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

[Anonymous]

Agree w many of these
- vandy for sure
- northwestern
- northeastern
- Elon
- university of spoiled children
University of FL
- Georgia got a lot more competitive after Hope scholarship but not this much.

[Anonymous]

A B+ average at my private school 30+ years ago made kids competitive for Emory, Northwestern, Wash U, Tufts, Case, GWU, and BC. Northeastern and the SEC schools weren’t on anyone’s radar screen.

[Anonymous]

UChicago and Pomona

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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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.

It really isn't BS. VPI used to have rolling admissions and the main thing to get in was to apply in Sept or October. Maybe the GPA had to be 2.5 rather than 2.0, but for sure minimum GPA was not 3.0 or higher. It was back in maybe 1970s though, so not this century. Back then JMU, GMU, and ODU admitted almost anyone in state.

I was 1998 and you certainly did not get in with a 2.0! Our class president who had terrible grades ended up having to go out of state to some random small school.

[Anonymous]

High Point

[Anonymous]

University of Texas.
Virginia Tech
Emory
Vandy

All of these were considered decent schools in the 90s, but not highly competitive admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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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

NP but yes!
I was class of ‘90 and got 1140. And that was strong enough to easily get me into to our flagship state school. My sister was class of ‘88 and scored 1380 and was #1 in her class and genuinely the smartest person at our high school. We knew one person in our district who scored in the high 1400s and everyone ooooed and aaaahed and he went to an Ivy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A B+ average at my private school 30+ years ago made kids competitive for Emory, Northwestern, Wash U, Tufts, Case, GWU, and BC. Northeastern and the SEC schools weren’t on anyone’s radar screen.

I think Northwestern in the late 80s was seen as a much better school than Case, GW, BC!! Not Ivy level, but not in the same tier as the others discussed here. Emory and Wash U were always a notch below NU too. But both were better schools than Case, GW, BC. BC has particularly risen up the perception rankings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Title pretty much sums it up, but when you first started paying attention to college rankings as a parent did you have any moments of shock when once a safety (for many) is now a reach (for many)…off the top of my head Northeastern and UofF come to mind.

Any others?

UMD college park

[Anonymous]

Way back when in the 90s it was Stanford, Northwestern, Duke, Brown - the fun, smart schools.

I'm not sure there's a modern equivalent for that vibe

But if I were to put that forward today, I'd say Vanderbilt, Duke, Michigan

[Anonymous]

Purdue
Georgia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Santa Clara
Hamilton

I went to Hamilton in the 90s. It was solid, but nowhere near Wesleyan or Middlebury. Whenever I hear it mentioned with those schools, I am aghast. In the 90s, there were frat bros, stoners and maybe a couple of Ivy rejects. However you could get a good liberal arts education and a solid foundation for a career.

Santa Clara seems like a great school. A mid-sized university in the Silicon Valley. I have met families whose kids go there and think well of it.

Colby has also risen as well. It was similar to Hamilton, but now it is pretty competitive. Trinity and Conn were pretty much New England kids, but now attract kids from all over the country.

Growing up in Westchester, I didn't know anybody who went to an SEC school, but now tons of kids from the DC area go to them as well as more kids from the tri-state area. The only school that is relatively popular here, but not so much in the tri-state area is Ole Miss. I have met kids who have gone there and gone on to be very successful.

[Anonymous]

Northwestern
Northeastern
UChicago

[Anonymous]

UMD College Park
Elon
UF
High Point

[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.

Wow, I had to look at the date to make sure this wasn't some old post I had written!
Same here, I graduated from a southern CA high school in the early 90s. The people I knew that went there were either wealthy but not that bright, or extremely bright and went because they were given a great financial package (and needed it!)