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

[Anonymous]

Disagree ND was always the top Catholic school followed by Gtown and Holy Cross. Would say they still are and in same order. Major difference now is ND has a $20 billion endowment whereas Georgetown in the $3-4 billion and much smaller Holy Cross < $1.5 billion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DP: not sure I'd describe DC as an appealing town these days . . . Hard times here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Disagree ND was always the top Catholic school followed by Gtown and Holy Cross. Would say they still are and in same order. Major difference now is ND has a $20 billion endowment whereas Georgetown in the $3-4 billion and much smaller Holy Cross < $1.5 billion.

Sorry, but in regard to selectivity at least, you are not correct that ND has always been top. In the 1990s, Georgetown was significantly harder to get into than ND. Students often applied to both, and fewer were accepted at Georgetown. The SAT and GPA averages at Georgetown were much higher than ND. But today, they are equal (at least) and it seems that among the students accepted to both today, most prefer ND.

But selectivity isn't everything, and you might well argue that ND was always on top for Catholic community, alumni network, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not really, you just have to get educated on current college admissions.
Common sense says if admit rates are under 20% it's a damn tough admit.

[Anonymous]

^Agree and Georgetown campus is tiny with no land to grow. ND and Georgetown have very different vibes tough to replicate home football weekends at Notre Dame. Holy Cross has their niche as only Catholic LAC and very prominent alumni body. Amazed that Georgetown as oldest Catholic school has such a modest endowment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^Agree and Georgetown campus is tiny with no land to grow. ND and Georgetown have very different vibes tough to replicate home football weekends at Notre Dame. Holy Cross has their niche as only Catholic LAC and very prominent alumni body. Amazed that Georgetown as oldest Catholic school has such a modest endowment.

I think the downfall of Georgetown basketball hasn't helped. Granted, during the glory years the team had a number of sketchy characters who didn't represent the school well (as well as plenty of great kids), but basketball really helped put the school on the map and unify the students. Now no one really cares, and, as noted, there isn't anything that remotely compares to ND football. Heck, there was a time recently when ND basketball was a bigger draw than Georgetown basketball.

[Anonymous]

Shocked at rapid rise and change in perception...

University of Southern California, University of Florida, Northeastern University.

Shocked at how competitive it is to gain entry from the 1990's...Boston College, UVA

[Anonymous]

Georgetown doesn’t have big time football and their basketball program hasn’t been good for decades. They seem to downplay their Catholic identity. Just can’t see kids applying to ND and Georgetown so vastly different cultures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DC: expensive, terrible traffic, no parking, homelessness, crime, nasty people. Sign me up!

[Anonymous]

Credit to old Catholic schools ND, Holy Cross and Georgetown for remaining excellent but SEC schools are attracting lots of full pay Catholic kids. The Catholic enrollment increase at Bama, Auburn, UGA etc is huge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown doesn’t have big time football and their basketball program hasn’t been good for decades. They seem to downplay their Catholic identity. Just can’t see kids applying to ND and Georgetown so vastly different cultures.

TONS of kids apply to both ND and Georgetown, which both offer EA non-binding options. TONS, esp. from Catholic high schools. The highest stats Catholic kids apply to ND/ Georgetown and then, hopefully with an acceptance in hand, shotgun the T10 in RD.

[Anonymous]

Northeastern

[Anonymous]

ND and Gtown are totally different 4 years at a sprawling campus with top 10 sports vs small Georgetown campus with a high school football stadium (smaller than most Catholic prep schools). Can see Holy Cross appeal but no thanks on Georgetown. Maybe for grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Common sense says if admit rates are under 20% it's a damn tough admit.

Yes and no. Many parents are not aware of or haven't fully internalized the rampant grade and standardized test score inflation that has occurred since they applied to college. It's easy to make the mistake of thinking, "Wow, that's a low admissions percentage. But my kid's GPA and SAT score are at or above the school's 75th percentile, so I think my kid still has a really good shot of getting in. My kid is still way more qualified than the vast majority of the applicant pool. Their scores are much higher than mine, and I got into multiple top-ranked schools."

When parents applied to college, their chances of getting into a highly selective school with grades and scores well above the median were, indeed, very high. But with grade/score inflation (such that there are way more super-high stats students than spots at top 25 schools), combined with schools placing greater emphasis on other factors in admissions, everything has changed now.

I think many people from our generation don't fully come to terms with those changes until they see the results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Common sense says if admit rates are under 20% it's a damn tough admit.

Yes and no. Many parents are not aware of or haven't fully internalized the rampant grade and standardized test score inflation that has occurred since they applied to college. It's easy to make the mistake of thinking, "Wow, that's a low admissions percentage. But my kid's GPA and SAT score are at or above the school's 75th percentile, so I think my kid still has a really good shot of getting in. My kid is still way more qualified than the vast majority of the applicant pool. Their scores are much higher than mine, and I got into multiple top-ranked schools."

When parents applied to college, their chances of getting into a highly selective school with grades and scores well above the median were, indeed, very high. But with grade/score inflation (such that there are way more super-high stats students than spots at top 25 schools), combined with schools placing greater emphasis on other factors in admissions, everything has changed now.

I think many people from our generation don't fully come to terms with those changes until they see the results.

Guess I'm just capable of reading and understanding CDS and other facts about college admissions.
Then again, I knew the SAT I took in 1987 was very different than now, even before the change to 2400 and back, the 1995 re-centering means my 1360 from 1987 is more like a 1450-1480 today. And I also realize that most kids took it once back then and with no prep beyond the PSAT.
Then again, I'm a math/stem person so I understand statistics