It's probably worth noting that lower acceptance rates are a natural side effect of kids applying to more schools. It's not like today's kids have a harder time getting into college, they just apply to more schools and get into fewer of them.
Some of it, but also more competition in general.
What does it mean when the average SAT score goes from 1220 to 1490? Some of it means that kids are preparing more, sure (I took the test once, I knew the score was good enough). Plus the test has changed a bit since then, which can account for a little bit of that. But 270 points? No.
Yes, students are applying to more schools, but those 1220 SAT students that were accepted back in the late 1980s are NOT being accepted now to the same schools. So, 20,000 students apply, only 4400 get in - those 4400 that get in are far more qualified than they were 30 years ago, as far as SATs go.
Likewise, the average SAT score for incoming freshmen at UCSB is 1385. That's ... super high, if you are looking at it from a 1980s scale. It means that the average student at UCSB is a much more qualified student than they used to be. So for top schools (not only MIT, Cal Tech, but also many state schools), the average student body quality is getting higher and higher.
I don't know how else to explain it ('cuz it's Friday and I'm tired, and I want to go home). But it IS harder for today's kids to get into college than it was 30 years ago...if you are comparing apples to apples - kids to kids, and schools to schools.
So, my kids are pretty smart and hardworking, etc. If my older kid did what we did (went college track in high school, all the honors classes), does well on the SAT first time around (over 1400 but under 1480), has a normal amount of extracurriculars (aka, one, whatever it may be), gets straight A's or close to it, and graduates at the top of his class (say, top 1-2%, aka top 5-10 in a graduating class of 500)...
There's a good chance he wouldn't get into either of our alma maters, if they were blind to legacy. (I don't think my school cares about legacy, they just want my money. People go there when they don't get into MIT, Stanford, or Cal Tech).
Because there are tens of thousands of kids JUST LIKE HIM applying to the same schools. There weren't as many 30 years ago.