As I run NPC’s and look at merit opportunities I am running into some where rank is heavily weighted.
If rank (either number or %) cannot be provided, how do schools generally handle this? Obviously I can contact the schools directly but was curious.
Even at schools who do not have a policy of ranking will rank for scholarship consideration. You will have to speak with your high schools and the colleges that you are considering
Even if schools don’t rank, they can usually let a school know if your student is in the top 10% , but it’s important to contact each university because they’re all different .
D was accepted into a school that had a really good scholarship for Val/Sal but her school did not rank. For college applications they put her in the top 5% (102 students). I asked for her official rank due to the app and was told it was against policy and they wouldn’t go outside that policy. One of her teachers told her they knew for a fact she was either #1 or #2 and went to bat for her to no avail. There were a few things her school did that had I known I would have pushed to have changed before it became an issue for us. I called the college but they couldn’t go outside their policy either. If this had been her first choice or even in her top 3 choices I might have really fought but it was a safety for her and she did end up with (what she considers) better choices.
If you look at the common data set for colleges you can see how many kids have class rank submitted - in many cases 30% or more come from schools that don’t rank. Many schools that are college prep did away with ranking because it’s not really fair when a school is highly competitive. Kids in the top 20 could be in the top 10 in a less competitive school. My kid’s school did away with it after some families transferred to weaker schools just so their kids could be ranked higher. Sad that families were accepting a lower quality education just to increase rank, but it happens.
It’s really sad if there are still schools out there that will penalize a student for not having rank. All the merit scholarships my kids applied for asked for applicants to be in the top 5 or 10% and never mentioned rank. Their school does report decile.
Ranking is awful, especially in LARGE schools. Schools, however, should show what % of the class the student is in.
@sybbie719 our school will not provide %, I checked with our GC on this to confirm. In most respects I completely agree with the policy as we do not weight grades and as a result, the rank and % is fairly meaningless. We will have many 4.0’s and several of those who have never taken a single AP or honors class. Several who have taken as many as possible, all technically ranked the same. As a result, no val or sal. Not that we are in the running for that. I do imagine though for those kids, they could “say” they were in the top 5% or higher once they know the final number of 4.0 kids but that wouldn’t be in time for college applications and I suspect the school would not provide them with that number ahead of time. CDS also shows rank as being “important” for admission at this school which adds to the annoyance.
@carolinamom2boys because we do not weight the top 10% is fairly meaningless at our school. They won’t provide that information.
@NEPatsGirl I can’t even get %. Which do to the non weighting isn’t a fair or accurate % anyway. I will have to see what the college says.
@InigoMontoya I hadn’t thought to look at the CDS. Only 36% submitted rank, I am not sure that means that 64% didn’t have rank to submit. We cannot get decile, which due to non weighting really doesn’t mean a whole lot anyway. The only data point I have is from the class of 2015, the last year they ranked, and that’s just the average GPA of that class. In theory I would assume 2017 or other years to be similar but frankly knowing, or entering that the student top half of the class really doesn’t help for scholarship purposes.
@suzyQ7 agreed. With a class of 300+, non weighted, ranking doesn’t mean much. However I can’t even get % which is all the college is asking for. Even with % though, it’s skewed due to the non weighting.
My D is in a class of 750+. They technically do not rank, but they DO. The GC would not tell her the rank, but did input it into the scholarship application for her.
@NJRoadie it’s a district policy and GC said they will not provide it at all, either directly to the school or to us. However…since they only stopped ranking with the 2015 class it is possible his rank still shows in his view of Naviance. She suggested I look there which I will do with him tonight. Beyond that it was “work with the school”…aka we won’t help you. Even if it isn’t a “fair” ranking due to the lack of weighting it would give us something to go on.
Many private schools and boarding schools will not rank, even confidentially. What they often will do, however, is indicate the percentage of students who have various GPAs. Our did that on the school profile.
@exlibris97 they will not do that either. The last school profile states that 2015 is the last year they ranked and shows the average gpa for that class and the total number of students. That is it. No idea if they will even do that much going forward.
