3.0 gpa but bottom half?

<p>At our school I have a 3.0 GPA but my class rank is in the bottom half like 100 out of 180 or something like that. Our school is pretty competitive so does that look worse or would it be better if I was in an easier school with a 3.0 GPA but ranked in the top half?</p>

<p>Schools I think tend to look more at class rank than GPA, because they want to know how difficult your school is. It also depends what kind of classes you are taking (lots of honors and APs???) If you're taking easy classes but have a 3.0 you won't have that great of a chance of getting into a competitive college without a great SAT/ACT score.</p>

<p>GPA is irrelevant; class rank is important</p>

<p>Our school doesn't have honors or AP. The only AP classes we have are available senior year and they aren't weighted because the school only puts people in the AP class if they know they will get at least an A in it. We've had many people go to different schools for one year and come back and complain how hard our school is. We are pretty competitive I think because we have 3 people tied for a perfect 4.0 and so many others at 3.9 and 3.8. It's definitely not because the classes are easy (we have a pretty good reputation in New Hampshire/New England).</p>

<p>is it fair for a b student at a hard school to be penalized when they could easily be at least a b+ student at an easier school and be in the top half.</p>

<p>It is not fair, but since they are students who are capable of getting a 4.0/3.9, you then have no excuse for a rather poor performance comparatively.</p>

<p>There needs to be a standard; do you think it would be fair to say that getting top 10% at a competative school is harder than getting top 1% at a medium difficulty school in the midwest? Who is going to be the judge?</p>

<p>Unweighted Class Rank is unimportant, GPA is more meaningful when talking in terms of unweighted.</p>

<p>I'm guessing someone who has a 3.0 and is in the bottom 50% either goes to a really screwed up school or goes to a school w/ weighted class rank.</p>

<p>I'm not talking about the top students at each school which I'm obviously not. I'm talking about b students at easier and harder schools. I'm not saying I have an excuse but why should I be penalized when people at other schools in our general area can easily maintain a b and be in the top half. At our school the people who get the 4.0/3.9 are extremely dedicated students who really don't seem to do much more. I'm not saying I'm not dedicated. The ranks are decided by like a hundredth. There is a standard and I think a b is at least meeting the standard at our school. So again why am I penalized when other schools have lower standards where there are many people getting C's and D's and the people who get B's are ranked higher in their school than I am at mine.</p>

<p>our school has weighted rank, but they also give us the unweighed rank and it is virtually the same. I wouldn't see a difference.</p>

<p>our class rank is not weighted.</p>

<p>I've heard of a few schools around my area where a 3.0 leaves you in the bottom 1/3 of the class. Said schools are 70%+ Asian.</p>

<p>About half the class end up going to the "upper" UCs (i.e. 50 kids to Cal/LA/SD/Davis/Irvine)...so rank doesn't seem to be a huge problem.</p>

<p>i think that a 3.0 would put you at about 50% range at most schools. not many kids go below that and not many kids are able to get above that, atleast at my school. (i think that's why we do not rank.)</p>

<p>p.s. my school is private. i think that it's pretty rare to see kids go below 3.0 at private schools since their parents are paying money for them to attend.</p>

<p>a 3.0 at my school will put u in the lower 1/3 or so range. everyone here is gonna need to know ur act/sat scores to see where ur really at. there are several people in my class with at or above a 4.0, a 3.9 will barely get u in the top 10%. im not saying my school is crazy competetive, many classes get you easy A's. we dont know how competetive ur school really is, so your standardized test scores will give us a better look.</p>

<p>thanks for the info so i'm not really penalized?</p>

<p>
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our school has weighted rank, but they also give us the unweighed rank and it is virtually the same. I wouldn't see a difference.

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<p>Well your school is very unique. At most schools, the 2nd Decile instantly becomes the 1st decile when ranks are weighted. Its a MAJOR Switch that means either HYP or local public school.</p>

<p>What do you mean by HYP or local public scool?</p>

<p>At my school, a 3.0 would put you in the bottom 10%.</p>

<p>But I go to a really small (<50 kids in my graduating class) private school.
Mind you, not a single person has a 4.0</p>

<p>It's one of the many reasons we do not rank.</p>