Anonymous
Post 08/06/2025 22:24     Subject: UPenn had a 47% acceptance rate for the Class of '95, it's not that much of a flex to be a legacy.
Anonymous wrote:Here are 1990 acceptance rates:

Stanford University: average SAT 1300, admission rate15%

Harvard University: average SAT 1360, admission rate 15%

Yale University: average SAT 1370, admission rate 15%

Princeton University: average SAT 1339, admission rate 16%

University of California Berkeley: average SAT 1181, admission rate 37%

Dartmouth College: average SAT 1310, admission rate 20%

Duke University: average SAT 1306, admission rate 21%

University of Chicago: average SAT 1291, admission rate 45%

University of Michigan: average SAT 1190, admission rate 52%

Brown University: average SAT 1320, admission rate 20%

Cornell University: average SAT 1375, admission rate 29%

Massachusetts Institute of Technology: average SAT 1370, admission rate 26%

Univ. of N. Caroline Chapel Hill: average SAT 1250, admission rate 33%

Rice University: average SAT 1335, admission rate 30%

University of Virginia: average SAT 1230, admission rate 34%

Johns Hopkins University: average SAT 1303, admission rate 53%

Northwestern University: average SAT 1240, admission rate 41%

Columbia University: average SAT 1295. admission rate 25%

University of Pennsylvania: average SAT 1300, admission rate 35%

Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: average SAT 1132, admission rate 70%

California Institute of Technology: average SAT 1440, admission rate 28%

College of William and Mary: average SAT 1206, admission rate 26%

University of Wisconsin Madison: average SAT 1079, admission rate 78%

Washington University: average SAT 1189, admission rate 62%


This is bad data.
Anonymous
Post 08/06/2025 21:13     Subject: UPenn had a 47% acceptance rate for the Class of '95, it's not that much of a flex to be a legacy.
Penn has become more selective in relation to colleges with which its student profile once compared. Decades ago, Penn was similar to Union College, for example, in this regard.
Anonymous
Post 08/06/2025 18:59     Subject: UPenn had a 47% acceptance rate for the Class of '95, it's not that much of a flex to be a legacy.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:All colleges in the 80s and 90s were extremely easy admits compared to now. Focusing on Penn is silly. They were all like this.

Stanford’s class of “89 had a 10% admittance rate. Not so easy in 1985.


No it didn't. In the 1980s, Stanford’s acceptance rate was in the range of 15% to 20%.

I beg to differ. Admissions Dean, Jean Fetter, wrote to us in her acceptance letter, that for the class of 1989, they received 17,000 applications and accepted 1,700 students.


You cannot possibly be this stupid and a
Stanford grad. A typical entering class at Stanford at that time was 1700. They accepted more than that to arrive at that number.


In all fairness, it's Stanford. Possible they accepted only 1800 kids, so pretty close.
Anonymous
Post 08/06/2025 17:41     Subject: UPenn had a 47% acceptance rate for the Class of '95, it's not that much of a flex to be a legacy.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:All colleges in the 80s and 90s were extremely easy admits compared to now. Focusing on Penn is silly. They were all like this.

Stanford’s class of “89 had a 10% admittance rate. Not so easy in 1985.


No it didn't. In the 1980s, Stanford’s acceptance rate was in the range of 15% to 20%.

I beg to differ. Admissions Dean, Jean Fetter, wrote to us in her acceptance letter, that for the class of 1989, they received 17,000 applications and accepted 1,700 students.


You cannot possibly be this stupid and a
Stanford grad. A typical entering class at Stanford at that time was 1700. They accepted more than that to arrive at that number.
Anonymous
Post 08/06/2025 17:37     Subject: UPenn had a 47% acceptance rate for the Class of '95, it's not that much of a flex to be a legacy.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:These kind of posts are dumb. It was a different era, before the common app. Every application was a production, and we all knew what was what with every school.

