Class Rank Frustration - Anything to do?

Applying to College
1

<p>Need some help/advice re: what to do (if anything can be done) re: class rank.</p>

<p>Helping my S13 as he starts the application process. Plans to study Civil Engineering and is looking at a pretty broad range of schools we have visited with strong Engineering programs - Lehigh, U of Illinois, Northwestern, Bucknell, Villanova, Lafayette, Ohio State, maybe Vanderbilt and/or Georgia Tech.</p>

<p>He appears to have relatively strong stats for this group understanding that several are quite selective.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>33 ACT</p></li>
<li><p>3.8 UW/3.9 W</p></li>
<li><p>Very rigorous curriculum for his high school (large midwest public HS) - AP Calc and AP Physics last year (A's and 5's on the exams), 4 years of language by Soph. year, Two more AP's this year, 14 Honors classes, and almost no "fluff" classes for 4 years.</p></li>
<li><p>EC's focused on athletics - will be 4-year letter winner in Wrestling, All-Conference, Team Captain, etc. - as well as leading construction projects on mission trips including one to Ecuador.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>The one area his application appears weak is class rank - barely top 20% - class size of approx. 350. Based on the way his HS does class rank, his rank suffers for a couple of reasons:</p>

<p>1) He took 4 HS classes (including 2 Honors classes) in 7th/8th grade at the HS and got A's in all, but they only allow Pass/Fail on the transcript and he gets no credit toward GPA/rank for those classes.</p>

<p>2) His Freshman grades were mediocre as he adjusted to HS life - his fault no doubt. All A's and only one B starting 2nd semester Soph. year.</p>

<p>3) While the school ranks based on weighted GPA, they give minimal weighting for Honors classes as you can see based on the difference between his W and UW GPA.</p>

<p>4) There are a lot of kids ranked ahead of him who have taken no APs, few Honors classes, and a much less rigorous schedule.</p>

<p>My questions:</p>

<p>1) How badly will this potentially hurt his chances at the more selective schools?</p>

<p>2) I read an old CC thread where there was a statement that you could request your class rank be taken off your transcript. Is this possible and would it even help?</p>

<p>3) I see that most of the schools he is looking at only report 35-45% of applicants reporting class rank. How is this possible? If that is the case, it seems those who "have" to report rank are potentially at a disadvantage.</p>

<p>Any input is greatly appreciated.</p>

2

<p>“There are a lot of kids ranked ahead of him who have taken no APs, few Honors classes, and a much less rigorous schedule.”</p>

<p>Since admissions people’s jobs are to discern those with the most likely chances for success, examination of transcript is par for the course. Selective schools know to dig deeper into the transcript info.</p>

<p>Some huge state schools that only drop in GPA and test scores into inflexible formulae don’t care about “weighted” grades/transcript. But then, those have pretty low admissions standards anyway. You’re fine in both instances.</p>

3

<p>Talk to your Guidance Counselor and ask about removing Rank. If this cannot be done, ask if he is willing to include a statement in his LOR attesting the rigor of your son’s coursework, especially in comparison to his classmates.</p>

<p>My impression is that adcoms rely heavily on GCs to put transcripts in perspective relative to others from the school’s current class as well as prior classes.</p>

<p>I would think your son will be safe. Just from your post it’s clear that AP weighting is low and struggling freshman year is the best time to struggle.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the suggestions. My son finally gets in to see his GC in two weeks. One for 350+ seniors. Will suggest he speak to her about the situation.</p>

5

<p>If by the more selective schools you mean the Ivies then no note from the GC will help. A 3.8 is a 3.8. There are many schools that don’t weight GPAs for rigor. That is why the school profile is so important. It shows how the student course selections compare to what was available, and how the student did in comparison to classmates. Even if rank is removed from the transcript the rank can be inferred based on the HS profile.</p>

6

<p>Have to give a cheer for the wrestler!!! </p>

<p>Now- don’t worry. Many schools no longer report rank and I sat in an admission event (put on for kids of alums by the admission offices of W&M, UVA and Davidson) and they really stressed that they look at the context of the high school. They don’t look at the GPA number as much- or as the UVA guy explained: We can’t compare GPA from one school to another as some use a 4 point scale, some a 5, some a 6, some a happy face with a plus (did make me laugh!). They want more As than Bs and a demanding course load. Your son has both.</p>

<p>Bucknell has a strong wrestling program and they would love to have some wrestlers with your son’s stats I am sure. My son’s GPA was lower than your son’s and his wrestling wasn’t nearly as accomplished and they still wanted him- although they were very nicely candid and explained that his role on the team would be to boost the team’s GPA and SAT and not to expect to wrestle before junior year - which we took as polite coach code for never. And we appreciated the candor!</p>

7

<p>Carnegie Mellon recalculates the GPA based only on grades 10-12 :slight_smile:
They seem to understand that even really bright kids don’t always score straight A’s at the start of high school. I thought that was nice!
Colleges know how to read a transcript thoroughly and use the info provided in the school profile about AP, honors etc. classes that are offered to evaluate how rigorous the student’s courseload was.
Many schools don’t use class ranking systems these days, including my son’s HS :slight_smile:
It gets crazy when the top 10 students differ from each other by thousandths of a point!</p>

8

<p>Does he have an affordable safety in the application list? If not yet, consider this list:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;
University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa is a common recommendation on these forums for that purpose (listed stats will get full out-of-state tuition plus $2,500 per year for engineering majors).</p>