Admission to Selective Colleges in 1989

[Anonymous]

In 1998, I had 1600 on the SATs but a 3.7 GPA (about top third of my class; not higher). I got into Yale. Good extracurriculars, but no sport & nothing this board would consider a hook. Would *never* happen today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also remember in 1970s schools used real averages with no weighting.

76.76, 84.23, 98.26. None of this we all get 4.0 GPAs. And teachers had balls to give an F out. I had one teacher in HS who failed 1/2 the class.

Years show all the work hand written. Literally a 500 page essay by F Scott Fitzgerald with one period missing would not be a 100.

Today 89.5 is an A my daughters HS

A 90 is a B+ at our high school. That was an A in the 80s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom kept papers I wrote in 6th/7th grade in public Fairfax Co. HS and the length, depth and grammar was much more advanced than what my kids are doing in middle school today.

The thing was over 20 pages long and I received a B+. The comment was "too short". My kids were floored.

Standards were very high and there were no 'do-overs' or submitting things late. If it wasn't turned in on time you got a '0'.

We also had many pop quizzes.

My middle schools aren’t required to write many essays. They’re allowed to do videos instead because some kids “prefer” them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom kept papers I wrote in 6th/7th grade in public Fairfax Co. HS and the length, depth and grammar was much more advanced than what my kids are doing in middle school today.

The thing was over 20 pages long and I received a B+. The comment was "too short". My kids were floored.

Standards were very high and there were no 'do-overs' or submitting things late. If it wasn't turned in on time you got a '0'.

We also had many pop quizzes.

And you did not have the Internet to just google things and paraphrase which so many students do today!!!

we just copied everything out of an encyclopedia. 20 pages handwritten is like 5-7 pages typed.

let's be honest about our academic histories, ok?

And we were huge fans of the long block quote!

[Anonymous]

Late 1970s didn’t break 700 on verbal SATs and it was still in the top 10% at UPenn. Friend with lower SATs in at Yale. (Bright, deserved the admit and highly accomplished in life.) Differentvscale then; hard to compare. The globalization is a factor now for sure. You could walk on to a crew team then. Now the teams are recruited internationally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a HS student in the very early 80s and unless you had access to a typewriter, you were absolutely hand-writing your essays.

We were lucky because my mom had an IBM electric typewriter at home for work and am my friends came over to borrow it for their papers.

Kids weren’t smarter, but doing stuff was harder. You couldn’t look up anything at the drop of a hat, you really had to search out stuff and use micro-fiche, card catalogues, and you had to wait for books for weeks at times. It’s shocking we knew anything at all given how much effort and time it took.

My HS teachers definitely handed out Ds and Fs— some of them gleefully.

Kids learn at a much, much faster rate now because information is available at a much faster rate.
They also have to devote brain power to the rapid technology changes. Once personal computers were readily available in the mid 80s, everything changed and we got to witness how blazing fast technological change is. Now it’s at an even much faster rate.

In all, I think it’s both harder and easier for kids today—but they definitely learn more and faster…and because of technology and related advancements, there is simply MORE to learn.

Ditto on handwritten essays. there was only one required typed paper when I was in HS in the late 70s - mega research paper in College English and only a quarter to a third of HS seniors were enrolled. Think it was a minimum of ten pages + foot notes. I paid someone to type mine (worked in an office after school).

No way the school could require that every paper be typed as probably only a tenth of the class had access to typewriters. I'm pretty sure it was a Title 1 school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also remember in 1970s schools used real averages with no weighting.

76.76, 84.23, 98.26. None of this we all get 4.0 GPAs. And teachers had balls to give an F out. I had one teacher in HS who failed 1/2 the class.

Years show all the work hand written. Literally a 500 page essay by F Scott Fitzgerald with one period missing would not be a 100.

Today 89.5 is an A my daughters HS

My California high school had weighted grades in the 80s. Same model as my kids' school now, one point added for APs. No bump for honors classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a HS student in the very early 80s and unless you had access to a typewriter, you were absolutely hand-writing your essays.

We were lucky because my mom had an IBM electric typewriter at home for work and am my friends came over to borrow it for their papers.

Kids weren’t smarter, but doing stuff was harder. You couldn’t look up anything at the drop of a hat, you really had to search out stuff and use micro-fiche, card catalogues, and you had to wait for books for weeks at times. It’s shocking we knew anything at all given how much effort and time it took.

My HS teachers definitely handed out Ds and Fs— some of them gleefully.

Kids learn at a much, much faster rate now because information is available at a much faster rate.
They also have to devote brain power to the rapid technology changes. Once personal computers were readily available in the mid 80s, everything changed and we got to witness how blazing fast technological change is. Now it’s at an even much faster rate.

In all, I think it’s both harder and easier for kids today—but they definitely learn more and faster…and because of technology and related advancements, there is simply MORE to learn.

