Do colleges care about class rank if you're in the top 5 percent?

Applying to College
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Junior here. I came to the US in the middle of freshman year after skipping a year from a small, poor, Asian country (was supposed to enroll in 8th grade second sem but started 9th grade second sem). Since I started in the middle of the year and didn’t speak English, I wasn’t allowed to take full year weighted classes like other freshmen. However, I maintained A pluses and A’s in the classes I was placed in by my counselor. Freshman year my weighted GPA was 4.3/5.3 and uw 4.0/4.0.

Sophomore year I learned more about the American education system so I took all the math finals (alg 1, alg 2, geometry etc.) and enrolled in precalc honors. I also took AP Physics and Biology at the same time even though it isn’t recommended by the school. I had to take Spanish one because I never had the chance to take a foreign language before (besides English). I also went from English basic skills development to honors English because I practiced learning English during the summer. I had A’s and A pluses sophomore year so my GPA was 4.65/5.33 (still had to take some mandatory unweighted classes) and 4.0/4.0 unweighted.

Junior year I actually have the opportunity to take the classes I want to because I did most of the mandatory unweighted classes for the state diploma and I also took the finals to prove that I am capable of taking high ability classes (my country didn’t have such a program in middle school). I am taking AP Physics C, AP Calc, APUSH, AP Lang, AP Comp Sci, Dual Credit Chem and Spanish two. I have all a pluses and a few A’s. Since Spanish is unweighted and I need 3 years of German/Spanish/French, I signed up for it. This year my GPA is 5.01/5.33 unweighted and my class rank is #5/600 ish. Overall I’m in top 20 because of my freshman and sophomore year GPA so colleges won’t really see that I did my best Junior year. If I drop Spanish my GPA will go up since everything else is weighted so I can actually be #1 among the juniors but I don’t plan on being #1 I just want to enjoy the classes I am taking. My total, overall GPA rn is 4.55 but it should be a 4.8 by the time I graduate (If I continue to maintain my grades).

So my question is will colleges care if I am in top 5 or top 20? I could’ve been in top 3 if I didn’t skip a year and started middle school (my friends are in 10th grade rn in my country) but now it is mathematically impossible for me because of my lost freshman year. I don’t want to be the valedictorian or anything I just wanted to show others that I am trying my best here but no one is noticing. I guess it would have been easier for me if I knew English/came from a first world country but unfortunately that wasn’t applicable for me. Sorry if this post was too long/sounded annoying. Sorry if I made any mistakes, I am still learning English.

Thanks for reading.

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Also if anyone has any tips please let me know!

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You’ll be fine, don’t worry about the rank, keep up good grades, score well on PSAT and SAT, do extracurriculars and participate in your community.

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Thanks for the advice @CupCakeMuffins !

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Specific rank may or may not matter, depending on the college. It may indirectly matter if your rank influences what your counselor puts on the school report for colleges that use that.

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Do not drop Spanish! Colleges want to see foreign language classes on transcripts.

Does your school even report rank to colleges? Many will only report decile.

Colleges will see your junior year grades so of course it matters.

Don’t worry about things you can’t control and just continue to do your own personal best.

Start making a realistic list of colleges based on affordability first and foremost. Find safety schools that you love. That will make the whole process less stressful. The competition for the elite schools is crazy.

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@momofsenior1 I am not dropping Spanish because it is the 5th language I am learning and I find it interesting. Since many colleges require three years of foreign language could I use English as one since I am still learning English and started learning from a low level beginners class?

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With respect to foreign language, how US colleges view recent English learners and those with pre-high-school language learning varies by college.

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Thanks for letting me know @ucbalumnus