don’t. I had a lot of nice things in my application, so I don’t think it would get thrown out. I’m not certain where today-me would pick as his match or safety schools.</p>
<p>^^ I was in the exact same situation. The schools I applied to were all in the top 10 and still there. And the school I went to is still getting top students in, so if I were where I was back then, I see no problem. </p>
<p>I didn’t study for the SAT either, and with my decent score and decent grades I was an automatic for the flagship state college I wanted to go to. I also applied to the “other” state school just in case my first choice burned to the ground. Today, just decent grades/test scores won’t cut it. However, knowing this I’m hoping I would have studied for the SATs enough to get the score I would need.</p>