Ditto on handwritten essays. there was only one required typed paper when I was in HS in the late 70s - mega research paper in College English and only a quarter to a third of HS seniors were enrolled. Think it was a minimum of ten pages + foot notes. I paid someone to type mine (worked in an office after school).

No way the school could require that every paper be typed as probably only a tenth of the class had access to typewriters. I'm pretty sure it was a Title 1 school.

We get it. You’re old. Hand writing a paper because of technology limitations doesn’t make it harder or more challenging. Unless you think kids back in the 1900s using quills and ink pots were smarter or studied harder than you because of it.

And no one was hand writing a 500 page paper.

[Anonymous]

I was in college 89-92 and while regular essays were hand written for tutors etc, exam essays, long essays (40k words etc) all had to be TYPED on a typewriter.

[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

You’re actually the one who was mistaken! 2400 points came later. There were only two sections, 1600 was the max. I got a 1300 in 1989.

[Anonymous]

In 1992 I got into 4/6 colleges (mix of state universities and small privates) with a 2.7 and 1020 with no AP classes - a few with merit (LOL) scholarships. In todays day and age, I would be going to community college.

[Anonymous]

I applied to colleges in 1989. I had a 1410 SAT (was a NMSF but didn't know what that meant, really), a 97% average, 2nd in my class of 220. My small town school didn't offer APs until the year after I graduated.

I applied to Penn State and got into Penn State. My mom told me that's what we could afford. I'm pretty sure I could still get in.

[Anonymous]

Applied 1989. 1410 SAT. 5 APs (all 4s & 5s). Top 10% of class at top prep school. Good (not spectacular athlete) with leadership roles & interesting background (but not URM). Rejected Princeton, Stanford. WL Dartmouth. Accepted Georgetown, Bowdoin, Middlebury.

Maybe not so very different from today after all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a HS student in the very early 80s and unless you had access to a typewriter, you were absolutely hand-writing your essays.

We were lucky because my mom had an IBM electric typewriter at home for work and am my friends came over to borrow it for their papers.

Kids weren’t smarter, but doing stuff was harder. You couldn’t look up anything at the drop of a hat, you really had to search out stuff and use micro-fiche, card catalogues, and you had to wait for books for weeks at times. It’s shocking we knew anything at all given how much effort and time it took.

My HS teachers definitely handed out Ds and Fs— some of them gleefully.

Kids learn at a much, much faster rate now because information is available at a much faster rate.
They also have to devote brain power to the rapid technology changes. Once personal computers were readily available in the mid 80s, everything changed and we got to witness how blazing fast technological change is. Now it’s at an even much faster rate.

In all, I think it’s both harder and easier for kids today—but they definitely learn more and faster…and because of technology and related advancements, there is simply MORE to learn.

Ditto on handwritten essays. there was only one required typed paper when I was in HS in the late 70s - mega research paper in College English and only a quarter to a third of HS seniors were enrolled. Think it was a minimum of ten pages + foot notes. I paid someone to type mine (worked in an office after school).

No way the school could require that every paper be typed as probably only a tenth of the class had access to typewriters. I'm pretty sure it was a Title 1 school.

We get it. You’re old. Hand writing a paper because of technology limitations doesn’t make it harder or more challenging. Unless you think kids back in the 1900s using quills and ink pots were smarter or studied harder than you because of it.

And no one was hand writing a 500 page paper.

I graduated from high school in 1980, and hand writing a paper was harder not because of the act of writing, but because of the difficulty in making any changes. I remember my college applications were tri-fold, heavy duty paper and they only sent you one application. Typing was difficult - trying to insert thick paper into the roller curled the application, and lining up the application to type on a specific line or centering the "x" in the checkbox was nearly impossible. One application required that the essay be written "in your own hand", so handwriting it was, and once you finished writing in pen changes were not feasible. For school papers, a decision to move a paragraph could require a full re-write of the paper, and corrections to misspellings were done with white-out (and no spell check). What I remember most, was while the college application process was tedious (and I only applied to 4 schools), it was not stressful. I ended up attending an Ivy, but felt all the schools I applied to offered a good option. The process now is so fraught with judgement that the stakes are regretfully amplified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Applied 1989. 1410 SAT. 5 APs (all 4s & 5s). Top 10% of class at top prep school. Good (not spectacular athlete) with leadership roles & interesting background (but not URM). Rejected Princeton, Stanford. WL Dartmouth. Accepted Georgetown, Bowdoin, Middlebury.

Maybe not so very different from today after all?

Another 1410 who graduated in 1990 chiming in here. Ranked 18/222. NMSF. ECs included cheerleading, student teaching, after-school job, summer jobs. Got a rec from employer actually. (All HS essays hand-written btw.) NY public school and needed FA. Went to Penn (not Penn State). Also got into Michigan (honors), Emory, Binghamton, Albany. Given option to take gap yr and come to Cornell but declined.

Back then girls breaking 1400 was unusual - the only other girl I know who did so went to Yale.

DC22 is going to Penn too.