<p>I just got a transcript via Parchment, and found out that my school no longer ranks its students, and I'm so frustrated.</p>
<p>One of the schools I am applying to is Notre Dame, and this is on their website:</p>
<p>"Many schools use different GPA scales and computation methods, so it is difficult to give standardized information regarding Grade Point Averages. We do not recalculate GPAs for our admissions decisions. Instead, we rely much more heavily on class rank when determining how competitive a student is within his/her school. Competitive students are near the top of their class, no matter how their GPA is computed."</p>
<p>How are they supposed to know that despite the fact I'm at a crappy school, I still stay in the #1 rank? I have a 33 on the ACT and the average here is like a 17. Barely anyone in my school takes it seriously and I'm tired of being penalized for wanting to succeed and get out of this town. </p>
<p>Is there anything I can do to inform Notre Dame of my rank, or even other schools that use it?</p>
<p>My School has no class ranks and stopped having a Valedictorian this year… I know that not all schools use class rank and im preet sure most colleges know that</p>
<p>They can call your guidance counselor, but your school provides a school report with average scores, etc., so your ACT should give them the hint to look within for more info.</p>
<p>Calm down, it’s not that big of a deal. There are a lot of schools that don’t rank (mine included), and colleges know that. I don’t know exactly what Notre Dame will do, but I guarantee they have a system in place for applicants whose school doesn’t rank students. You could always email Notre Dame and ask, to put your mind at ease. </p>
<p>Don’t worry your school is in the majority, most high schools have stopped ranking. (Although I do think it is extreme to stop recognizing valedictorian and salutatorian altogether) Anyways, what my school does is that it sends a “school report” with approximately where you fall in your class so that colleges can easily distinguish where you are despite no precise rankings (ex: top 1%, 2%, 10% ect)</p>
<p>At first, when they switched into this system my sophomore year, I was pretty angry as well. But then I realized taht it was a blessing in disguise. I mean, considering we have a pretty large student population, I think it might look better to be in the top 2% than to be like 20 out of 500+ students.</p>
<p>My daughters school does not rank and does not name the valedictorian. They had 6 out of 179 go to Notre Dame last year! Your counselor should (and you should insist) send a profile that will pretty much tell them that you are at the top of the class. </p>
<p>Our school does not have valedictorian. Since our weighting system, like most, is pretty messed up, it would go to the contender who took the most study halls so it’s hardly a meaningful measure of high school rigor or academic achievement. </p>
<p>Look on your school data sheet. It probably says what the top 10% GPA range is. That’s all the schools might like to know anyway, and if it doesn’t, you could ask your counselor to mention your class standing in her letter.</p>
<p>I understand totally why it is so upsetting to you that the school does not rank. Your concern isn’t about whether the school ranks or not but that they have done away with the one factor that you have undeniably nailed and you want that to be considered-totally understandable. As people have already mentioned, there are other ways you can make certain that the colleges know you would be valedictorian (or close) if they ranked. Make sure that your letter writers know that you are #1 (if you are) and ask them to mention it. Many kids avoid having a lengthy discussion with their guidance counselor about their goals and about their accomplishments. You should do that and provide a written essay and lists (which many high schools request anyway). </p>
<p>Another way the colleges may know that your GPA is the highest was mentioned above. Each high school sends a School Profile with the transcript for each application. Most schools also put them on the high school website but if you are at a failing school, they are less inclined to post them. Not only does the Profile usually provide information about the highest GPA but it also can list number of students at each interval of GPA. Some schools provide that for weighted and unweighted GPAs-because if GPA isn’t weighted, students with As in low level classes usually crowd out those who took the highest level classes for the top spots. Further some applications ask students for that information on their forms.</p>
<p>Colleges can tell how strong a student is even from crappie high schools but the GPA becomes far less meaningful since kids who can actually read will have inflated GPAs in that climate. The tell tale sign is a nearly perfect GPA but less strong indicators when people outside the school are in charge of evaluating the students. So that could mean a 4.0 or higher average but 3s and 4s on APs instead of 4s and 5s; SATs in the 600 range rather than high 700s, SAT2s that are closer to 700 than 800; ACTs of 30 or below;Along with lack of achievements in national competitions but with loads of in-house accolades from school staff pleased to have someone who is at least polite in the classroom. The colleges are very good at scouting out strong students. Good luck.</p>