PP again -- in 1985 I truly believe we were encouraged to apply to one "safety" school, a "match", and one "reach"!

MAAAAYbe two "Matches".

But only the truly neurotic students applied to 6+ colleges.

Of course, it was a lot easier in 1985 to get a sense of what schools were Safeties and Matches. Not the crap shoot it seems to be today!

mid 1980s
Public high school, graduating class of 1000
GPA: 4.0 unweighted (they didn't weight anything) Top 1%
PSAT: National merit scholarship winner
SAT: 1520? (M: 740, V: 780) I can't quite remember but I know they were pretty high but less high in math.
APs: None. They were only offered senior year in my high school, and I graduated a year early.

ECs:
no sports
summer jobs -- Girl Scout camp counselor
Girl Scouts: Gold Award, Cadette troop leader
a few service clubs, chorus, etc in high school. Nothing major.
Exchange student Senior year


Applied to Cornell, Brown and Yale. Accepted at Cornell and Brown.

In hindsight I can't believe my parents let me apply only to three Ivies. In their defense, I was doing the entire college application process while living in a foreign country, my only communication with my parents was through snail mail or very expensive long distance telephone calls!

Keep in mind that if you go back far enough, there is considerable grade inflation at the HS level to account for, and also the SAT was recentered and revamped.

late 2000s from public school in Frederick MD
top 10 in graduating class, took 8 or 9 APs, no 5's
No IB
Sat 1510 / 2090
Sports / Volunteer work
Got into Georgetown / UMD / Washington and Lee / Dickinson / Davidson/ UNC / I don't remember where else. Went to W&L. Wish I'd gone almost anywhere else.

"Graduated in 1985 from very socioeconomically and racially diverse high school in SF Bay Area. I had a 4.0 GPA with 5 AP classes, although back then, we took them senior year, so colleges didn't see your AP scores. 1470 SAT. Valedictorian. I was a serious debater, but I don't think I was very good. Some other extracurriculars like Academic Decathlon and Mock Trial. I have arrived at an age when it is easier to remember 30 years ago than 30 days ago.

Back then, University of CA schools announced decisions before Xmas. I got into Berkeley, so I only applied to 3 other schools (!). Got into and attended Harvard. Needless to say, it wouldnt happen today."

As someone else said they have changed the SAT scoring a lot since the mid 80s, you would likely get a 1600 today. You were valedictorian then, you would be now as well. Starting to take APs as a sophomore wouldn't change this.

As a "serious debater" from a "very socioeconomically and racially diverse high school in SF Bay Area" something about as rare as a blue lobster (look it up) today's internet debate culture would have showed you how to prepare.

Once you got an idea of how much you could improve as a debater, I'm sure you would have been able to be quite competitive, just like you had to change your HS habits to deal with Harvard.

You were way out on the curve back then, you still would be now. Did you bother to take a practice SAT before getting that 1470?

2003 from W-L in Arlington
4.2 GPA (everyone with a GPA over 4.0 was "valedictorian"
IB and AP courses but didn't do the full IB program
SAT 1430 maybe? Was low compared to peers
Lots of sports
Lots of volunteer work - I'm pretty sure this is the only way I got into college since my peers outranked me on SATs
Early decision UVA

Class of 1980

76 GPA and 990 SAT. Father dies of cancer no insurance in tenth grade leaving Mom four kids and mom had an eight grade education and out of workforce 16 years. I worked every day in HS no time to study.

Went to StonyBrook full ride.

Even back then StonyBrook hard to get in to. Today folks would be shocked a C student not only got in but got full aid.

Anonymous wrote:White female UMC grad of public magnet NYC HS in late 90s. About 1/3rd of the way down my graduating class. Probably more like 90% if based only on junior year grades though (significant upward trajectory in general and very lopsided grades in terms of subjects meant improved GPA once I had fewer required/more selected classes; best subject, math, was useful for a white girl). 1600 SATs + 800 writing and very good standardized test scores in general. National recognition in one academic EC and city/state recognition in a different (very unrelated) one. Very good/diverse (but not independently unusual) ECs with leadership roles.

Got into Yale early. Guidance counselor was pretty shocked considering overall class placement. (I will say she never really “got” that my main EC was not a hook, but something usually looked kindly on by admissions committees, and that my awards in it were genuinely impressive. The EC wasn’t a big deal at my school at all.)

