<p>“virtually all public school calculate class rank.”</p>
<p>Not true.</p>
<p>It sounds like he is in good shape.</p>
<p>The .3 bump is the the difference in weighted and unweighted GPAs that get the same AI points. Look at the attached table. Your son has a 3.3 unweighted GPA. He will be awarded 70 AI points for that GPA. It takes 3.6 weighted GPA to generate the same 70 AI points - thus the 3.3 unweighted GPA has the same value as a 3.6 weighted GPA - a .3 GPA bump for the GPAs that are unweighted.</p>
<p>Regarding the class rankings, you are abolutely right, EMM, if Wikipedia is to be trusted.</p>
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<p>Class Rank Use in High Schools - Wikipedia</p>
<p>The use of class rank is currently in practice at about 45% of American high schools. Large public schools are more likely to rank their students than small private schools.[1] Because many admissions officers were frustrated that many applications did not contain a rank, some colleges are using other information provided by high schools, in combination with a student’s G.P.A. to estimate a student’s class rank. Many colleges say that the absence of a class rank forces them to put more weight on standardized test scores.</p>
<p>Use in college admissions</p>
<p>Colleges often use class rank as a factor in college admissions, although because of differences in grading standards between schools, admissions officers have begun to attach less weight to this factor, both for granting admission, and for awarding scholarships. Class Rank is more likely to be used at large schools that are more formulaic in their admissions programs.[1]</p>
<p>Percent plans</p>
<p>Some U.S. states guarantee that students who achieve a high enough class rank at their high school will be admitted into a state university, in a practice known as percent plans. Students in California who are in the top four percent of their graduating class, and students in Florida who are in the top twenty percent of their graduating class are guaranteed admission to some state school, but not necessarily any particular institution. Valedictorians at Alaskan high-schools are all given free tuition through University of Alaska. The top ten percent of students in Texas high schools are guaranteed admission to the state school of their choice.[3]</p>
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<p>Before my son went to boarding school, we had experience with fairly large public high schools in the Southeast, Arizona, Michigan and upper New York state. All had graduating classes of over 350 - 400. I asked our last public high school guidance counselor about ranking. She viewed it as critical tool to separate the Honors/AP track kids from the middle of the roaders from the tech ed kids. This school sent their valedictorian to Harvard last year and typically has 30 or so kids in the Duke/Vanderbilt/UVA/Davidson crowd. They also have 20% of their kids not going on to college.</p>
<p>Maybe the difference is between smaller and larger public schools. They each have these policies to meet their own needs and their perceived needs of their students. For the larger schools, the Ivy bound kid is rare exception and the impact of their policies are not developed for these kids. Conversely, the elite NE prep schools tailor their policies to maximize the admission of their students into elite colleges.</p>
<p>bballdad I’d just like to say that I’ve read a number of your posts and while they won’t affect me anymore they’re interesting, informed, and will certainly be very helpful to future classes. Thanks for your contributions!</p>
<p>^^^ agreed! I really enjoy how bballdad breaks the information down - very interesting stuff! Thank you!</p>
<p>^^I agree. How did you come about this wealth of knowledge on this top, bballdad?</p>
<p>When older son was being recruited by the Ivies a few years ago, started with Chris Lincoln’s "Playing The Game"we developed a personal relationship with a HYP assistant coach that has continued. His candid assessments of his school’s recruiting practices confirmed a lot of anecdotal info on the web. It has remained an interest and I periodically search the web for new material.</p>
<p>I have enjoyed this board over the past several months and it has been a real resource as second son is in the middle of this process.</p>
<p>A bigger mystery than the AI is the determination of “need” based financial aid awards. I have read with sadness and sympathy the plight of ilovepyrs in the thread “Signed LOI, and now find that Fin Aid isn’t doable.” Although the LOI would not be an obstacle since they are non applicable in the Ivies, most families needing aid rely on the financial pre-read in choosing to go ED or EA, stop their admissions process and recruiting for other schools, and assume the pre-read will be correct. This is a high risk situation with the potential for severe, adverse consequences. Also interested in experiences of how awards varied by school for the same family. Any experiences or anecdotes out there about things that went right or wrong??</p>