Hi everyone,
I have started to come up with some reach schools for my college admissions process and was deciding what school to apply early to. My school doesn’t rank and it’ll be very difficult for me to go around asking people what their GPA’s are.
I almost have no idea where I stand in my class of roughly 500. I could be in top 10 or even 20%, I have a 3.93 UW and 4,1 Weighted, and weighted are generally offered junior year. Most achieving people take 4 or 5, I took 4 due to schedule constraints like health etc.
If I apply to let’s say an Ivy and they find out that I’m only in the top quartile, I probably won’t even be considered so has anyone just tried asking their GC to tell them roughly where they stand, like top 5, 10% etc.?
Also, if I took 2 normal classes freshman year (I just came from China so my middle school teacher didn’t recommend me for honors), will my counselor still check it off as most rigorous?
So to give you guys an idea:
Our school offers 4 Honors freshman and sophomore year, 1 AP sophomore year and a total of around 10-15 AP courses. I will be taking around 8 by the time I graduate. Most people take around 8-10 and I am on the lower side because I couldn’t take an AP sophomore year (well I wanted to fulfill my PE requirements to graduate).
I know I should just ask her and everyone’s different, and I will next week when she comes back, but does anyone have any experience with asking the counselor about these things regarding class rank?
That is a question to ask your counselor.
Probably most rigorous. Talk to your counselor about class rank.
Ok, do counselors generally give that kind of inof? I’ll just be like :" Hi, Mrs. XX, I am starting to think about applying to colleges in the fall. Even Northwood doesn’t rank, do you have an idea where I stand among our junior class academically?"
Is that fine to ask them that way?
A GC should be able to tell you where YOU stand, even though she cannot discuss anyone else.
As for most rigourous I would ask her to look over your courses and ask her what she will check but I would say it in a POLITE not arrogant way but that you assume she will say most rig (you understand what I am saying?). As in, of course I have taken the most rig courses (in a nicer way). If she says anything other than most rig I would ask her politely why (never want to get defensive). If she blames freshman year then say it was not an option because the middle school teacher, China etc. It is most rig in the context of WHAT IS AVAILABLE TO YOU at the time. If it was not available to you she can make the argument that you still took what was most rig in what was. For example if there was a certain AP you should have taken this year but had a schedule conflict then the argument is you took the most rig of what was available. You can try that if you have a problem because of gym.
If your school does not rank, they don’t rank. I don’t believe the info is sent in that event…
Many, if not most, elite prep schools do not rank. Don’t worry about it.
All you have to do is phrase it like this:
“What percentage am I generally? I know we don’t rank but where do I stand about?” Colleges won’t hold it against you if your school doesn’t rank though.
You would have to ask her also about checking off the most rigorous box.
Yeah I understand about rank not being too much of an issue, but with some schools in admissions, they look at the GPA/SAT/course rigor of your peers who are applying as well (for context) so it kind of plays a role in a way.
Of course they will look at your application in relation to your peer group. That’s why class rank alone isn’t overly important. If someone two places ahead of you in rank has SAT/ACT scores 10% lower than yours, or the person two spots behind you is an All-American quarterback, rank will not be the principal consideration. High schools rank differently, furthermore, with some using only an unweighted GPA, or including non-academic subjects.