GPA or Rank

<p>What is more important in swarthmore for admission, rank or GPA?</p>

<p>Practically speaking, they are the same thing.</p>

<p>Well what about a weighted GPA of 3.8 and unweighted of 3.3/3.4?</p>

<p>There should be a correlation. If your GPA is not particularly high compared to Swat's average but you're in the top 10% of your class, that's not really a problem...if your GPA seems high but you have a low class rank, that's going to look strange. Just looking at your GPA without your class rank won't really tell you anything about your chances. :]</p>

<p>Well i am number 1 so far. so yeah. Please help me out.
:)</p>

<p>If you're 1st in your class, then I wouldn't be worried about your GPA compared to others. Just keep it up.</p>

<p>what if your gpa is not especially high and neither is your class rank, but your class is quite small and competitive.</p>

<p>^^^ yeah, i wonder that also</p>

<p>burned and j:</p>

<p>Not enough information. It is really hard for any of us to evaluate GPA or class rank in vacuum without knowing your particular high school.</p>

<p>It's one of the frustrations of "chances" questions.</p>

<p>Overall, I would say that academic performance in high school is very important in the Swarthmore admissions process. However, even that has to viewed in the context of the overall application, particularly issues of diversity and extracurricular activities.</p>

<p>Let me give you an example. I know of a student a while back who was outside the top 10% at the most rigorous Quaker prep in Philadelphia. In a vacuum, that might not be so impressive. But, he was from an inner city family who had gone to the prep school on a full scholarship and made C's his first year (9th grade) when he was just overwhelmed by the difficulty of the prep school viz-a-viz his preparation. By the time he was a senior, he was making A's and had moved his overall class rank up to just outside the top 10%. That's a pretty impressive trajectory and I suspect that Swarthmore was thrilled to have him.</p>

<p>Heh, my school doesn't do class rank... but I don't think that will matter.</p>