Where are my 90s era Harvard classmates sending their kids?

[Anonymous]

I’m a Princeton grad from the ‘90s. I and my close friends have kids at Princeton, Barnard, Lafayette, and Connecticut College. My second one is headed to a yet-to-be-determined SLAC.

[Anonymous]

Another Princeton grad, kid is happy going to Tufts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another proof that admissions to elite colleges is a sob story scriptwriting competition:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/books/review/katie-benner-erica-green-miracle-children.html#:~:text=The%20Lie%20That%20Elite%20Colleges,for%20stories%20of%20Black%20trauma.&text=Kevin%20Carey%20directs%20the%20education,think%20tank%20in%20Washington%2C%20D.C.&text=The%20story%20seemed%2C%20and%20was%2C%20too%20good%20to%20be%20true.

Those admissions people in elite colleges like to stress how important it is to convey the applicant’s true voice in their essays. Yet they can’t even tell those overly dramatic stories are completely made up? What a joke!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What this shows is that getting into Harvard used to be immensely easier. People who went to Harvard in the 90s wouldn’t be in at anywhere comparable today.

It’s not harder or easier per se, but the grade inflation is making the signals of quality very noisy. A few decades ago, the high school grades already helped the admissions pick the outstanding (academically) students pretty accurately. In addition, applicants these days are supposed to play victim and write a sob story about what kind of hardship they have gone through and how they have overcome their hardship and what lessons they have learned. It’s like everyone is applying for a script writing major!

Also, it used to be a lot easier just as a person who could pay. The world was the opposite of flat. And if you were American and went to a private HS, acceptance rate was above 25%.

Anywho, my Harvard friends sending kids to Harvard! Legacy still a big leg up. And being full pay can't hurt.

I remember reading a quote a decade ago that in the 80s HYP realized they could do better than the bottom third of the class at Exeter and Andover 🤪

Selfishly hoping legacy boosts my kids at Williams or Harvard if they are interested and either is a good fit academically and culturally. But having been out in the wild for almost two decades, college is not deterministic unless you room with Mark Zuckerberg.

[Anonymous]

My classmates have kids at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Vassar, Haverford, and UVA.

My DD ED’d at Penn bc Harvard had not accepted anyone from her non DMV public high school in over 5 years. She”s at the top of her class, 36 ACT, with state level awards, and wanted to go to Harvard, but she felt she had a better shot at Penn, notwithstanding her Harvard legacy status. Her school regularly sends at least 1 student to Penn every year. Her call was a good one. She will be attending Penn next fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Past few years have seen the children of all my Harvard 1990-something classmates head off to college. Where have they chosen to go? here’s the list so far:

University of Virginia
Wake Forest
Auburn
Sewanee
Duke
Tulane
SMU

I am sensing a pattern here…

The South is the new Ivy League.

[Anonymous]

a lot of people who themselves went to a very elite college dont always think its incredibly important or always worth it to go to one. they may have developed some stress, anxiety, or imposter syndrome while there. they may encourage their kids to challenge themselves while still enjoying the high school experience. they may understand better than most that there are many paths to success and college admissions is no golden ticket. its complicated.

[Anonymous]

Husband and I are both Harvard grads from 90s. Two kids are at Harvard

[Anonymous]

St Andrews, Scotland

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:a lot of people who themselves went to a very elite college dont always think its incredibly important or always worth it to go to one. they may have developed some stress, anxiety, or imposter syndrome while there. they may encourage their kids to challenge themselves while still enjoying the high school experience. they may understand better than most that there are many paths to success and college admissions is no golden ticket. its complicated.

True.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:a lot of people who themselves went to a very elite college dont always think its incredibly important or always worth it to go to one. they may have developed some stress, anxiety, or imposter syndrome while there. they may encourage their kids to challenge themselves while still enjoying the high school experience. they may understand better than most that there are many paths to success and college admissions is no golden ticket. its complicated.

+100. True for 1990’s graduates of other selective colleges as well. More emphasis on “brand” and “ranking” 30-40 years ago before college tuitions and the number of applicants skyrocketed. Different metrics in play now for many families, regardless of where the parents may have attended college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St Andrews, Scotland

+1. Sent ours to Oxford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:a lot of people who themselves went to a very elite college dont always think its incredibly important or always worth it to go to one. they may have developed some stress, anxiety, or imposter syndrome while there. they may encourage their kids to challenge themselves while still enjoying the high school experience. they may understand better than most that there are many paths to success and college admissions is no golden ticket. its complicated.

THIS! +100
Wouldn't wish the experience of those four years on anyone, much less my children. It was miserable and most of my peers at work, and my bosses, went to non- Ivy schools.

[Anonymous]

I went to Yale. Single mom by choice so no other legacy. My kids are at Harvard and Williams.

I don't think any of this is incredibly important, but these schools all cost about the same if you're full pay. Harvard on the lower end.

I loved my college years. The opposite of miserable. My kids do too.