If you graduated college in the 90s/00s which schools shocked you with their change in status/competiveness?

[Anonymous]

Elon was basically community college for rich kids in the late 90s.

[Anonymous]

USC

OMG this is the hill I will die on. When I was in college in CA in the late 90s/early 00s, USC was known was being a great school for film, football, and being a loose sorority girl… and aside from that was a total JOKE.

No one will ever be able to convince me that it’s worth any $$$. And I would never let my kid go to school there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SAT was different in the 80s. Harder. You rarely heard people hitting 1400+ SAT.

I remember 1200-1300 was a solid SAT score in the 80s (put you in play anywhere). So the score report doesn't mean much...BUT--yes it is much more selective everywhere due to common app, number of applicants (not as many people went onto 4-year colleges), holistic approach and test optional.

I don’t think it was necessarily harder but the verbal section was more difficult to prep for if you didn’t have the vocabulary. It’s almost as if the college board intentionally created something that would align with test prep and test cram type services.

The SAT is equally as challenging as the past, and the test is normed. The English section is easier because English skills have declined nationally, but the math section is harder as math skills have increased.

[Anonymous]

The big sports/southern universities.

[Anonymous]

Arizona State. Northeastern. Florida. Actually, I don’t think most SEC schools are really THAT competitive, outside of the DC area. The PA/OH SLACs. Tulane. Most of the Big 10 schools (which weren’t in the Big 10 when I was in college).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SAT was different in the 80s. Harder. You rarely heard people hitting 1400+ SAT.

I remember 1200-1300 was a solid SAT score in the 80s (put you in play anywhere). So the score report doesn't mean much...BUT--yes it is much more selective everywhere due to common app, number of applicants (not as many people went onto 4-year colleges), holistic approach and test optional.

I don’t think it was necessarily harder but the verbal section was more difficult to prep for if you didn’t have the vocabulary. It’s almost as if the college board intentionally created something that would align with test prep and test cram type services.

The SAT is equally as challenging as the past, and the test is normed. The English section is easier because English skills have declined nationally, but the math section is harder as math skills have increased.

If you are addressing parents, well, of course the SAT has become easier. A generation ago, anything above 1200 was solid. And over 1300 was genuinely gifted. And the English section benefited book readers, of which there are very few these days among 17 year olds. Test score inflation is as real as grade inflation. Which is another reason there are so many applications to desirable schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SAT was different in the 80s. Harder. You rarely heard people hitting 1400+ SAT.

I remember 1200-1300 was a solid SAT score in the 80s (put you in play anywhere). So the score report doesn't mean much...BUT--yes it is much more selective everywhere due to common app, number of applicants (not as many people went onto 4-year colleges), holistic approach and test optional.

I don’t think it was necessarily harder but the verbal section was more difficult to prep for if you didn’t have the vocabulary. It’s almost as if the college board intentionally created something that would align with test prep and test cram type services.

The SAT is equally as challenging as the past, and the test is normed. The English section is easier because English skills have declined nationally, but the math section is harder as math skills have increased.

If you are addressing parents, well, of course the SAT has become easier. A generation ago, anything above 1200 was solid. And over 1300 was genuinely gifted. And the English section benefited book readers, of which there are very few these days among 17 year olds. Test score inflation is as real as grade inflation. Which is another reason there are so many applications to desirable schools.

are you talking about before the early 1990s when the test was renormed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arizona State. Northeastern. Florida.

What’s different about Arizona State? When I was young it was an auto-admit party school, and it’s still that. I guess they give more money now to OOS students but that doesn’t really change what it is.

[Anonymous]

Some people have mentioned Northwestern. When do you think that school rose to more national prominence and became competitive for admissions? Or would the average NU kid today be likely to have been denied at Brown, Penn, Cornell etc? (The “easier Ivies”)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some people have mentioned Northwestern. When do you think that school rose to more national prominence and became competitive for admissions? Or would the average NU kid today be likely to have been denied at Brown, Penn, Cornell etc? (The “easier Ivies”)

nu was about 12 until 2017. upward trend started in 2018. great school but bit overrated by us news imo. nu is like cornell. brown and penn harder admits imo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:USC

OMG this is the hill I will die on. When I was in college in CA in the late 90s/early 00s, USC was known was being a great school for film, football, and being a loose sorority girl… and aside from that was a total JOKE.

No one will ever be able to convince me that it’s worth any $$$. And I would never let my kid go to school there.

+1mm. The dumbest kids at my school went to USC. Can't believe Lori Loughlin went to prison just so her girls could attend USC over Arizona State.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virginia Tech.

I had a 3.5 1250 SAT (1310 now) and VERY few ECs. I moved a lot and didn't play sports.

I'm old enough to recall that if you had a 2.0 and graduated from a VA HS, you were let into VaTech (for everyting except engineering I believe)

DP. I grew up here (NoVA) and that is simply BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:USC

OMG this is the hill I will die on. When I was in college in CA in the late 90s/early 00s, USC was known was being a great school for film, football, and being a loose sorority girl… and aside from that was a total JOKE.

No one will ever be able to convince me that it’s worth any $$$. And I would never let my kid go to school there.

+1mm. The dumbest kids at my school went to USC. Can't believe Lori Loughlin went to prison just so her girls could attend USC over Arizona State.

how good looking were those kids?

[Anonymous]

Pretty much all of them. NYU and U. Chicago were my safeties when I applied to college in the 1990s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vanderbilt, for sure

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