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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northeastern
Vanderbilt
Any of the SEC schools for OOS kids
NYU
USC (when I took the SATs they were doing the stuff Chicago does now- sending the biggest and most mailings of anyone and generally acting desperate)

Nope. Vanderbilt has been competitive and difficult to get into for a long time.

Vandy has gone from difficult to practically impossible.

Vandy had close to 70% acceptance rate in the 90s LOL

[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?

Mediocre 90s/00s grads who wouldn't get accepted to the same college today because of "high stats" academic profile.

Nostalgia!

[Anonymous]

Top 9 Schools That Shocked You With Their Dramatic Rise or Fall!

Ugh, OP your nonsense sounds like a clickbait article.

I didn't care then, and I don't care now. So not "shocked!" about anything.

[Anonymous]

Northeastern, BU, University of Florida, Northwestern, UPenn, USC, UCLA, UCI, UCSD, UMiami, Georgia.

[Anonymous]

Our eldest is the oldest kid in our friend group and the eldest in our extended family.

I feel like I'm a PSA "it's not the same as it was 30 years ago!" On repeat.

No parent really "gets" it until the rejections start coming in.

[Anonymous]

USC.

[Anonymous]

Second USC - they gave me a full scholarship and I didn’t go. I still don’t get why it has climbed so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:VA TECH 100%. Was a safety school for many in FCPS, now it is hard!

+1

VaTech was all of my friend's Safeties back in the late 80s (now most of my friends were in the Top 20 students in the class of 500, most of us in the T10) Heck, UVA was fairly easy to gain admission to for us as well

[Anonymous]

It’s pretty simple. Way more kids are applying to college now than did back then and college has become more accessible to a wider range of kids. Plus just sheer population growth and the fact that it has become much more difficult to get a good job without a college degree over the years. Therefore, it’s not that surprising to me that it is harder to get into most schools now than it used to be. Also not surprised that colleges have changed the the ways in which the admissions process works to adapt to the greater volume of applications though it is interesting.

I’m from the south and I think what surprises me most is the growing interest in certain SEC schools like UTK and South Carolina that up until recently were incredibly easy admits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Second USC - they gave me a full scholarship and I didn’t go. I still don’t get why it has climbed so much.

I loathe that school and everything it represents as much as anyone else, but.....wow. That took some serious conviction, I'd imagine. Props to you.

[Anonymous]

I'm sad to hear about all the seniors turning down Georgetown for Notre Dame.

When I went to Georgetown in the 1990s, Notre Dame was not even a close follower for 'best Catholic'. Now ND is a solid top 20 and spends all that football money, and all those Georgetown alums dedicated to public service have been DOGEd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our eldest is the oldest kid in our friend group and the eldest in our extended family.

I feel like I'm a PSA "it's not the same as it was 30 years ago!" On repeat.

No parent really "gets" it until the rejections start coming in.

Agree with this, have to have one kid go through cycle before one can truly understand how different it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sad to hear about all the seniors turning down Georgetown for Notre Dame.

When I went to Georgetown in the 1990s, Notre Dame was not even a close follower for 'best Catholic'. Now ND is a solid top 20 and spends all that football money, and all those Georgetown alums dedicated to public service have been DOGEd.

My kid really wanted to go to Georgetown, but once its campus was compared to places like ND, BC, Michigan, Wake, & Northwestern, it lost much of its appeal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Mediocre 90s/00s grads who wouldn't get accepted to the same college today because of "high stats" academic profile.

Nostalgia!

+1

😅

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sad to hear about all the seniors turning down Georgetown for Notre Dame.

When I went to Georgetown in the 1990s, Notre Dame was not even a close follower for 'best Catholic'. Now ND is a solid top 20 and spends all that football money, and all those Georgetown alums dedicated to public service have been DOGEd.

My kid really wanted to go to Georgetown, but once its campus was compared to places like ND, BC, Michigan, Wake, & Northwestern, it lost much of its appeal.

But Georgetown’s location in DC is so much more appealing than Notre Dame (rural, boring town), BC (suburbs), Wake (boring and isolated). Northwestern (pretty but so far from downtown Chicago). I will give you Michigan, hard to beat A2.