<p>Hey guys, so i just got my rank and GPA from my counselor, and I'm a bit confused. I have a 3.88 GPA and am ranked 42 out of 302. I go a large public high school in Mississippi, apparently it's pretty good, supposedly the best in the state. I think what happened is that like 30 people got a 3.89 or something, but I'm not sure. I really don't think that there are 41 people in my high school that are smarter than me as only 1 or 2 have higher SAT scores. I'm not really a slacker either. I take the hardest courses i can, lots of AP's, four years of foreign language, ect. I've only had one C, a few B's and the rest A's. I think that it may be because my school doesn't do A=4, B=3, ect. They average all the grades together, convert it to a percentage and get that percent of 4. But I'm not really sure. Will this hurt me much in the admissions process? Before learning of my rank i was considering Columbia, UChicago, Brown, WUSTL, Rice, and Tulane. But now i'm not sure. Here's a brief overview of my stats:</p>
<p>White Male Mississippi
Prospective Anthropology major
SAT: V: 770 M:720 W:690
ACT: 32
Im currently spending a semester as an exchange student in Catalonia Spain. I'm learning Catalan completely through immersion and will probably be fluent in both Spanish and Catalan by the time i leave. Essay is in part about this.
NHS, Robotics team, Spanish Club- secretary, Asian Cultural Society.
Recs from AP US teacher and Physics/AP Physics/Astronomy teacher will hopefully say that I'm a hard worker.</p>
<p>well, that's about it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks</p>
<p>13 AP's, normal students @ my school graduate with 2. My GPA is an A. People take all the easy classes and unweighted averages screws up the butt. I was like 2 people out of a class of like 500 away from top 10% as well, with a 2260 SAT score and SGA Pres, Pres of a bunch of things, Boys State, and all that sortof stuff.</p>
<p>Most schools will be reasonable and understand. I did a ton of research on it from both CC, my school's past records, private counselers, etc. and it won't be a big problem for most schools, except ones that base it almost all on class rank (georgetown...)</p>
<p>well that's actually my "weighted" GPA in that honors weight has been calculated in, but i don't think that AP weight is calculated until the end of the year, after the other AP test have been taken, which is useless.</p>
<p>My situation is very similar. However, I live in California. I'm in the top 6% of my class but I need to be in the top 4% for the ELC program. My GPA (not UC weighted, but my school adds like .125 points per AP I think) is 4.03 aso I'm not elligible for the ELc program in my school. Does this mean my UC GPA can only have up to 8 extra points max from taking AP classes?</p>
<p>I'm in the same boat. 4.0 unweighted GPA, 4.6 weighted, yet I'm not in the top 10% of my class.
Will adcoms see this and say "Wow, she has great grades but still isn't in the top 10%- her school must be very competitive!"
Or will they say "Well, it looks like she has great grades, but she's not even in the top 10%, so putting things in the context of her school, they must not be very good at all".</p>
<p>I can see it going either way...</p>
<p>I took 7 classes Freshman year when only 6 were required. Lots of people took 2 honors classes, and 4 regular classes, while I took 2 honors classes and FIVE regular classes. This should boost my GPA if the system was really fair, but mathematically it lowers my GPA. I wonder if this is the explanation for my low rank?</p>
<p>same situation. i've stressed myself out taking as many weighted classes as i can and yet i'm still ranked #7. i've gotten straight a's and how so many people could be above me is a mystery to me.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I took 7 classes Freshman year when only 6 were required. Lots of people took 2 honors classes, and 4 regular classes, while I took 2 honors classes and FIVE regular classes. This should boost my GPA if the system was really fair, but mathematically it lowers my GPA. I wonder if this is the explanation for my low rank?
[/quote]
I think they're should be some kind of national standardization on how GPA is done... although we can't change how teachers grade.</p>
<p>I had this same problem, I took 9 courses as a freshman when 6 were required. (3 people had 7 courses and everybody else had 6.) I had to take a few standard courses online (in math.. which aren't offered as honors) to get to AP Calculus BC as a sophomore. Everyone else is in lower level honors math (1/3 of them will finish pre-cal by the end of their junior year... if they're lucky) which makes it easier for them to get high GPAs. However, we don't rank and I'm the only one in APs.... so I guess it works out.</p>
<p>dont worry about it too much..in the class rank..the number under the slash is just as important as the rank itself...
i was class rank 80 with a 3.74, but that put me at 12%(good not great) because the class is a size of 657...so colleges know what to look for..i wouldnt sweat too muxh, especially since there is nothing you can do now</p>
<p>so, you guys don't think that it will severely hurt any chances i may have had at those schools??</p>
<p>Should i try to ask my counselor to put something on the evaluation about it not really reflecting my true ability or effort? Or should i just try to steer attention away from it?</p>
<p>I think the main problem was that because of my schools block schedule and other policies, kids who do band or choir end up with 1/4 of their credits and GPA being 100's. I took almost all academic classes for my electives: extra foreign language, science and history, though i also did band for one year and had a few other required electives. I also am spending a semester as an exchange student. Well, thanks guys for all the responses so far.</p>
<p>You might point out the discrepancy to the counselor and see what can be done about it. At the very least, she or he should be willing to discuss it with other knowledgeable members of the staff. What you have here is a quirk in the ranking system. See if someone in the counseling office can suggest a better explanation of the system, and how your efforts are not adequately reflected.</p>
<p>If you're applying using the CommApp, when your counselor fills out the counselor rec (or the midyear, I can't remember which one) there's a space to say whether or not you took the most rigorous course load possible. She or he will check that box, and it should be fine. And then she can make any additional comments later on. I doubt that they will look at your test scores and ECs and still say you're a "slacker."</p>
<p>Check those schools to see how many students they accept under the top decile. I think Columbia has 100% top 10%, but UChicago as a few below that. Schools will understand variations in rank to a certain extent, but they're also trying to keep up an image. I bet Rice and Tulane will understand, but I have doubts about the others.</p>
<p>i don't think you have to worry too much because each school considers things different (meaning that the class rank might not be that important)...and, if your school ranks pretty high, there's no need to worry because colleges look at what school you go to and how your school is ranked...</p>
<p>I'm currently ranked 78 out of 745 (top 10.47%) with a 3.9 weighted GPA.</p>
<p>It kills me that there are students who flew through high school with a 4.0 but no accelerated/honors/AP classes have a higher rank than me, someone who will have completed 8 AP classes by the end of this year.</p>
<p>"Check those schools to see how many students they accept under the top decile. I think Columbia has 100% top 10%, but UChicago as a few below that. Schools will understand variations in rank to a certain extent, but they're also trying to keep up an image. I bet Rice and Tulane will understand, but I have doubts about the others."</p>
<p>from the Columbia University website(admissions statistics):</p>
<p>"Of schools that provided us with a class rank, approximately 93% of accepted students were in the top 10% of their graduating class; 98% were in the top 20% of their class."</p>
<p>I'm ranked 4th out of 446 people with a 3.88 UW gpa. Thankfully, my school weights for honors/AP classes, so most people in the top 10 actually deserve being there. My friend took only a few honors classes and no APs and maintained a perfect 4.0 UW and he's 37th right now because he didn't take very challenging classes.</p>
<p>omg forsure... i got a letter saying im not in eLC (top 4%) even though i take all these APs (will have taken 10 by end of hs) and have 3.88 uw, 4.78 wgpa.
and i know a person who i could totally own in any test with my eyes closed who has a 3.95 or something so is probably in that top 4%...</p>