I’m a soph & I calculated my theoretical class rank. I am about #6 (although this could change if my peers performed extremely badly junior year!!). The top 1% of our class would be top 3, & I already know at least three people who are taking more weighted courses than I am next year (junior year).
My ranked classes numerical GPA is around a high 97.xx (our school doesn’t convert to 4.0!!!), and then the numerical GPA gets converted to an index score based on the weighted classes, like more weight for APs vs honors. As a result, the ranking is very close-- actually hundredths of a point can make a huge difference!
So for Harvard, am I at a disadvantage if my class rank falls outside of the top 1%?
It’s not considered because over half of US HS’s do not provide a cardinal rank. However, you can be assured that if multiple applicants from the same HS apply, the AO will know whose GPA is higher. Even if there is only one application, the AO can view to GPA vs the school profile the guesstimate the rank.
That said, top 1% vs. top 2% or top 5% will not be the determining factor in acceptance vs. rejection.
I would stop thinking about this and spend the time instead doing something worthwhile, like volunteering, EC at school, an art form, or work. Honestly this kind of focus does actually result in wishing that peers do worse, not a good place to be! Think of scores and grades as needing to meet a benchmark and after that admission is about other things, mainly the ability to contribute to the class mix. Avoid looking at or talking about GPA and rank, period.
One of my kids had a classmate who was focused on the GPA/rank thing and talked about it a lot. She made up a humorous contract for him to sign saying he would not mention GPA for a month. He stuck to it! Stop competing and just learn and work hard and you’ll be fine.
Ranks mean nothing. Your school is not standardized across the nation. Standardized test are… hence the name :). And most importantly, your attitude will determine what altitude you can achieve on the college ladder. Good luck!
Ignore this statement. Based on my observations of my kids’ public HS (ranked #1 in our state), rank matters a lot. Typically top 1% are accepted by HYPSM, top 2%, are accepted by Duke, Northwestern, UPenn, etc., and so on down the ranking.
ok. ranks only mean something if you go to a very prestigious highschool. Like sherpa said, the top 1% in her kids’ highschool went to the top IVY Leagues. Good for them. Does that mean every top 1% in all the schools in the state will get in to an ivy league… no way. Unless you go to the top highschool in your state, focus on your gpa…not your rank
Don’t think about GPA or rank or grades at all. Work hard and follow your interests as far as they can take you. Be a nice person and help others. I know people who have gotten in and certainly weren’t top of their class, at a mediocre school- but had talents or service they pursued outside of schoo, and showed “character” in their dealings with othersl.
I think it’s sad that so many stress over rank and GPA and scores when that really isn’t what elite admissions is about. Meet the benchmarks and then it is all about other things.
Gotta agree with @sherpa , rank is in fact more important than GPA precisely because GPA is not consistently calculated or standards applied. For selective institutions, the most important gating factor is the high school transcript. Even if the school does not formally rank, the AO will look carefully at how that student compares in grades and rigor of courses to classmates who are applying or have applied in the past, and they will rank them themselves.
Yes, “meet the benchmarks and then it is all about other things”, but the first set of benchmarks happens to be high achievement in high school academics and standardized test score. For highly selective schools like Harvard, if you are not in the top 10% of your class (better at 5%) and score at least in the mid1400’s or 32+, you are probably not even in the game unless you have a super hook like an athletic recruit, national recognition in science, literature, music, art, etc…, or scion of a major donor/potential donor or international leader. There are plenty of 4.0’s, valedictorians and 1600’s who don’t get in because of other things (or lack thereof). But, your chances are pretty much nill if you don’t have the academic chops, even if you have wonderful, even unique EC’s, with essays and LoR’s that demonstrate great character and other positive attributes because there will be thousands of other candidates that have the “other things” and high academic achievements.
There is a whole other topic about not obsessing over getting into schools like HYPS. It is unhealthy to ever judge yourself by the school you get into, and it is without a doubt true that future success and happiness is based on what you do with your opportunities (plus a little luck), not whether you attend a “name” school. But if HYPS or other school with a single digit or low double digit acceptance rate is something you want to consider, you have to be realistic and compare your academic stats with the students that are there, and even then temper your expectations.
I don’t think “rich” is an important factor in most cases. In fact, Harvard is actively looking for qualified lower income students. Really good at something, yeah.
It’s not that class rank doesn’t matter, it’s that class rank correlates with what the colleges are looking for. Harvard is looking for kids who were among the best students at their schools - if the school ranks it’s likely that those kids will be in the top ranking - I’d guess top 2 or 3% in a good public school. If you attend a selective magnet school, or a top prep school they will be looking at far more than the top 1% of the class. When my son applied from a large suburban high school the kids who were accepted were #1 and #8 out of a class of 640. (#3 was waitlisted and went to Princeton, #4 applied early to Penn/Wharton, #2 went to Caltech.) Actually probably the best way to get into Harvard with lower stats is to play a helmet sport.
As a sophomore it’s far, far too early to be worrying about this stuff. Make sure you are taking appropriate courses for you, if you find outside activities that interest you, do something interesting with them. It’s not enough to be president of a club. You need to have accomplished something. There are many, many ways to be accomplished. And be a good person. There is a big push at Harvard to look for people who will give to the community. http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/16/01/turning-tide-inspiring-concern-others-and-common-good-through-college-admissions
By the way our high school only provides numerical grades too.
There’s definitely no magic rank #. It really matters on your school history, size, “quality” etc. If you go to a super selective high school, maybe top 20-25% of students get into Ivy League schools. At my school, the top “1%” is a fraction of a person and the top 10% is under 10 people. Luckily, we don’t even have numerical rank, but when colleges say by “top of your class”, they don’t have any percentile in mind that is standardized.
Plus, I agree with everyone else. Junior year changes a lot. Grades tend to fall a lot, some people’s may rise…keep you head high and focus on getting mostly A’s for Harvard, don’t worry too much about 6 vs 7 vs 8 or whatever. It doesn’t matter to that precision…just make sure you don’t fall to the bottom of the class or anything like that
