<p>I'm currently a Junior in high school and for the past two years I've taken three Honors courses per year. This year I chose to take only one so that I could focus on my extracurriculars and community service hours (much to my regret!). Anyway, in Freshman year I ranked 6 out of 95 and in Sophomore year I ranked 6 out of 98. This year, however, BECAUSE of my lack of Honors courses, my GPA has become unweighted and dropped from a 4.43 in Sophomore year to a 4.20 for Junior year (first semester!) I AM NOW NO LONGER 6 out of 98, but 10 out of 95.</p>
<p>Will this look bad to most colleges? A lot of my friends are saying it won't, but my counselor said it might!</p>
<p>Ultimately your GPA in a rigorous curriculum is most valued. You should not have taken an easier class load to focus on ECs, as you’ve come to realize. Can you upgrade to more honors classes this upcoming, 2nd semester? If not, take as many as you can handle your Sr year. </p>
<p>Don’t worry about what’s past. Focus on what you can change now. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>It may look bad but the question is how bad? It depends on where you apply. Being in the top 10% or better is ideal for elite college applicants.</p>
<p>You took a step back academically to focus on extracurriculars. In a competitive environment, decisions like that have consequences. If you enjoyed what you were doing, be happy and don’t worry about it. If you didn’t enjoy yourself, then you need to analyze your decision making. Why didn’t your counselor tell you this could happen?</p>
<p>Thanks 26E4. No, I can’t upgrade to more Honors classes, but I will definitely take all the AP classes I can handle next year.</p>
<p>Madaboutx, I know, thank you She didn’t tell me until after I had made the decision! I’m really very upset about it, but I will try to make amends. It’s worrying me a lot.</p>
<p>Don’t overstress. It’s clear you have solid academic chops. I’m sure you’ll find nice options as you assemble your target college list. Best of luck to you</p>
<p>Colleges aren’t going to see your previous years’ rankings. Your GC is going to post whatever your ranking is at the time you apply to college. </p>
<p>You need to finish strong this year because likely your reported ranking isn’t going to include senior year grades (maybe first quarter) when you submit your apps.</p>
<p>What schools are you considering? Many don’t care much about ranking (nor do many care about ECs, etc). The tippy top schools care about ranking, and some state schools do (Texas, TAMU).</p>
<p>Hi mom2collegekids! I’m considering UCB, UCLA, University of Washington, MIT, and Cornell. Okay, well, I was talking to my counselor and she told me that in transcripts they average my ranking from all three years (Freshman to Junior year) and I was like, what? That’s pretty unusual.</p>
<p>Indeed. How would that even work, since your rank didn’t have the same denominator all 3 years, and the average of the 3 denominators wasn’t the actual denominator in any of the years you were in school? </p>
<p>This makes so little sense that I have to wonder whether your guidance counselor may have misspoken, or you may have misinterpreted what he or she was saying.</p>
<p>Sikorsky: well, that’s what my counselor told me! That’s why I’ve been freaking out, because I do not want my average class rank to be messed up due to my Junior year (lack of Honors classes). I wrote down what she said so that I could post it here so I know I did not mishear her. She probably meant something else but it still came out that way, exactly as I typed it!</p>
<p>mom2collegekids: that makes a lot more sense!</p>
She didn’t tell me until after I had made the decision! I’m really very upset about it, but I will try to make amends. It’s worrying me a lot.</p>