<p>My school doesn't weighted classes until our junior year, and I took the hardest classes my school offers. I only got one B my freshman year (advanced algebra II) and one B in my sophomore year (advanced geometry) but my rank still took a beating. After getting a 4.0 my junior year I'm still only about 30 out of 280. My the second quarter of my senior year I'll probably be in the 20's, but I'm still only in the top 10 or 9% of my class. There's major grade inflation at my school. You literally have kids taking applied classes that are ranked in the top 20. Will this rank hurt my chances of getting into a competative school. My courseload was as difficult as it could be (my school doesn't have many honors/AP classes) and the rest of my application will be fairly strong once I get the standardized test scores up.</p>
<p>You should be fine. My rank dropped because I was taking non-AP classes in place of lunch, which lowered my GPA and rank. The adcoms understand that.</p>
<p>Yeah, I have a similar-ish situation where I believe I am just barely in the second decile of my class, but our school doesn't rank and only provides schools with decile information. I'm sure my GC will mention something about it in her letter, that I'm on the cusp, but will they weigh the fact that if I wasn't at a top school I would be a top student? My test scores and demanding schedule can reflect that...</p>
<p>And Claire, if your birthday is October 16th, that's weird...because so is mine. =P</p>
<p>haha yeah it is the 16th. :D </p>
<p>and olgita: that's ridiculous that taking an extra class would actually hurt your rank, but i guess it will benefit you in the long run when they see the rigorous courseload.</p>