I don't think it is really that much harder now, except for the most privileged. In the 80s, a large swath of Ivy admissions were still occupied by the Academies and St. Grottlesex and the regional private school feeders. Legacy admissions were well over 50%. I'm pretty sure a minority of my classmates were from public schools in the mid 80s. Many of the preppies were dumb as rocks but would go on to be great M&A bankers. Without a starched preppy background, suburban public school kids like me had to have straight As and 1400+ SATs (equivalent to 1500+ now) and be described as "career-best" students in our recommendations. So I don't think there is much academic difference between my generation and my children's. But, being class president or captain of a sports team or newspaper editor was sufficient to demonstrate leadership, while I don't think it counts for much now. Most of us were the sociable, "well-rounded" types while my children's classmates are much more specialized and career-channeled.

Graduate in 2000, 4.45 weighted GPA, 1350 SAT, 6 APs (two 4's, four 5's including Calculus), middling public HS in California that sent kids almost exclusively to community college or the local CalState

Admits: NYU, BU, Syracuse, UCLA, UC Santa Cruz, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego

Waitlisted (never got off): Columbia, UC Berkeley

I didn't get one straight rejection. Went to NYU and would likely not get in today.

3.0 and 1010, got into USC in 1989

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Um I took it in 1988 and it was a 1600 scale

And it didn't change to 2400 until 2005 dude

Yup and the out of 1600 wasn't "normalized today's scores" until 1995. Which means that you can add ~100-140 points to your 1988 score to compare with your kid's score today (makes us seem a bit smarter)

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!

Anonymous wrote:Globalization (ie., competition from well-to-do foreign students), more of the middle and working classes attending college, more women in college, etc.

The number of universities and number of seats in elite colleges have not kept up with the rising supply of students.

Were there really fewer women in college in 1989? I started college just a few years after that--1993, and from my perspective women were just as likely to go to college as men. I actually still have a copy of the student newspaper where they listed what each senior was doing after graduation (specific college, military, work, etc.) I guess I could go look and count up for sure.

Graduated 1990 in California with a 3.6 weighted, five APs (4s and 5s), and a 1300 SAT I didn’t study for (nobody did). Got into all UC schools I applied to including Cal and UCLA. Didn’t apply elsewhere.

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 graduated in 1989. What the hell are you talking about? The SAT did NOT use a 2400 point scale in 1989.

Anonymous wrote:

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

Um I took it in 1988 and it was a 1600 scale

+1 1985 here; also anyone who got a 1600 was investigated for cheating. Happened in our school and the score stuck - they didn't cheat. Super rare to score 1600 back then. Nine students got perfect scores in the 1985-86 school year, up from three in 1984-85 and five in 1983-84.

Class of 89. 3.5 and 25 ACT. Kids wonder how I got into ANY school.

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

Incorrect. In 1989, the SAT was out of 1600.

I got 1170. I went to UMD. That would not happen today.

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

The SAT did not move to 2400 until early 2000's. I am not going to comment on your intelligence.
The SAT also recalibrated the exam in the mid 90s such that the scores from the late 80's probably would have been 100 points higher.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Um I took it in 1988 and it was a 1600 scale

And it didn't change to 2400 until 2005 dude

Plus schools weren’t even considering the score for separate section since it was all new.

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

LOL. The SAT didn't change from 1600 to 2400 until 2005. I think it's best to fact check when you're going for the burn.