<p>So, will colleges care more about GPA or rank? </p>
<p>Consider my situation:
I go to a public school and I have a GPA of ~3.9UW/4.4W yet I am ranked 14/260</p>
<p>Will top tier colleges just automatically trash my application because of the bad rank despite the good GPA? Or will they actually show some type of understanding that it is a really competitive public school?</p>
<p>If you are being serious about this, then you really don’t need to worry, 14/260 isn’t that bad (Top 6%).</p>
<p>As long as you’re in the top 10% of your class, you’re fine.</p>
<p>Everyone on CC seems to believe they o to a very competitive high school. Your school is very competitive if it has an average SAT score over 2000.</p>
<p>Your rank is fine for the vast majority of schools. Only tipy top schools look for a higher rank.</p>
<p>I am being serious because I’m planning on applying to three “tippy top” schools, including Columbia (ED) and I don’t know if this will shatter my chances. </p>
<p>My school is odd though, it is competitive but not from a statistical standpoint. For example, there are 260 kids in my class, probably about 150 are awful students and don’t try at all, another 70 that are in all respects average, but the top 40 students are RIDICULOUS, most of us having GPAs above 3.85 UW, SAT scores above 2000, and qualifying for all types of crazy international competitions. There really isn’t even a huge difference even between #5 and #25. As such, I don’t foresee myself increasing in rank whatsoever.</p>
<p>It won’t shatter your chances but colleges will not see your school as a highly competitive one. At mid tier ivies, those less selective than Columbia, however, more than 40%-most unhooked students- were val or sal.</p>
<p>If everything else is stellar, you’re not an ORM from an overrepresented state, etc., it’s not a total dealbreaker, but it’s an uphill battle.</p>
<p>I’m a white male from Massachusetts. >____________________></p>
<p>sigh.</p>
<p>Have VERY high scores, outstanding essays, choose teachers who really know how to write recs and pray a lot.</p>
<p>What about the opposite scenario? High rank, fairly mediocre UW GPA?</p>