<p>Do not look at Class Rank!?!?</p>
<p>bump(10char)</p>
<p>Probably every school (even "bad" schools) will look at your class rank. But very few of them will consider it that much.</p>
<p>Why do you ask-- is yours bad? Is it not very impressive? The purpose of class rank is really to see how you stack up to your peers; were your grades OK? then a mediocre class rank will show that you went to a very competitive school. Or you may have lower grades and a corresponding rank; that's OK, too. The majority of high school students are in the same position. If you look beyond the top 50 schools you will find a nearly uncountable amount of great schools that are looking for something besides perfect class ranks.</p>
<p>i am in the top 50% at a very competitive school. I have a 3.7 w gpa. My school is ranked the 35th best public school is the nation. So i guess what I am asking on the topic of class rank, is will this look ok for me or in my favor because of the competitiveness of my school?</p>
<p>Your better-than-average rank will confirm that you're a solid student who does well at a very strong high school. I'd say that's mostly positive, no?</p>
<p>There's nothing wrong about your rank at all; colleges who see it will just use it to cement your overall academic standing. By itself, the rank means nothing: they have to combine it with your (good) GPA and your (probably decent) SAT scores to get the idea of what kind of student you are.</p>
<p>holyert:</p>
<p>I wish you were right, but you're not. I happen to know this because, two years ago, I was part of an intensive research task force for my public school district to decide whether reporting class rank to admissions departments was a good or bad thing for our students. After months of study, we took a vote. The vote took about five seconds and was unanimous. Reporting class rank hurts kids from high performing high schools.</p>
<p>Don't take my word for it. Get a copy of a report from Paul Attewell of CUNY entitled "The Winner Take All High School." To the best of my knowledge, it's the best research available on the topic and it's pretty clear that elite colleges, anyway, give undue consideration to class rank.</p>
<p>I agree that many of the great schools look at rank, and they tell you so in the info sessions. However, I'm not so sure that University of Chicago is terribly influenced by class rank...... just an idea.</p>
<p>I bet that's true for the elite schools. But look at the OP's GPA and, well, his rank. Even a higher rank would still have him in a difficult position to enter those schools. This may be inaccurate, but from what I've seen the lower-ranking schools consider a person's academics more in clusters than individual facts as the Ivies, for example, may do.</p>
<p>this is all great but I think you might have the wrong idea about my post. I am not planning to apply to any ivies or University of Chicago for that matter. I am looking at all privite schools in Cali (Santa Clara/Pepperdine/USD) and some eastcoast (northeastern/BU) etc. Could you please now answer my original question with this information given.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Your rank seems just right for those schools.</p>
<p>yup, I bet you'll be fine.</p>
<p>If your aiming for top colleges, class rank will murder you no matter what. Unless you can get top 10% your chances are infinetly harder (im in the same position :'( ) </p>
<p>This is because Class Rank is factored into colleges rankings on USNEWS and almost every other ranking system, and thus accepting ANYONE out of the top 10% (only class rank which is really considered) will hurt their USNEWS ranking, which most colleges wouldnt want to lose. As you can see in elite colleges, usually 95% of ppl are in the top 10%, and the other 5% are Recruited Athletes and World-Presidents and Cancer-Curers who don't count.</p>