<p>Completely disregarding ECs, recommendations, essays etc, is it possible for someone outside of the top 5% to get in? (Not just Cornell, but top schools in general)</p>
<p>My school only does unweighted ranking and my 6 APs this year really hurt me, since most seniors don't take as many.</p>
<p>After first semester senior year, I'm looking at an uw rank of 40/550 - barely within the top 10%. After looking at chance/decision threads, I realize that this type of ranking is virtually unseen on CC.</p>
<p>So my question is, do I still have a chance?</p>
<p>I think your question really depends on your high school. I went to a small private high school that didn’t rank. In the end, I know I was in the top 9, because 9 of us graduated summa, but your ranking in comparison to your high school peers is obviously not all that Cornell is looking at during the admissions process.</p>
<p>Of course. It is just one small factor of your application. I’m sure your counselor will note your rigorous courseload and it shouldn’t be an issue. If you look at the class profile you will find tons of kids outside of the top 5%.</p>
<p>Your ranking is not just a small factor of your application, it is probably one of the most important part of your application. But something12345 is correct that your counselor should note your rigorous course load. I would encourage you to have a discussing with your GC prior to him/her sending out your LOR. You should review Common App’s school report to understand the kind of questions they ask. Ask your GC which column he/she is going to check off on your LOR. There are 4 areas they ask your GC to rate you. </p>
<p>Ratings: Compared to other students in his or her class year, how do you rate this student in terms of:</p>
<p>Academic achievement
Extracurricular accomplishments
Personal qualities and character
Overall</p>
<p>The best is “One of the top few I’ve encountered (top 1%)”, next is “Top 5%” and so forth. </p>
<p>Sometimes it is more important which one your GC checks off vs what he/she actually writes about you, especially when there are multiple applicants from your school.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input! I will definitely talk to my GC- it’s a bit late to talk about LORs, but maybe she can emphasize it in the mid-year reports.
I guess I was worried because I heard that a bad class rank can really jeopardize my “academic index”…</p>
<p>I got in to Arts and Sciences whilst being in the bottom half of the top 10%, and without any hooks to boot. However, I had the highest possible course rigor and a pretty good SAT so compensate so I guess I can’t really speak for other cases. I think they really do look at your app holistically, so even if your rank isn’t the best if everything else is pretty good they might over look it.</p>
<p>I got in early decision to the college of engineering. I will take a total with a 92 uw gpa and my class rank is 20/202, just in the top 10%. I go to a pretty uncompetitive high school that sends less than 5 a year to top 20 universities. I didn’t have any hooks but my sat was really high and I think my essays were great too.</p>
<p>Our son was accepted RD to A&S, and he definitely was not in the top 5% or even top 10% of his admittedly very competitive and academically rigorous private school. (The school doesn’t rank, but he didn’t make the honor society, which is top 10%.) However, his school routinely sends about 20 kids to Ivies and other highly ranked universities (MIT, Caltech, Stanford), from a class of 130 – and not all from the top 5% or top 10%. His SAT scores were high, and he took a very demanding course load. I really do think that they will consider all the parts of your application and will evaluate you within the context of your school. I think the subjective things, like fit and reasons you want to attend a specific university, can also be important.</p>
<p>School reputation is extremely important when evaluating GPA. My high school didn’t weight GPAs either, but the top students in my year had the highest GPAs irrespective of rigor, so not weighting actually helped me.</p>
<p>I read somewhere that if you’re planning to major in, say, history, than getting a B in AP Physics or AP Chemistry won’t hurt you as much. Can anyone confirm/correct this?</p>
<p>It is true because that is not your intended major/ what you are interested in. However, if you apply as a history major and get in, it may be difficult to change majors since there is such a huge difference between history and chemistry- you will need a good reason to switch, and to apply as a history major in the first place.</p>
<p>I have a friend whose rank is 36 out of 500-something (I don’t remember how many constituents are in our class) and he got accepted to Dartmouth and Harvard. The guy had a high SAT score and really gave it all with his writing after reading extensively, which I assume helped him write better. Don’t give up hope. Best of luck.</p>
<p>My daughter went to a competitive high school that did not weight grades for AP’s and Honors. As a result, she ranked under students that did not take or took few AP or Honors classes. She made a decision as a freshman to push herself and take all Honors and AP’s regardless and to suffer the lower rank because she thought it would better prepare her for college.</p>
<p>At college visit night at our high school, many parents were complaining about the fact that our school did not weight for AP’s and Honors. It was explained to us by the counselors and the college admissions people that were present that colleges are aware of the rigor of the high school that applicants attend because they have profiles on them, and if a high school weights a class, they compare them against the unweighted students by taking them out. They also take out any “fluff” classes like band, etc. and completely recalculate the GPA. </p>
<p>True, the class rank will suffer for students at schools that don’t weight, but here is the rest of the story. The girl that was ranked 3rd (out of 400) did not get in to Cornell because she wanted the rank and not the rigor. My daughter was the opposite, barely making the top 20, because she went for the rigor and not the rank. She is attending Cornell today.</p>
<p>I think Cornell admissions knows more about the strength of a candidate than their own guidance counselors. I’m fairly certain that with extremely low error rates, Cornell knows where a student ranks given rigor, even with schools that don’t give out rankings.</p>
<p>I completely agree. Cornell and every other college has access to information on all high schools and their rigor, rankings, etc. The counselors and admissions people at the college fair confirmed “not to play the rank game” if your school does rank but, instead, take the most challenging classes that your school offers. Cornell can tell whether a student has utilized the opportunities at their own school or not - my daughter sacrificed rank for rigor and it paid off in her case. Some schools don’t rank, but admissions people know where they stand relative to their class. And, some school weight grades and some do not. Again, admissions people are aware of this. Admissions counselors cover certain geographic areas so they are familiar with high schools in the areas they cover.</p>
<p>Ideally you want both rank and rigor. If you take 8 AP classes in 1 year and get Bs on all of them it will not help you at all.</p>
<p>You can easily get accepted outside of the top 5% as long as you are in the top 10% in early decision. Regular - it may be a bit tougher, but being in the top 10% makes it feasible. Outside of the top 10% however, it is very, very difficult to get in without a hook.</p>
<p>Just something to consider: Early decision acts as sort of a hook by itself, almost doubling your chances of getting in.</p>
<p>Colene- when you said 10% did you mean weighted or unweighted? My problem is that if weighted, I’m easily within the top 5%, by my transcripts only reflect my unweighted rank.</p>