Do colleges know if we're in the top 10% of our class even if my school doesn't rank?

Applying to College
21

Many colleges will report the number of applicants not submitting rank. At some, it’s around or above 50%. Don’t forget that adcoms look at the transcript.

NHS can’t be a tip because so many districts define requirements differently. Not all hs have cum laude.

22

I don’t know about other colleges but UC’s do their own calculations or averages to determine if you are in the top 9% of your high school. My school doesn’t rank but when i submitted my UC app, I got this message under application status:“According to UC calculations, we have determined that you are not in the top 9 percent of students at your high school.” I assume they determine the top 10% gpa from the school report or average of all applicants gpa from your high school to the UC’s.

23

@Lindagaf, most high schools that rank use some sort of weighted GPA which often only includes academic courses. This makes ranking at least a reasonable estimation of the strongest student. Back in the dark ages I went to a private high school that did not rank, but the GC did circle whether we were in the top 5 or 10% of the class on her form. I’m pretty sure because of ties that there were more than 10% of the students in the top 10%.

@ayyyyyyy, it sounds like your school won’t reveal an exact rank.

24

California high schools periodically submit the courses and grades of their top students to UC. UC then recalculates GPAs (by the usual UC method) to find the threshold GPA for the top 9%. When you apply, your UC calculated GPA is then compared with the threshold GPA set by a recent past class of your high school. This determines whether you have Eligibility in Local Context (meaning that you are likely to get admitted to UC Merced if you get shut out of other UCs that you apply to).

Note that your class rank as calculated by your high school does not determine whether you are in the top 9% for UC purposes. You are also not competing with your current classmates, since you are just trying to reach a threshold GPA set by a recent past class from your high school.

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/q-and-a/local/#2
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/california-residents/local-path/