Hi guys I’m currently a junior attending a fairly competitive highschool in NJ. So recently, I found out that I am top 6% of my grade. I am very very close to top 5% and could potentiallu reach it by the end of the year. However, if I’m unable to reach it and remain in the top6%, how detrimental is it? I plan on applying to top engineering school like Cornell(ED), Georgia tech, Mich, etc. My sat is good as are my extracurriculars. I have a 3.83 UW gpa btw. Thank you. I’m really scared that this will kick me out of the running for top colleges
Top 10% is what really matters - this is the number schools report in the Common Data Set, and the one they like to keep as high as possible. It allows a university to say “9X% of our freshmen were in the top 10% of their HS class.”
The difference between top 6% and top 5% is like the difference between a 2310 and a 2320 on the SAT: it might theoretically sway an admissions decision, but I’d bet a semester’s tuition against that possibility.