The common app and shotgunning didn't exist back then. Back in the early 90s, you'd apply to maybe five schools.


+1. Applying to a bunch of schools cost a bunch of money. I'd never heard of anyone applying to more than five schools -- even 5 was a lot.


In 1979, I applied to 3. 2 within 20 miles, one within 70.
Anonymous
Post 08/06/2025 11:41     Subject: UPenn had a 47% acceptance rate for the Class of '95, it's not that much of a flex to be a legacy.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Here are 1990 acceptance rates:


I'm just over here marveling at the score inflation for the SAT between then and now.


I guess superscoring existed even back in the day...but I don't remember knowing much about it (maybe more accurately, I didn't know anything about it). Maybe most schools didn't accept it?

It really is superscoring that cranks up median SAT scores.
Anonymous
Post 08/06/2025 11:39     Subject: UPenn had a 47% acceptance rate for the Class of '95, it's not that much of a flex to be a legacy.
Anonymous wrote:Here are 1990 acceptance rates:


I'm just over here marveling at the score inflation for the SAT between then and now.
Anonymous
Post 08/06/2025 11:11     Subject: UPenn had a 47% acceptance rate for the Class of '95, it's not that much of a flex to be a legacy.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:All colleges in the 80s and 90s were extremely easy admits compared to now. Focusing on Penn is silly. They were all like this.

Stanford’s class of “89 had a 10% admittance rate. Not so easy in 1985.


No it didn't. In the 1980s, Stanford’s acceptance rate was in the range of 15% to 20%.

I beg to differ. Admissions Dean, Jean Fetter, wrote to us in her acceptance letter, that for the class of 1989, they received 17,000 applications and accepted 1,700 students.


News articles don't support that statistic.
Anonymous
Post 08/06/2025 11:07     Subject: UPenn had a 47% acceptance rate for the Class of '95, it's not that much of a flex to be a legacy.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:All colleges in the 80s and 90s were extremely easy admits compared to now. Focusing on Penn is silly. They were all like this.

Stanford’s class of “89 had a 10% admittance rate. Not so easy in 1985.


No it didn't. In the 1980s, Stanford’s acceptance rate was in the range of 15% to 20%.

I beg to differ. Admissions Dean, Jean Fetter, wrote to us in her acceptance letter, that for the class of 1989, they received 17,000 applications and accepted 1,700 students.

NP, jumping in here. Seems more likely that there were 1700 enrolled in the class, not 1700 acceptances. This type of language, that ignores how many were accepted and simply states how many seats there were in the class, is a common tactic used in acceptance letters to make the recipients feel good by implying a ridiculously low acceptance rate.
Anonymous
Post 08/06/2025 11:01     Subject: UPenn had a 47% acceptance rate for the Class of '95, it's not that much of a flex to be a legacy.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:All colleges in the 80s and 90s were extremely easy admits compared to now. Focusing on Penn is silly. They were all like this.

Stanford’s class of “89 had a 10% admittance rate. Not so easy in 1985.


No it didn't. In the 1980s, Stanford’s acceptance rate was in the range of 15% to 20%.

I beg to differ. Admissions Dean, Jean Fetter, wrote to us in her acceptance letter, that for the class of 1989, they received 17,000 applications and accepted 1,700 students.



The Dean either made a mistake or committed fraud. It was actually in the 15-20% range. It is pretty easy to confirm this with Google from multiple sources.
Anonymous
Post 08/06/2025 10:10     Subject: UPenn had a 47% acceptance rate for the Class of '95, it's not that much of a flex to be a legacy.
Anonymous wrote:This thread is ridiculous and so many people here either have bad memories or are full of it.

Ivies have always been tough. They are definitely tougher now. But they were never easy. I went to a very competitive suburban public HS in the early 90s and Penn was not an easy admit. The kids going there weren't the best of the best but they were still at the top of the class in terms of grades, test scores, XCs. And this applies for all Ivy plus schools.

