And from MIT:
Please don’t be overly concerned about your class rank or GPA (grade point average) or even whether your school calculates them . With our holistic admissions process, we’re much more interested in how an applicant “fits” with our culture than if they were No. 1 in their school.
You’re being too literal…name your top school that does. I’m simply giving an anecdote as to why schools are removing or d emphasizing rank.
Stanford considers class rank…but it’s amongst a long list of things Stanford uses.
I’m being literal on purpose. The fact is…class rank is determined in so many different ways as to be less than helpful. Sure, a number one kid might get a check for that, but my guess…it was NOT the only reason the OPs kid was admitted to some college. It was one factor.
Most likely, he received many top admission offers due to the totality of an excellent application - and also happened to be #1 in his class. Chances are, the result would have been identical if class rank was not available
The math is simple - add up all the high schools in the country, times 2 for Sal/Val - there aren’t enough spots in the top universities’ freshperson classes to admit them all.
Evidently the arbitrary #1/#2 ranking does not auto-admit you to the top universities - in fact, the majority of admitted students reported NO rank at all.
Since the OP is leaving the thread, and since this is an issue that’s been covered in several past threads, and since this has just become a debate, it’s time to close.