<p>NYU seems to mainly accept students who are at the top 10% percent of their class, but class ranks are almost meaningless imho. My hs class is small but full of very motivated students and I am only in the top 20% right now (ranked by wgpa; my uwgpa is 3.8), but someone going to a large school full of students who don't care could easily be top 10%. </p>
<p>I have been working harder and hope to raise my rank, but is it almost hopeless if you aren't top 10?</p>
<p>persevering, Your uw gpa of 3.8 looks decent, depending also on the rigor of your classes.</p>
<p>In regards to your top 20% ranking in a “competitive” school, you need to discuss this with your guidance counselor and make sure he/she writes an explanation on your ranking with a description of the kind of school you are coming from, including the caliber of students who attend the High School. That may allow the NYU Admissions counselors to understand what your ranking really means in the context of a competitive high school, if they do not already have this info, as a reminder or in case you have a less experienced admissions officer reading your application.</p>
<p>Class rank varies with importance because it’s so reliant on context. </p>
<p>I attend a high school where there are approximately 700 students in each grade, and while the grand majority of them definitely aren’t aspiring to attend top-tier colleges, competition at the top is fierce. At my school, you basically have to be in the top 10 or 15 students (top 2%) to be considered competitive (accepted to any school above UCLA-ish selectivity), but I believe those dedicated enough to rise to the top of such a large and diverse student body deserve to be recognized well.</p>
<p>College admissions committees certainly aren’t oblivious to this fact, so work hard and rest assured that they’ll value your top 20% at a small school over the top 10% at a big school like mine.</p>
<p>I take all AP and honors classes, and I think my wgpa is around 4.2 (can’t say for sure because we still haven’t our updated transcripts). Weighting here is also done strangely and have four decimal places (uwgpa is more like 3.7979) and there can be a very small fraction between ranks. My PSATs were mid 600s and I’ve been studying for the SAT and hope to get high 600 to 700s. It it still unsettling to see so many good colleges care so much about rank, and collegboard says 39% of NYU students were outside of the top 10, so I am guessing someone outside of that would have to have some hook.</p>