I think I would be very unlikely to get in today, largely because I was lucky to get in then and it’s obviously gotten more competitive. It did turn out that my HS was way harder for my particular strengths/weaknesses than Yale was, so I graduated summa; hopefully that helped out the next similarly-positioned applicant from my HS.

So curious! What's the EC? Im sure it wont identify you.

White female UMC grad of public magnet NYC HS in late 90s. About 1/3rd of the way down my graduating class. Probably more like 90% if based only on junior year grades though (significant upward trajectory in general and very lopsided grades in terms of subjects meant improved GPA once I had fewer required/more selected classes; best subject, math, was useful for a white girl). 1600 SATs + 800 writing and very good standardized test scores in general. National recognition in one academic EC and city/state recognition in a different (very unrelated) one. Very good/diverse (but not independently unusual) ECs with leadership roles.

Got into Yale early. Guidance counselor was pretty shocked considering overall class placement. (I will say she never really “got” that my main EC was not a hook, but something usually looked kindly on by admissions committees, and that my awards in it were genuinely impressive. The EC wasn’t a big deal at my school at all.)

I think I would be very unlikely to get in today, largely because I was lucky to get in then and it’s obviously gotten more competitive. It did turn out that my HS was way harder for my particular strengths/weaknesses than Yale was, so I graduated summa; hopefully that helped out the next similarly-positioned applicant from my HS.

I wasn't that good of a student. Don't remember my exact stats but I know I barely made the top half of my class (Catholic high school in the suburbs of Chicago). I think I got a 28 on the ACT. I went to Wisconsin- no way I would get in today! I also applied to Indiana, UIUC, Iowa, and Michigan. Got into all of them but Michigan.

I'm an old fogie - graduated high school in the 80s from a NoVa high school. 1400s SATs, 3.8ish GPA, all the AP classes offered at my school (just 3!) lots of high school EC leadership (varsity sport captain, student govt, school paper editor), 12 college credits from GW, paid staff on several political campaigns, and owned a share of a surprisingly successful small business. Got in to Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Penn Chicago, and Deep Springs. Refused to apply to UVA or W&M. Someone should have explained safeties to me!

I graduated in the early 90s from a northern Virginia public high school. I had a 4.8 GPA and 1200 on the SAT. I was terrible at SAT - took several tries to get that score. Meanwhile got 5s on most of my AP exams. I was a three sport varsity athlete but not recruited for anything. Waitlisted at W&M and accepted at UVA. I am 100% sure I would not get in to UVA these days.

Mid 90's, public school in affluent suburb

Weighted GPA 3.994 and yes I do remember it to three digits
Ranked 10th in class of about 150
SAT 1600 recentered
AP all I specifically remember is a 5 on Calculus BC because it was such a surprise, but I was an "AP Scholar" or something like that

Did well in academically focused extracurriculars

2 for 5 in Ivy admissions
1 for 2 in highly regarded SLAC admissions
2 for 2 in safety school SLAC admissions, one with substantial merit scholarship offer

Figure I'd have no chance at a top school with those grades nowadays.

There is so much grade school nflation n high schools now that it doesn't matter what I tell you my HS grades were.

Mid 1990s
Private, girls school (Preppy handbook school)
GPA wasnt calculated but a mix of As and Bs in honors classes (grades got better as I went along - freshman year was Bs)
PSAT: National merit commended student
SAT: 1430 (M: 740, V: 690) This was an old, old SAT, score = 99th percentile
APs: 1 junior year (score = 4), 3 senior (score =4, 4, 5)

ECs: 3 seasons sports but not college level athlete (field hockey, swimming, softball), editor of school publication. Also had a 15 hour a week retail job through junior and senior year in high school. (No reason except my mother encouraged me to have something to do sophomore summer once I'd aged out of camp and I liked the $$).

Legacy at Penn

Early:deferred from Penn; Regular: Penn, Colby and Trinity (CT), admitted all 3.
Attended Penn

I would not have gotten in to Penn today with my grades as a run of the mill legacy w/o any hooks. I still laugh when I think that I only applied to 2 other colleges. I didnt visit either campus just went to info-sessions and liked the presentation + they were popular at my school.