<p>Hey guys, I was just wandering how important class rank is in admissions at Cornell. Will just being in the top 10% (and nothing higher) of the high school class be a huge drawback/liability?
Thanks.</p>
<p>Top 10% is good. Obviously, the closer to the top, the better. But 10% is good.</p>
<p>it helps but i wont say its one of the more important things... obviously the higher the better. besides, many schools dont rank and im sure cornell knows the difficulty of high schools. some are really good and you can be 500/1000 or something like that and still have 2100+ sats and great ecs and gpas. so id definitely say the rest are more important</p>
<p>most of the accepted students are in the top 10% of their class. if you are applying to cornell, im sure you are there so dont worry about it. will being in the top 15% or 20% make or break your decision? no</p>
<p>It's always taken in context, which is why it's Cornell admissions and not a computer formula from a big state university. Cornell knows about every major high school in the country that has ever sent applicants to Cornell. And they can quickly research your school and find out a complete statistical profile in seconds. They know how many from your high school typically accept offers from Cornell, and how they typically do at Cornell (grades, how long they attended, whether they graduated). Every class rank is always taken in context. Being 1st in a class of 30 kids from a small private school may not make the grade for admission...while being in the top 19% of one of the powerhouse high schools may.</p>
<p>its not an enormous issue, though it matters. it is too variable from school to school to put too much emphasis on. for example, if you are in a poorly funded inner city public school with lots of non-native speakers, being number 1 may not be very difficult or reflective of a level of aptitude or intelligence as the term 'valedictorian' would suggest, while achieving a class rank of 300 out of 800 at an elitist, private 'feeder' school may be considered a great achievement. what's more important is your courseload (AP/IB) and how you performed in these more difficult college level courses, including on their end of year standardized exams. this type of subjectivity levels the playing field from the imbalance of the objectivity of grades and class rank which are highly variable from school to school.</p>
<p>Rank matters, but is not necessry or sufficient by itself to get you admitted.</p>