<p>I am a bit concerned about my fairly low (for selective colleges) class rank which is about 13%, but there are some mitigating factors at my school. Since my school weights APs higher for class rank, students who take electives that are not AP (journalism which I have taken since sophomore year and in which I have a leadership role, and several classes that I was placed in simply because my school was overcrowded) are penalized greatly when it comes to class rank.</p>
<p>Would these factors be something worth mentioning in my applications? Or maybe worth having my counselor write in his letter of reccomendation?</p>
<p>People who take AP’s are rewarded basically, especially if they do well. Your applicator may wonder why you didn’t take as much AP’s as the others. </p>
<p>It would sound like some sort of excuse if you were to mention that other students took more AP’s than you.</p>
<p>By not taking the rigorous AP courseload that some of your classmates have taken, your rank is lower. That’s bad for you, but it isn’t unfair. It’s exactly how most colleges want to see it.</p>
<p>I see no way to put a good spin on it. Whether it comes from you or your counselor, “samer791 has a low rank because he didn’t take many APs” doesn’t help you.</p>
<p>In your essay, explain that your passion for journalism is what led you to take all the journalism courses your school had to offer. Colleges want people who are passionate, especially those who are passionate about important things, and doubly especially those whose choices indicate have shown that the claimed passions are real. </p>
<p>^Right. Also, if your counselor was to write anything about journalism, perhaps he could put in your dedication and diligence with the activity. That would be a classier way of (implicitly) “explaining” your rank.</p>
<p>I agree with annasdad. I would make it a positive (how you have a passion for journalism) rather than a negative (why your class rank isn’t higher). </p>
<p>Also, remember, no one other than an admissions officer knows what each college does with grades, rank, etc. For example, if you are applying to Journalism Programs, excellent grades and leadership in the Journalism Courses may very well be more important to the college than AP Physics or AP Calc. BC.</p>
<p>You’ve made choices for what sounds like valid reasons, so you should focus on your strengths.</p>
<p>I agree with annasdad. You can write about your passion for journalism. The adcomm will want to see evidence of that success in other parts of the application. Any journalism awards? leadership on the school paper? any published articles in local paper? summer internships? Any of that will help explain why you took journalism, rather than more APs.</p>
<p>Don’t make any excuses for your class rank on your application. If you have a good number of AP classes and have good grades, class rank isn’t something to sweat about.</p>
<p>Wow, at least your school rewards students for taking APs. At my school, AP classes are weighted the same as honors classes so people who take only easy honors classes and no APs are ranked the highest.</p>
<p>I can see your point if the other students are loading up on AP Human Geography, AP Statistics, and AP Environmental Science (and others typically found in the “easy to study AP tests” threads in the AP forum). But if you are skipping out on AP English Literature and AP Calculus BC in favor of non-AP courses, then that may be harder to explain.</p>