Which colleges were the "hot" colleges several decades ago?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago was so not hot in the 80s, it was an easy admit. Brown was hot.

Yes I remember Brown being very sought after and those who got in, highly thought of.

Brown is still that way in California and NE. Only clueless striver wannabes dismiss it. 5% acceptance rate., hipster vibes, grade inflation.

Brown can't be dismissed now, but it wasn't that hot in the 80s. It wasn't until they dropped requirements so they could recruit JFK Jr, George Harrison's kid, and other kids of celebrities that it got hot. I knew 2 kids who went in the 80s and it was the easiest Ivy to get into then--easier than Cornell. The Price of Admission has a funny story about Brown's president visiting George Harrison's mansion in Britain to recruit the son and wondering why the gardener joined them for dinner--it was George.

PS, JFK Jr would have graduated in 83 or 84. My friend had a date.... After that, Brown was totally hot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago was so not hot in the 80s, it was an easy admit. Brown was hot.

Yes I remember Brown being very sought after and those who got in, highly thought of.

Brown is still that way in California and NE. Only clueless striver wannabes dismiss it. 5% acceptance rate., hipster vibes, grade inflation.

8% admissions rate. It's not in HYPSC territory yet.

https://news.brown.edu/articles/2017/03/admitted

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In the 80's Brown was very hot because a number of celebrity children attended.

Brown was very popular in my HS in the late 70's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
PS, JFK Jr would have graduated in 83 or 84. My friend had a date.... After that, Brown was totally hot.

Many kennedy offspring still attend brown. as do many quietly wealthy hollywood and wall street elite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you lived in VA several decades ago (1980's-90's), the hot colleges would most likely have been an in-state public like UVA, William & Mary, or JMU. There just wasn't the same demand back then for out-of-state, high-status schools except among the very elite.

This area has seen huge demographic change in the last few decades. Immigration has skyrocketed, post 9/11 defense spending has increased incomes and raised the standard of living, technology and social media raises awareness about out of state schools. It's a different world.

I remember in 1985 visiting UVA because it was then considered a hot commodity. I don't think it is now though, mostly because of all the horrible scandals.

Evidence to the contrary would be the soaring number of applicants. But don't let facts stand in your way, hater.

+ 1. DS is there and loves it. We're so happy he got in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago was so not hot in the 80s, it was an easy admit. Brown was hot.

Yes I remember Brown being very sought after and those who got in, highly thought of.

Brown is still that way in California and NE. Only clueless striver wannabes dismiss it. 5% acceptance rate., hipster vibes, grade inflation.

8% admissions rate. It's not in HYPSC territory yet.

https://news.brown.edu/articles/2017/03/admitted

Brown is just as hard to get into. You get a lot of weak candidates applying to Y/P/H/S/C just because that is the Ivy they've heard of. Brown has a stronger applicant pool.

[Anonymous]

JMU and Tech. Both have fallen in favor due to the rise of Mason. Mason may be less desirable but not by much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:JMU and Tech. Both have fallen in favor due to the rise of Mason. Mason may be less desirable but not by much.

Th rise of Mason?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:JMU and Tech. Both have fallen in favor due to the rise of Mason. Mason may be less desirable but not by much.

Th rise of Mason?

Mason has gone up in desirability especially with those who want to stay local to save money

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They haven't changed much. Ivies, seven sisters, little ivies, Grinnell, Carlton, Reed, Oberlin, MIT, Stanford, Claremont Colleges

I grew up out west in the 70's and never heard of the Claremont Schools until more recently. Stanford and Berkeley were the stars out west. The seven sisters? Not so popular anymore. They are still excellent but not many college kids want single sex education anymore.

I never heard of the Claremont schools till I started reading this forum. Still not sure which colleges are included, except for Harvey Mudd, and that's a name you don't forget after hearing it.

If you're still not sure, you could solve that issue by googling and finding out. Not that hard to do.[/quote]


But why would I care enough to do that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:JMU and Tech. Both have fallen in favor due to the rise of Mason. Mason may be less desirable but not by much.

Actually it seems to me that Tech has risen and JMU has fallen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you lived in VA several decades ago (1980's-90's), the hot colleges would most likely have been an in-state public like UVA, William & Mary, or JMU. There just wasn't the same demand back then for out-of-state, high-status schools except among the very elite.

This area has seen huge demographic change in the last few decades. Immigration has skyrocketed, post 9/11 defense spending has increased incomes and raised the standard of living, technology and social media raises awareness about out of state schools. It's a different world.

I'm a Va resident who graduated in the 90 and I agree with this list except I would add Tech as well. I do wonder about JMU though, is it just me or does it seem that JMU is not as desirable to VA residents as it once was?

I think VA schools wax and wane in popularity. The year I graduated HS (1987), JMU was a hot school. When my brother graduated in 1985, a lot of his friends went to Radford and VaTech. Since then, Mary Washington has been very popular. Now, Christopher Newport is one a lot of folks are talking about. VA Commonwealth U is popular with kids who want to go into medical-related fields or the arts. We're lucky that we have a lot of high-quality publics to choose from in VA.

[Anonymous]

We didn't have many students in my high school aiming for Ivies or top 25-colleges, but perhaps the next tier and lower. I'd say UNC Chapel Hill seemed more desirable and well-regarded (much more than UMD) when I was in high school than it does now.

[Anonymous]

Is Columbia the C in HYPSC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is Columbia the C in HYPSC?

Probably Chicago but that's wishful thinking. MIT is usually the 5th.