<p>I'm a freshman, and because I took a 0 period elective, I'm rank 30/6** even though I have 4.0 unweighted. This is because the elective counted as 4 GPA points and almost all my other classes counted for 5 points. One of my friends, who has lower grades than me in every class (still A though), has rank 3 because he didn't take 0 period. Will this work against me during my senior year when I apply to colleges? Even if I take the most AP classes possible, he would have a higher GPA than me since he wouldn't be taking 0 period and he would be going into Honors/AP Chinese while I would be going into 3/Honors Spanish (because he's Chinese he gets to go into Chinese 3 in freshman year)</p>
<p>Yes, rank is important. Luckily, you’re well within the top 10%, and if your GC is sympathetic to your situation, s/he may explain it in your letter of rec. My weighted GPA and rank were dropped by an unweighted online class (only from 2–>7/4** though) and my GC was able to explain this to colleges. Ask your GC to do the math and figure out where you’d be without that 0 period.</p>