<p>My son attends a public, non-magnet that is in the top 100 ranked high schools in the US. Looking at the Naviance results, it certainly seems that the somewhat selective, but not extremely selective, colleges accept students from his school that have slightly lower stats than the colleges’ averages. Maybe a 3.3 GPA instead of the average 3.5 or 1100 SATs instead of the average 1180. I wonder if some of the colleges are trying to get themselves on the counselors’ “radar”, hoping they’ll encourage even better students to apply in the future?</p>
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<p>Some of the admitted students have lower stats than the college’s average admitted student, unless the college admitted a class where all students had identical stats.</p>
<p>I think in general colleges and universities, public and private, are more concerned with class rank than with GPA. The percentage of their entering class who are in the top 10% of their HS class directly affects the university’s US News ranking; GPA doesn’t, though GPA gives them bragging rights. The percentage of a college’s entering class who are in the top 10% of their HS class counts for 40% of the college’s “selectivity” score, which in turn counts for 15% of its total US News rating; so HS class rank, i.e., percentage of the entering class ranking in the top 10% in HS, counts for 6% of a college’s overall US News ranking, a very substantial chunk and something many schools can affect by manipulating their admissions policies.</p>
<p>Here are the highest-ranked public universities (all in the U.S. News top 50), listed in order of their US News ranking, together with the percentage of the entering class in the top 10% of HS class:</p>
<p>UCB 98%
UCLA 97%
UVA 90%
Michigan 92%
UNC 78%
W&M 79%
GA Tech 89%
UCSD 100%
UCD 100%
UCSB 98%
U Washington 85%
Wisconsin 56%
Penn State 46%
UCI 96%
Illinois 56%
Texas 76%</p>
<p>I think the UCSD, UCD, and UCSB figures look suspiciously high, but I don’t know enough about the UC admissions system to say there’s a problem here. Clearly, though, the high percentage of enrolled freshmen in the top 10% of HS class is propping up these schools’ US News rankings. </p>
<p>This may seem unfair to students at the most competitive hig schools, especially those who are not in the top 10% at their current schools but might be in the top 10% if attending less rigorous schools. All I can say to that is, this is what happens when a single set of metrics becomes as dominant as US News has (and by the way, it’s just as important at private colleges and universities as at publics; at elite schools generally, being outside the top 10% is pretty much disqualifying). On the other hand, I think many of the better schools, both public and private, do take the rigor of the curriculum into account in evaluating individual candidates who do cross the “top 10%” threshold. That’s not to say they’ll hold it against a candidate who excelled in an environment that just didn’t offer as many academic opportunities, but they will reward the candidate who, in an opportunity-rich environment, seized those opportunities, even if it means a slightly lower GPA.</p>
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<p>UC targets the top 12.5% of the graduating high school seniors statewide (done by using a GPA+tests formula to target the top 9% statewide, and taking the top 9% in each high school as measured by GPA against a benchmark set by previous classes at the high school). Remember that California has a huge population, so it can take six UCs to accommodate a similar percentage of the graduating seniors that a single state flagship in a lower population state can accommodate. Of course, there are three other UCs that presumably get most of the lower end of the targeted 12.5%. So it is not surprising that the six most selective UCs have a high percentage in the top 10% of their classes, even though the UCs list class rank as “not considered” in their common data set.</p>
<p>Texas at only 76% looks suspicious. They admit 75% of the freshman class by the top 8% or 9% rule, so that means that the rest include very few who are between the 9% and 10% marks at presumably competitive high schools. Since GPA is “not considered” for Texas admissions (class rank is used instead), it does seem odd that the non-automatic (top 8% or 9%) admits do not include more who are just below the automatic threshold (between the 9% and 10% marks).</p>
<p>Interesting. Our high school doesn’t rank, many don’t. I wonder how they handle that.</p>
<p>Ucbalumnus: Of course that is true. But there is a higher percentage admitted of below average students from my son’s school than you would expect if the “belows” were randomly distributed.</p>
<p>Ohiobassmom, colleges are very good at inferring class rank based on data they get in transcripts and the school profile.</p>