HELP! My guidance counselor SLAUGHTERED my class rank!

Applying to College
1

<p>I had a very poor freshman year (3.3uw) that has been sucking my GPA and rank down ever since. I have done much better recently, including have a 3.93uw & 4.79w for junior year and the first semester of senior year. I also am the only one in my class w/ a 5.0 this semester.</p>

<p>Anyway, my GC asked me if I wanted to use my 9-12 rank or 10-12 rank (both are stated on our transcript). Obviously, I chose the 10-12, as these were my ranks:</p>

<p>9-12: 85/799 (60/799 incl. senior year)
10-12: 33/799 (19/799 incl. senior year)</p>

<p>Everyone at my school is given the choice as to which rank they want put on their school report. Everyone, as it turns out, except me. My GC decided that it was unfair for me to use my 10-12 rank when most other students use 9-12 (even though I know people that have chosen the 10-12 rank).</p>

<p>Oh and the worst part of it is she told me was using 10-12 when i turned in my school reports but later changed her mind - she didn't even let me know (it came up today when I brought in midyear reports). So I feel at the very least she should have wrote an explanation for why the rank was so low as I have improved so dramatically. The only reason I didn't have her do so was b/c I figured 33/799 (~top 4%) was acceptable.</p>

<p>Obviously this is a disaster when 90%+ are from the top 10% of their class. I have a 1600 SAT and was thrilled that my senior year grades pushed me almost in the top 2%, but this just about ruins everything.</p>

<p>I just found out this news today so I haven't figured out if there's anything I can do yet, but someone please give me some advice! I feel as if she needs to call each of the admissions officers at the colleges I applied to and explained what happened, as I fear if something memorable doesn't happen my app might just about be in the trash...</p>

<p>THANKS! :)</p>

2

<p>were u the one who got deferred or rejected from UPenn with rly good stats and werent sure why? I guess this would explain it.</p>

3

<p>actually, believe it or not, the better class rank was used for Penn ED (she changed her midn for regular). But yes I was rejected...and as if being rejected early wasn't enough to freak me out, now my class rank is 50 spots lower!</p>

4

<p>Have your lawyer give her a call.</p>

5

<p>I have a similar type counselor who isn't exactly all brains and brightness either. But I have a different situation. I am fourth in my class of about 140, but the kicker is that I have the best ACT, course load, and overall ability level compared to the three ahead of me. The top Valedictorian, who is very smart and all, is taking very easy classes this year outside of Calculus and Spanish 5/6. No AP courses or college dual enrollment. The Salutatorian has 7th hour off, yearbook, video photography (considered a freebie class), super simple senior english class, calculus, peer mentoring, and psychology. No AP courses like me, no dual enrollment, no job, and she dropped band because the teacher had been giving her B grades. She is only ahead of me because she has been passing easy classes and racking up the GPA because our school assigns a 4.25 to A+ grades. We don't get honor points for AP courses and many of the teachers at my school really suck, for lack of a better phrase. I should at least be second in my class, but it's going to take some craftiness to make it happen. I probably won't get it. I'm going to be suggesting co-valedictorian titles. It's not fair that there are people ahead of me who don't deserve the title. It's pathetic.</p>

6

<p>i agree with poster above... parents + lawyers calling principal/superintendent should do it</p>

7

<p>dude, you got a 1600 on the sat and got rejected??? That's really kind of strange. Is this the old sat or new sat?</p>

8

<p>mwbashful, your school doesn't weight AP courses? Thats completely bogus and I suggest you write a letter to the board of education. That is completely unfair.</p>

9

<p>1600 old, 2330 new. It's not that surprising...it happens just about every other time.</p>

10

<p>STAMBLIARK41:
stop complaining.</p>

<p>your counselor is right.</p>

<p>i didn't get to choose whether my freshman grades were included or not, so why should you? regardless of the choices the rest of your classmates may make, at least your rank will be an honest reflection of the grades you received.</p>

<p>why should your counselor "explain" what happened? furthermore, why would the admissions officers even CARE to listen to her explaination? the majority of other students' ranks include their freshmen year; they won't make any special exceptions for you, regardless of how ****ed you may be.</p>

11

<p>well sarahjhansen, apparently at his school, it is a policy to allow the students to select which rank they want to be sent. How would you feel if one of your teachers allowed everyone to drop their lowest test grade, except for you.</p>