And comparing SAT scores is total garbage and anyone who tries to do so is showing a clear lack of understanding of math and statistics. I do not know why the College Board decided to change the scoring methodology of the SAT but it really has changed things. Comparing them is useless.


I don't think it's completely ridiculous. Maybe the math is a little irrelevant, but not totally off in sentiment

The landscape is just very, very different for our kids than it was for us. Sure, Penn and the other Ivys were a hard admit in the 90's, but doable if you had good stats and parents who were willing to pay. Now, kids with beyond excellent stats, insane ECs, double legacy parents, etc. - are not getting in. The applicant field is wider, for one, and the cultural willingness to pay (or go into debt) seems wider as well.

It's just good to go into the process with an understanding that the process has changed pretty dramatically since when you went through it. Especially legacies. My husband's alma mater even sent us a letter when our daughter applied, saying as much.
Anonymous
Post 08/06/2025 10:04     Subject: UPenn had a 47% acceptance rate for the Class of '95, it's not that much of a flex to be a legacy.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Many parents in my kids' private school flex that they are UPenn legacy or double legacy or even triple legacy and constantly talking about it like it was a big deal. I think UPenn had one of the highest admission rates of the lower ivies in the 90s. Cornell was around 30%. It must be a shock to the system that even UPenn has a single digit acceptance rate now, and legacy is no longer an auto admit like it was back in the day.


Oh boy. Legacy was never an auto admit. Sorry to burst your bubble.

And while admit rates were higher the Ivies were not an easy admit back then. They had fewer applicants, but I suspect they were self selecting, and a lot of today's applicants with T/O would never have made the cut back then.


Yes, it was a different world back then. The % of people who were prestige whores was much smaller, fewer foreign applicants, fewer applications per person, less grade inflation in high school etc. Now everybody with a 3.8 high school GPA & a Common App account takes a shot a couple Ivies.


"W" schools were still strivery though. My MCPS middle school informed me to take the SATs in 7th grade in 1980!!! Which I did. And I received a copy of Strunk&White's Elements of Style as a prize for getting a 580V.

Also, since I moved to the area from the West Coast, I remember there were already massive Duke fans among my peers. I remember because I'd never heard of it and I wondered why 7th grade boys were so obsessed with going there (early Coach K days).
Anonymous
Post 08/06/2025 10:00     Subject: UPenn had a 47% acceptance rate for the Class of '95, it's not that much of a flex to be a legacy.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:All colleges in the 80s and 90s were extremely easy admits compared to now. Focusing on Penn is silly. They were all like this.

Stanford’s class of “89 had a 10% admittance rate. Not so easy in 1985.


No it didn't. In the 1980s, Stanford’s acceptance rate was in the range of 15% to 20%.

I beg to differ. Admissions Dean, Jean Fetter, wrote to us in her acceptance letter, that for the class of 1989, they received 17,000 applications and accepted 1,700 students.

It nearly doubled to 19 percent in 1995.
https://www.paloaltoonline.com/morgue/news/1995_Apr_5.ADMIT.html
Anonymous
Post 08/06/2025 09:53     Subject: UPenn had a 47% acceptance rate for the Class of '95, it's not that much of a flex to be a legacy.
Anonymous wrote:Here are 1990 acceptance rates:



Cite your sources
Anonymous
Post 08/06/2025 09:46     Subject: UPenn had a 47% acceptance rate for the Class of '95, it's not that much of a flex to be a legacy.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:All colleges in the 80s and 90s were extremely easy admits compared to now. Focusing on Penn is silly. They were all like this.

Stanford’s class of “89 had a 10% admittance rate. Not so easy in 1985.


No it didn't. In the 1980s, Stanford’s acceptance rate was in the range of 15% to 20%.

I beg to differ. Admissions Dean, Jean Fetter, wrote to us in her acceptance letter, that for the class of 1989, they received 17,000 applications and accepted 1,700 students.