<p>My school doesn't rank, so I have no idea what rank I am, or what top whatever percent I am... do colleges really care about rankings that much? On CC chances thread I always see people saying "you have to be in the top 10% or else you won't get in this college," but what if my school doesn't rank or do top percentiles? Would this help or hurt me..</p>
<p>HS rank is very important to top schools if your school ranks. If your school does not rank schools try to extrapolate or interpolate as the case may be where you place in your class. </p>
<p>In any case, you need to be the best or near the best student at your school regardless formal ranking. (And if your school ranks you need to be the best or near the best student even more so)</p>
<p>it won't hurt you if your school does not rank</p>
<p>They won't penalize you because your school doesn't rank, but will probably try to figure out some general idea of what your rank would be.</p>
<p>It won't hurt you at all, don't worry about it :)</p>
<p>If your school doesn't rank it won't matter, my old HS didn't rank and it sent people every year to top colleges and Ivies (HYPSM)</p>
<p>What if your at a power house type high school with a class of only 60 and your ranked 7?</p>
<p>Rank doesn't mean spit unless physical combat is part of the curriculum.</p>
<p>Quick question: If my school doesn't rank, but they tell colleges only if you are in the top 10% or not, will colleges judge me as if I am not, or will they judge me as if they don't know my rank at all.</p>
<p>"Quick question: If my school doesn't rank, but they tell colleges only if you are in the top 10% or not, will colleges judge me as if I am not, or will they judge me as if they don't know my rank at all."</p>
<p>That sounds awful. I've heard of high schools that have "decile" ranks, where they say that you're in the top 10%, in the next 10%, or the next after that, etc. And I've read that colleges usually assume you're right at the middle of that group, so if they say "top 10%" of a class of 100 they will act as if your rank was #5. This is terribly unfair because if you ARE #1 then you basically just got bumped down four places, and likewise if you're #10. But in your case it's even worse, because they just shoved the 0th percentile in with the 89th percentile.</p>
<p>The colleges figure out a rank for kids that don't have them using the school profile and historical data. For the top private high schools they get lots of applications from, they have existing formulas. They know where you rank or take a good guess.</p>
<p>My school was going to try to do away with rank this year but they were told exactly what hmom just said when our CCounselors surveyed schools about this. In a nutshell: "If you don't do it...we will and it wont be pretty." We are stuck with it.</p>
<p>My school doesn't rank because we have so few students. I'm applying to a magnet school, and while they don't rank their profile (sent to colleges) always says something like "~6/~300 kids made All A's their senior year." That tells top colleges if you have made all A's at the school, or near all A's, you're probably in the top 10%.</p>