<p>I know for competitive colleges you should ideally be in the top 10%, but beyond that, does it matter? Like, if your not in the top 5% is that bad? Cause I'm 21 out of 381 (top 10 but not top 5)... is this an good rank for competitive schools?</p>
<p>Yes, top 10% is a good rank. It may not be good enough for most Ivies.</p>
<p>It depends, for the top Ivies (HYP) you ideally should be in the top1-2 percent of your class. But I was number 13 out of like 500 and got in. And another girl got in SCEA being 16 out of about 600. Your class rank will hurt your chances for the top ivies, but others such as Cornell or Dartmouth may be fine with your class rank.</p>
<p>Let’s say i’m ranked 3/400, but your UW GPA is only around 3.7, is that viewed badly? The only reason I would have the lower UW GPA is because I took the most honors/AP classes in my grade, which are weighted a lot more than regular courses.</p>
<p>i know someone that was rank 70 out of 700
he got in stanford scea </p>
<p>urm tho</p>
<p>Class rank has to be contextual. Not all schools rank the same way and some schools do not rank. Hence, if you feel that your class rank is not fully reflective, you can have your GC address that issue. E.g. the number of honors classes.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s important…but it’s not the only factor. You already know this. If one attends an easy grading school, being #1 is not the same as being #10 at a top private college prep school. HYP - yes, shoot for top 1-2%. But, if you’re in a class of 40…and it’s that same referenced college prep school that sends 10 of 40 to Ivies…then being outside of top 1% isn’t as important. You really have to take it in context, and there is no set formula. If you’re in the top 5%, that’s still competitive. But I HAVE noticed that HYP does tend to take RANK and GPA over standardized test scores at my D’s school. We know “they” all pretty much say GPA (and therefore rank) is the most important factor…and it’s proving true. Why would HYP want child #50 when they can have children 1-10? Of COURSE there are variables (child #7 is out because they did NOTHING except academics, etc.). But…within any top FEW kids of any given good school…there are plenty of qualified kids. I attended a Harvard Club function the other day for applicants. It was said to us that (provided you’re at least qualified for consideration of coures)…“those of you that get in just drew the lucky card”. I thought that was a nice way to make the rejected feel…less rejected.</p>
<p>You’ll just have to try your luck. 21 isn’t horrible and you may be attending a really competitive high school while the valedictorian could be attending a really sucky high school. It’s all subjective.</p>
<p>If you attend a highly competitive high school, then you should be fine.
If your school has a weird weighting system and you have an almost impeccable GPA, you should be fine.<br>
It’s not a highly competitive GPA, but it’s certainly not going to bar you from the top schools.</p>
<p>Almost half of the class at mid level ivies are vals and sals. When you consider 40% plus of the class is unhooked, it takes a lot more than top 10% from high schools that are not very competitive (average SAT 2000 plus) to get into any ivy today.</p>
<p>“child #7 is out because they did NOTHING except academics”</p>
<p>This accurate describes the majority of the top 10% at my school, especially the top 10 people.</p>
<p>That is a pretty good rank, and if it is a tough school, than it is good enough for all top schools except like HYPSMC. However, make sure the rest of your application is banging. I would think that schools would rather take number 21 in the grade over number 16 if you have better ECs, essays, et cetera.</p>