<p>I go to a relatively small public school (about 120 in my class) that is one of the top in the country, and although I don't know my class rank, I know I'm definitely not in top 10%.
I have a 3.7 unweighted, and something around a 4.8 weighted, and I'm not even sure if that is enough to get me into top 20% (although I think it is...)</p>
<p>My problem with this is, of course, that universities weight class rank so highly, when it just isn't fair-- if I had copped out and gone to my home school, I would very easily be top 10%, if not top 5%.
It just doesn't seem fair that I might be penalized for challenging myself, rather than rewarded.</p>
<p>Anyone else agree or have any other thought?</p>
<p>This is the case for many kids. Top private school kids and top public school kids. Yes, you could have had an inferior education for four years and maybe scored a better college. Yet most who go to good high schools and work hard end up at a perfectly good college if not their dream college.</p>
<p>I go to a public school that is among the top 100 in the country. I have a B+ average yet am in the bottom half of my class. However, colleges know that my school is extra good/hard and they are fine with me being in the bottom 50% of my class.</p>
<p>well just imagine, top schools will have even smarter/hardworking students than you currently encounter in your high school, so…NEGATIVE NANCY TIME! :P</p>
<p>Colleges know about the relative difficulty of high schools, and take this into account. This can still be a big deal, of course, for certain state schools that are required to take people in certain rank categories from state high schools.</p>
<p>My son got extra $ from his college for being in the top 20% of his class…we go this final transcript and he ended up in the top 21% because 23 people didn’t graduate. Waiting to see if his college will take $ away…</p>
<p>It is a double-edged sword, no way around it. But, college is not the end of things and pushing yourself against strong competition will serve you well in the long run. </p>
<p>Some colleges have their act together, some don’t. My son’s guidance counselor knows the colleges and how many slots the school normally gets. Sometimes a more selective college will give us more slots than a school ranked lower. Some things may be pretty arbitrary and other things may be based on well reviewed data mining on their part. Hard to say. I guess the only takeaway is that if you are a middle-of-the-pack player in a strong high school, you are up against it as:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>There are no criteria (e.g. class rank) that will help you.</p></li>
<li><p>There are many kids in your OWN school that will be at a competitive advantage for competitive schools.</p></li>
</ol>