<p>What matters more in college admissions, GPA or class rank? Most schools have these in the same category of importance, but what would you say is better?</p>
<p>I think it would be pointless to try to say which one “is better.” What really matters is neither your GPA nor your class rank, exactly, but your transcript, which reports both the classes you took and the grades you earned in them.</p>
<p>Rank, puts the GPA into context against your peers. Schools want a measure of how you compare to other students at your school. Not saying rank by GPA is an important measure (lot of uncontrolled variables like electives and different teachers for the same class, ect.), but it does give you a general idea of where you stand against others from your school.</p>
<p>Look at the Common Data Set for your schools, section C7. That will tell you what is used for admission and the weighting each element gets.</p>
<p>But say you have a 3.5 but are still ranked in the top 10% of your class, would selective colleges where nearly every admitted student has a 3.75+ and is in the top 10% look down on your 3.5 or would it not matter because you are still in the top 10?</p>
<p>Depends on the reputation of your school as well as the school to which you are applying. ECs also put your gpa and rank into context. A 3.5, in the top 10%, and very few ECs is worse then the all-American, 3 sport athlete who leads in several clubs with the same stats.</p>
<p>Bottom line, its all relative to the applicant pool and what each student brings to the table. Are those stats good enough for Princeton relative to the tens of thousands of applicants vying for 1,200 spots? What about at UVA or UNC or USC? It’s all relative. </p>
<p>Think of your overall profile and what you highlight in your essays. It’s the total picture in proper perspective that will make or break you at the elite schools.</p>
<p>Realize, also, that the admissions officers who consider your application won’t be flying blind. </p>
<p>If your school is generally a grade-deflator, and they’ve dealt with applicants from your school before, they’ll know that. Even if they haven’t dealt with applicants from your school before, they can learn about its grading practices from the school profile that your school will send along with your transcript and the Secondary School Report.</p>