Admission to Selective Colleges in 1989

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister got into Vanderbilt with an 1100 on the SAT's. Those were the days. Can you even imagine that now?

For kids with the right hook, yes. I wouldn't overestimate Vanderbilt.

The average SAT score is a 1510 at Vanderbilt. Perhaps Scottie Pippen Jr. got an 1100, but none of our kids are getting in with that score these days.

[Anonymous]

I started at a top-ranked liberal arts college in 1989, from a very good public school in the MD suburbs. I had a decent resume - top test scores, a bunch of AP courses, active in extracurriculars - but I highly doubt I'd get in today. First, my grades didn't even put me in the top 5 percent of my class, and I wasn't a standout in any of my extracurriculars. Still, I think the article is generally right - it wasn't easy to get in to the most competitive schools. There were a lot of strong students in my school who were disappointed about not getting into their ideal colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister got into Vanderbilt with an 1100 on the SAT's. Those were the days. Can you even imagine that now?

For kids with the right hook, yes. I wouldn't overestimate Vanderbilt.

It’s not possible to overestimate Vanderbilt

-Vanderbilt Grad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I got into Yale and Univ of Penn in the late 1980s with a 1380 SAT and zero AP classes. (My school didn’t offer any.) I may well have been the first kid from my high school to ever apply to either. I couldn’t afford to go and had no one to advise me on financial aid, so I declined both and went to a state university instead.

Last year, my oldest was one of many highly qualified students to be rejected from both of the Ivies I got into, and we had a good laugh about the lost legacy preference. She is now at a state school as well, but one with a much better reputation than the one I attended!

You also have to remember that there was no sense of first gen then save the kids who were or little interest in providing equitable financial aid for poor and working class kids. Guessing that even the financial aid advisors then might not have really been of much help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In 1989 my best friend in HS was a straight A student in top classes, STEM, Humanities and Arts. She had almost a perfect score on her SATs.

Her college applications went out to 9 places including Ivies and high ranking California colleges. She was rejected from everywhere except her safety, BU. And that's where she went.

I think she must have done poorly with the essay or her counselor recommendations. Back then 9 colleges was a LOT of colleges to apply to. It would have been hard to write so many essays. Also, was she "well rounded"? That was very big back then... you didn't mention anything but academics.

[Anonymous]

My kid is going to Georgetown and I remember thinking, wow, it is harder to get into Georgetown today (12% acceptance rate) than it was to get into Harvard in 1987 (the year I applied). Back then, I think the Harvard acceptance rate was around 16%.

None of us would ever get into our alma maters today, folks....!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 1989 I got rejected from Yale, Princeton and Williams with a straight A average, 1390 SAT and at top prep school. So yes, it was tough then too.

The SAT used a 2400 point scale in 1989 and that would be equivalent to a 1000 on the current sat

you’re not smart enough to create a believable lie

I am the OP of this, as others have pointed out, it was a 1600 scale then. Why exactly do you think I was lying?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is going to Georgetown and I remember thinking, wow, it is harder to get into Georgetown today (12% acceptance rate) than it was to get into Harvard in 1987 (the year I applied). Back then, I think the Harvard acceptance rate was around 16%.

None of us would ever get into our alma maters today, folks....!

Well, today we would have taken prep classes for the already inflated score SATs, benefitted from grade inflation and AP everything, known about more schools thanks to the internet...

[Anonymous]

The SATs keep getting reweighted so today's scores are not the same as 30 years ago. The number of college applicants has also greatly increased, along with more international students. The information age also changed the dynamics, opening up knowledge of more colleges to even more kids.

Funnily enough, despite increased competition I don't get the impression the corresponding graduates are more accomplished than their peers 30 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In 1989 I got rejected from Yale, Princeton and Williams with a straight A average, 1390 SAT and at top prep school. So yes, it was tough then too.

No one with those stats would even consider applying to those colleges today with those stats. Not good enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 1989 my best friend in HS was a straight A student in top classes, STEM, Humanities and Arts. She had almost a perfect score on her SATs.

Her college applications went out to 9 places including Ivies and high ranking California colleges. She was rejected from everywhere except her safety, BU. And that's where she went.

I think she must have done poorly with the essay or her counselor recommendations. Back then 9 colleges was a LOT of colleges to apply to. It would have been hard to write so many essays. Also, was she "well rounded"? That was very big back then... you didn't mention anything but academics.

She might have been dinged because she applied to too many schools. The admissions departments at some of these schools DO talk to each other and consider how serious the candidate is about their school. With that number of applications, they probably didn't think this was a serious candidate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 1989 my best friend in HS was a straight A student in top classes, STEM, Humanities and Arts. She had almost a perfect score on her SATs.

Her college applications went out to 9 places including Ivies and high ranking California colleges. She was rejected from everywhere except her safety, BU. And that's where she went.

I think she must have done poorly with the essay or her counselor recommendations. Back then 9 colleges was a LOT of colleges to apply to. It would have been hard to write so many essays. Also, was she "well rounded"? That was very big back then... you didn't mention anything but academics.

Maybe it was the essays, maybe the interviews. In person she came over as an enormous ditz.

[Anonymous]

I think I go a 1260, cold, no prep in 1985.
I also remember jolting out of bed that morning, almost completely forgot it was SAT day, quickly got dressed, brushed my teeth and ran off to the test.
My parents were totally oblivious to the SAT, no one in our family ever considered the concept of prepping. It was just a necessary task as part of the college application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 1989 I got rejected from Yale, Princeton and Williams with a straight A average, 1390 SAT and at top prep school. So yes, it was tough then too.

No one with those stats would even consider applying to those colleges today with those stats. Not good enough.

A 1390 was an excellent score in 1989, but I agree the straight As are not good enough. SMH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is going to Georgetown and I remember thinking, wow, it is harder to get into Georgetown today (12% acceptance rate) than it was to get into Harvard in 1987 (the year I applied). Back then, I think the Harvard acceptance rate was around 16%.

None of us would ever get into our alma maters today, folks....!

Thanks for letting us know you went to Harvard. Now how about getting over yourself?