Then vs Now, admissions edition
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Anonymous
| It was definitely way easier back then but don’t forget the SAT was rescaled in 1996 and before then most of us didn’t prep much, took it once, and there was no super scoring. So a 1990 score of ~1250 might be ~1310-1340 today. If you had today’s private tutoring and super scoring, you’d easily be into the 1400s. |
Anonymous
| 1997: 3.88 GPA, 33 ACT, IB diploma, top 5 percent. ED Hopkins accepted. TX |
Anonymous
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1980’s grad from the Midwest
—3.75 GPA (unweighted) —No idea how many APs —No idea on class rank. Top 10 or 15? —1250 SAT (no prep) —Average ECs In at Northwestern, Lehigh, and Indiana (what is now Kelley). |
Anonymous
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HS class of 1992, got into UVA, Cornell and Duke as an international student. Don't remember the GPA, but was straight A student. Took only 3 APs (English, BC Calc and Stats). 1250 SAT (730 Math, 520 Verbal) w perfect TOEFL score though, NO EC, just a part time job at the library during junior & senior year.
DD, this cycle, also got into UVA, but shut out of all Ivies. 4.5W / 34 ACT / Athlete / Musician in leadership seats / Student government in leadership position / Essays vetted by counselor. By today's standards, I don't think I would've gotten into any of the VA schools with my old stats, let alone Cornell and Duke. I probably would be doing 2 years of CC and then tried to transfer. |
Anonymous
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HS class of 1999, SAT 1510, 4.0 GPA
Penn |
Anonymous
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Was ranked in top 2 of class, 4.0 unweighted GPA, low 1400s SAT, leadership in several activities, went to nationals in a niche interest twice.
Went to top 2 SLAC but also admitted to an Ivy and turned it down. |
Anonymous
| Like a 3.7 GPA and 1280 SAT in late 90s; no community service, no sports, some journalism and lab/bio work. Some public speaking and creativity. Waitlisted then went to Columbia University. Probably not the case now that I would get in! |
Anonymous
Wow. That is incredible. |
Anonymous
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California, 1990s. 3.6 weighted GPA. Regular school activities and music lessons, nothing remarkable. JV level sports. 13-something SAT, taken without studying or prep (nobody I knew prepped), though maybe notable because I got a perfect score on the verbal section but my math score was crap. A few AP exams, all 4-5s. No idea on class rank.
Wrote my essays myself, filled out the applications on paper. My parents would not have known what to even say. UC Berkeley. Also got into UCLA. I didn’t apply out of state and in fact didn’t know almost anyone who did. No way would I get in now. |
Anonymous
Seriously! I had to read that twice. Very doubtful the PP would get in nowadays. DP |
Anonymous
| If you cam along now, your GPA would be .5 higher and your SAT 140 points higher. |
Anonymous
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I’m the oldest so far: class of 1976 highly regarded public school. 10th in class of 320. No idea of gpa. 1360 SATs. Went to Penn (with a dozen other hs classmates). Would any of us get in today?
My kids were all better educated (than I was) at private high schools and had better statistics. And none got into their top choice |
Anonymous
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Hmmm, this is a fun exercise but aren't we comparing apples and oranges when looking back at the 80s or 90s?
I don't remember GPA or any exact numbers but I had very high rigor classes and was ranked 2nd at an extremely competitive HS. I had 5s on maybe 8 APs, which was a lot back then. I also had a lot of Achievements/SAT IIs, all high 700s or 800s. I remember worrying that my SAT was very low at 1350, no tutoring, one attempt. I think it was low for my college's average. I was extremely strong in my humanities field of interest and still did well in my weaker subjects (Calculus junior year, all the years of science). I was captain of two sports and all that. Would that get me in to HYP today? I mean, it is a crapshoot now but I am guessing that the number 2 at my HS still gets into HYP. I didn't start any businesses or run a non-profit but ... that wasn't really on the table back then. I assume I would have done whatever it took. What I can say is that I definitely studied more than any of my kids. My most ambitious kid knows FAR more about his academic interest than I could ever hope to know, but day in and day out, all I did was study, sports, socialize on weekends. Period. My kids waste A LOT more time. If I had "free" time (on vacations and so on), I read novels. Also, my HS classes required so much more reading and writing than my kids' classes do. Yes, it is harder to tell kids apart nowadays but part of that is grade inflation, test prep, and super scoring. I don't buy that overall kids are more high achieving. That isn't what I see anyway. |
Anonymous
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4.1 GPA, 1200 SAT, ranked 5th in my class. One AP (only two were offered at my high school). Numerous extracurriculars including leadership positions. Admitted to Wake Forest in 1989 for binding early decision or whatever it was called. No way I would get in today, not even a chance.
Even with that grim SAT score I did well in college, with six consecutive 4.0 semesters. |
Anonymous
Where did you go to high school? My top public high school in the late 90s/early 2000s only offered a handful of AP classes, definitely less than 8 |