Reply to Where are my 90s era Harvard classmates sending their kids?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What this shows is that getting into Harvard used to be immensely easier. People who went to Harvard in the 90s wouldn’t be in at anywhere comparable today. [/quote]

It’s not harder or easier per se, but the grade inflation is making the signals of quality very noisy. A few decades ago, the high school grades already helped the admissions pick the outstanding (academically) students pretty accurately. In addition, applicants these days are supposed to play victim and write a sob story about what kind of hardship they have gone through and how they have overcome their hardship and what lessons they have learned. It’s like everyone is applying for a script writing major![/quote]

Wrong. It is easier. Harvard used to have a much higher admission rate. In 1988, it was 14.6% and less than 15,000 applications.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1988/7/8/freshman-class-sets-application-records-pthe/

In 2025, there was a 3.43% acceptance rate out of 57,435 apps.

https://features.thecrimson.com/2021/freshman-survey/makeup-narrative/#:~:text=This%20year%2C%20the%20College's%20acceptance,totals%20a%20historic%201%2C965%20students.[/quote]

In 1988, you had to type out your application on a typewriter.  The lower acceptance rate is as much a function of the improved ease of application as it is anything else.  The denominator changed more than the numerator. [/quote]

Also there is just a larger population in general, more people aware of elite schools, and about the same amount of spots. [/quote]

And academically elite children of immigrants crowding out mediocre legacies.[/quote]

Go back where you came from with your "mediocre". You are all ruining it. That word is almost as cliche as "woke." Your kids with their 18 APs and violin, chess, fencing, and zero social skills. They will go to these schools and study 24/7 and add nothing to the experience, then not be able to get jobs because they can't interview. Or they will rebel from their obnoxious parents and spend their four years stoned and drunk. Which is the preferable outcome.[/quote]

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