<p>^ You'll find out in three weeks. :) Optimism is key...</p>
<p>I agree about the class rank thing. They do some stupid things that change rank around that do not always reflect who took the most rigorous course load, just because of how some classes are weighted. Nevertheless, I still think it is extremely important to keep a high class rank since it is a direct comparison with your peers. CR + M is definitely more important than CR + M + W, but do not fully discount W.</p>
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"They are important if you have a prestigious one, but really, not everyone will be nationally recognized in something. As long as you can put something down there that looks alright and is not participation, then that should be alright. The only time that an award will be a hook is if it is at the level of great athletic achievement (state champ for example) or of high academic honor (like Intel STS or equivalent). "
[/quote]
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<p>I think (and anyone can disregard this if you like) that the position of awards on the app are only to function as an objective way to show commitment. I mean there are few awards that people can win that actually will cause adcoms to be impressed. But a list of awards particularly poignant to a subject you have devoted a lot of time to and wish to study can really show that you are dedicated.
But prestigous awards are few and far in between, most people probably have modest awards and they probably are own viewed insofar as to show the extent of commitment, because usually you have to be good to get awards, and typically to be good you have to put in time.</p>
<p>Yeah, that's what I was somewhat saying. Certain awards are very prestigious and will really bring you along, but the vast majority are just average and will not do much for you. Just have a solid base of activities that you are committed to and you should be fine for the awards/ecs section.</p>
<p>High class rank is important number 200 out of 600 looks bad no matter what the story is. But in my school (and several other area schools) weighting actually favors less rigorous classes. The lowest level classes get three points of weight on their final grade so a person who never took an honors or ap class can graduate with a 103 average. (Valedictorian, who this year deserved it, had a 101.8 ish) Compare that to 5 point weight for honors and 8 points for all APs. Also APs are weighted the same no matter what. My school counts AP Music Theory and BC Calc (AB is offered) as the same difficulty level!
So basically that means the top 75 or so people all have 4.0's.
To sum up, class rank does not compare you to your peers unless you want to go to your AP classes, see who ranks where and ignore all those in between.</p>
<p>Your class rank is sick...
But I don't understand why you didn't take many AP classes in sophomore and junior year if your school offers so many. AP classes really lean the admissions officers towards you because they show that you can challenge yourself.</p>
<p>Was that aimed at me? You're only allowed to take 1 AP Sophomore year and 4 Junior year. I only opted out of one.</p>
<p>The only ap class offered to sophmores is history which i took. The only ones offered junior year are psychology, stats, english, and gov. I hate english and we only have a six hour day at my school so i only had room for gov which is just a semester. Next year I will be taking 4.</p>
<p>Really? I'm a junior (c/o '10) and at my school they didn't allow us to take any AP classes freshman year, only like 3 sophomore year, and the junior and senior year as many as you want. I think we have like 22 offered at my school so yeah..</p>
<p>Under no circumstances were any sophs for frosh allowed to take ap at my school.</p>