<p>Class rank really counts a lot less than you’re making it out to be. Because there are so many ways to calculate class rank, what a college thinks of your grades and rigor counts more than any single sometimes oddly calculated number. Yes, you’ll be compared to your classmates, but on the college’s terms, not your school’s.</p>
<p>i think class rank does matter; at most elite institution well above 90 and sometimes 95% of their students were in the top 10%. you want to be in the majority, not the few who’re not in the top 10%. </p>
<p>Okay OP I understand what you are asking as it is done the same way at our school. It is an individual decision, and only you know what your class rank means to you. Many students have to make the same choice unfortunately, my S included. He chose the Val route and it turned out to be the right decision for him. Does it guarantee him anything in the admissions process? No, but it sure isn’t going to hurt! And I agree with @peekapole “driven. goal-oriented, and willing to sacrifice” that describes S to a tee. “Greedy grade seeker” is indeed offensive. Since when is strategizing and making choices to reach a goal/achievement worthy of scorn? </p>
<p>My daughter choose electives over rank - took 4 years of chorus (an unweighted elective). The val her year took a study hall senior year to avoid taking an unweighted elective which would ruin his rank).</p>
<p>Elite schools have a high percentage of their admits in the Top 10% as a consequence of their grades and course selection, they are not admitted because they were in the Top 10%. You cannot manipulate yourself into the Top 10% with weak classes and think that colleges don’t notice. I can point you to more than a handful of seniors at our HS who though the path to success was a high test score and a 4.0 built with weak courses who were Shocked! that elite schools preferred kids with lower test scores and a 3.8 in a rigorous curriculum.</p>
<p>I applaud anyone willing to set a goal and do what it takes to achieve it. I am also sorry to say I have seen behavior cross over into. “Greedy grade seeker” in the form of incessant public comparison of accomplishments on assignments by students. If v/sal is not a goal you have set for yourself and your other stats will get you the kind of school you are working towards take the elective. I did and it became my career. </p>
<p>MrMom…I must be missing something here. The discussion is whether to take honors or AP(tougher classes) as electives to raise the Wgpa OR take electives of choice that would LOWER Wgpa but be of interest to the student but simultaneously lowering class rank or ant chance at Val/Sal.</p>
<p>This is a question for your guidance counselor, as they must complete the Secondary School Report (SSR) on your behalf and rate the rigor of your course load as compared to all other college bound students at your high school. See top of page 2 on the SSR, especially top right hand section: <a href=“http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/documents/UG_Admissions_SecondarySchoolReport.pdf”>http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/documents/UG_Admissions_SecondarySchoolReport.pdf</a>. My guess is that your GC would give the student who took more AP’s a “Most Demanding” rating, and the kid that took honors or electives a “Very Demanding” or “Demanding” rating. Colleges notice when a student with a high ranking (Val/Sal for example) does not also have the “Most Demanding” rating from their GC – that’s a red flag that tells an Admissions Officer this kid was a little light on course rigor.</p>
<p>@moscott: I think you worry for nothing. (For other readers, I think i’m correct to say Moscott’s son is likely a Math/Sci prodigy, going into 8th grade, who also happens to be a high potential athlete. ) The types of classes your son is going to take as a 9th 10th grader will show anyone that the is likely the most valued applicant from his HS regardless of his class rank. </p>
<p>Like others have said, this ranking – in the context of your son’s eventual transcript – will mean almost nothing. So the val get’s a 4.0 with BC Calc on her transcript. Your son will have been attending the local college for 2 years in advanced collegiate level math and some simple electives. If your son and the val both apply to an engineering school, who do you think will be more highly evaluated?</p>
<p>mos, perhaps step back and let the natural course of your son’s curiosity take its course? Don’t worry about the other kids – frankly, wish them well. Having your son in a mutually supportive cohort is a great thing. Val/Sal ranking means nothing.</p>
<p>@T26E4 …Point taken, thanks. </p>
<p>“You cannot manipulate yourself into the Top 10% with weak classes and think that colleges don’t notice”</p>
<p>This does not address OP question. Rank at that school is determined by weighted GPA, thus to get the weighting and protect class rank a student has to choose the most rigorous path, forgoing unweighted electives. </p>
<p>And some of these comments show a lot of contradiction.</p>
<p>If the school has an UNWEIGHTED ranking system, and a kid chooses courses they are passionate about that happen to be less rigorous, and then ends up outranking the kid with 12 APs everyone is up in arms. The poor kid with the rigorous course load was robbed and the Val is a lazy grade grubber.</p>
<p>But if the ranking is WEIGHTED then the kid that takes the 12 AP classes becomes the grade grubber and the kid that took the electives resulting in lower class rank is put on a pedestal for following passion over rank?</p>
<p>Please…</p>
<p>When a group of students apply from the same high school, selective colleges don’t just admit the student’s who have the best ranking, GPA’s or test scores – that’s not how admission to the top schools work. For example, at my kid’s high school in any given year one-quarter of the class (200 kids) apply to Harvard. And Harvard often admits about 10 to 15 kids each year, but oftentimes they have passed over the best ranked students, including the Val/Sal, and have taken kids with a lower ranking – as in kids ranked #11, #24, #37, #65, #111, #142, #178 etc. That’s what makes selective colleges applications unpredictable, as so much of who gets admitted comes down to the warm and fuzzy “feeling” an Admissions Director gets after reading a student’s teacher recommendations and essays. And that can’t be measured by ranking, GPA or test scores.</p>
<p>My point is/was/and always will be that obsession with class rank is a waste of time. Taking the most difficult course load available that you can do well in and will not kill the rest of your life should be your only guide. Admissions officers are smart enough to know how to evaluate your transcript and will not be fooled by the vagaries of how an individual school manages to calculate class rank - as many have said, a kid taking advanced classes at a local college will not be “punished” for doing so just because the ranking system has them mysteriously ranked below other students not at so high a level. Give the admissions people some credit, they see hundreds if not thousands of applications, they know what a good one looks like and will not be blinded by some often arbitrary number.</p>
<p>That said, dodging the tough classes in areas outside your specialty is not a recipe for success either. STEM kids aiming for the top still need the core APs if they’re available, things like AP Lang or Lit, APUSH, AP World or Euro, and AP Gov. Liberal arts majors need to realize the liberal arts includes science and math, so taking all three core sciences, at least one of them at the AP level, plus continuing math to the highest level possible for an individual student is also necessary to compete for the elite level schools. The elite level schools all model themselves on the liberal arts ideal - they still believe that an educated person has knowledge about all areas of human endeavor, even if once you get to their campus, you no longer have to follow that model.</p>