Most scholarships are going to require that you give either a numerical rank or a percentage bracket. Very few are going to let you get away with not doing that. You’re going to have to convince the guidance counselor to do it, or you may just not be able to apply. The school will feel the burn when their students aren’t able to compete for scholarships.
@eandesmom This isn’t that unusual a situation. Class rank is only meaningful for large schools. For smaller schools or for schools with highly selective student bodies–Exeter, Andover, some country day private schools and places like Dalton in NYC–class rank would be a meaningless indicator of academic ability.
Another reason why scholarship providers are becoming more sophisticated is that schools calculate GPAs and class rank in different ways. Some weight grades, others don’t. Some select valedictorians purely on the basis of GPAs–witness the school with 16 "valedictorians–while others select them using a combination of factors.
In response to @CourtneyThurston comment that schools will change their policies when they feel the burn, all this will result in is inaccurate and meaningless rankings. That’s why some of the best public schools districts in the country are adopting “no rank” policies. It’s a growing trend.
@CourtneyThurston that is not accurate. That may have been true in the past but no rank is a growing trend and I believe more common in the west than perhaps the east or south but growing nonetheless. For the 16 schools we are currently looking at for S17 I am able to determine automatic merit based on the stats I have for all but 1. Which requires rank for its NPC. However the school has confirmed with me that he would absolutely be considered, they will just look at all the other factors provided versus their “standard” calculator that uses rank.
Does that mean my child might not fare as well if viewed holistically than by a %? Perhaps. Perhaps not. If nothing else it at leasts lets me know we can keep that school in the mix and if the offer isn’t right, so be it, but at least he will be considered.
@exlibris97 thanks. Exactly. SD14’s graduation had 14 valedictorians. Their HS didn’t weight either. Of the 14 some truly had rigorous schedules and some, did not. In that case, rank was fairly meaningless but it was clear by the college each would be attending…who had rigor and who did not. In a large school I would actually argue that rank can be even more misleading and meaningless if there is no weight attached to it. Colleges are used to parsing through the myriad ways that schools calculate things. I support the no rank policy, I just don’t want it to keep my child from consideration. Thankfully the school in question has responded to confirm that it will not impact evaluation negatively, it just doesn’t allow me to really get a decent feel for cost using their current NPC. And that’s ok, I can live with that for now.
My D applied to a school that awarded merit scholarships based on combination of GPA, SAT/ACT scores and class rank. Her HS did not rank. When we met with the GC to discuss, she called the school while we were there to ask how the lack of rank would impact a possible scholarship. The bottom line was the school was familiar with her HS and the caliber of student who attended their school in the past. As a result they would “overlook” the rank component in determining merit money. In the end, we were surprised and pleased with the amount she received.
@Googie31 that is a great outcome! The school in question for us has had either 1 or 2 applicants in the past 3 years from our school so safe to say there is zero history there 
Assuming it stays on the list we will see what happens.
@eandesmom Sorry for the delay in responding. Can the GC contact the school and ask how such a situation would be handled? That would probably be a lot more accurate than our assumptions.
Good luck to you and your child.
@Googie31 I spoke with both our GC and the college’s AO. Our school will not provide the data and the college in question will look at things holistically but he will be considered and allegedly not penalized for the data point being unavailable. It does make the NPC rather worthless and means if he applies we will just have to wait and see what transpires but at least it doesn’t mean we should just walk away now from the school as an option. It doesn’t help that there is limited history with our HS and this college but it is what it is.
@eandesmom Did the GC talk to the college? Or just you. If the GC didn’t I would still suggest that s/he call. There may be a more nuanced answer that the GC will pick up on. And noted above, many schools do not rank so I would expect that colleges have work-arounds already. Doesn’t make it any easier for you though.
@Googie31 the GC basically (very nicely) refused at this point and was crystal clear that the school board will not allow them to discuss it. Her hands are completely tied. It will either work in his favor, or not but the end result will be interesting to see.