12

<p>Uh... sarajhansen... maybe because he has an OPTION as to which rank to use? Not everyone has a good freshman year. I wish my school had such an option. He's in a similar situation as me, only I have no choice which grades to use. Not all of us do well freshman year. His 9-12 rank is not an honest reflection of grades, because obviously, they shot way up after 9th. What I did in 9th is NOT how I perform in 12th, or 11th.
If Stambliark has the option to send a more accurate rank, I think he should be allowed that.</p>

13

<p>its not that i don't sympathize with his situation! My freshmen grades sucked- I had two B's each semester. Since then, I've received straight A's. Because of my freshmen year, I'm ranked 12/75. If it weren't for my freshmen year, I would be closer to 4/75 - a jump of over 10%, which is massive, compared to Stambliark's 6% decline. So, trust me- I definitely understand where he- and you- are coming from.</p>

<p>However, regardless of how angry we may be at ourselves for screwing up freshmen year, THOSE ARE OUR GRADES, whether we like it or not, and therefore, a 9th-11th GPA is an honest reflection of your grades in highschool. Class Rank is not calculated in order to portray one's intelligence, but rather, simply how one performed overall in comparison to others during highschool. </p>

<p>If Stambliark is truly concerned about this, he should have addressed his upward grade trend somewhere in his essays. After all, it's not like the colleges won't see his freshmen grade on his transcript!</p>

<p>FOODISGOOD: you honestly can't be comapring WHOLE YEAR to a SINGLE TEST, can you? i think that kinda pushes the limits...</p>

14

<p>Yeah, I don't think it'd make a huge difference anyways because they will see EVERYONE's transcript even the kids whom wanted frosh omitted. I don't know why your GC would say its not fair when its a choice. I imagine none of her students get to do it, but I suppose other counselors do it? Why don't you ask the administration??</p>

15

<p>sarahjansen, i think this has already been said to you, but even if he is complaining about his grades, the idea that the counselor revoked his right (and only his right) to choose is wrong. even if he had gotten all A's freshman year, the counselor should not deny him the right to choose his transcript years while he/she allowed that right to all other students. </p>

<p>basically, it's a matter of principle. If i were you, stambliark, i would discuss this with my parents and the principal.</p>

<p>oh, and i don't think FOODISGOOD was trying to compare an entire year to a single test, i think he was simply trying to demonstrate how unfair the counselor's actions were...</p>

16

<p>all i'm saying is: the colleges WON'T CARE.
unless its something that STAMBLIARK has been wronged on a national level- meaning everyone else in the US got to choose and he didn't- he's out of luck! a phone call won't change anything; it'll just seem whiney.
i'm sorry STAMBLIARK, but just cross your fingers and hope for the best.
good luck to you.</p>

17

<p>Both ranks are on the transcript so both will be seen. Some schools don't even look at freshman year, but the bottom line is that both ranks are readily available; it is truthful as each school report asks what years the rank comes from. No school states preference, except Stanford which asks for freshman year to be omitted. Consequently, the school report would read that I performed at a given level relative to my classmates for the tenth through twelfth years. The schools do not state preference for any given ranking system, and it is therefore up to them to determine how they wish to reflect upon my grades.</p>

<p>I know I can't change my freshman grades and I know that they will see that on my transcript, and I will likely be punished handily for it. At the same time, it is to the benefit of the school to present its students as positively as is truthfully possible.</p>

<p>What I feel the guidance counselor ought to address isn't necessarily that the ranking system was faulty, but that I have improved dramatically since freshman year. That is the counselor's responsibility, and that wasn't articulated anywhere in the high school's portion of the application. Surely it would be to the college's benefit to have a deeper understanding of an applicant, esp. as by year my rank was top 5% sophomore year, top 2% junior year, and first in my class senior year thus far. For those with similar grades - meaning grades that improved over time - it would be to your benefit that these improvements be recognized. Unlike your situation, however, I was essentially tricked into believing the freshman grades were not an issue until long after the school report was sent in.</p>

<p>Whether or not this is an accurate feeling I feel as if the guidance counselor went behind my back. In fact, my early application reflected the better rank, and consequently I had no reason to suspect otherwise for my future applications. </p>

<p>We could pick apart every ranking system and highlight each of their flaws, but I don't think that is necessary. Everyone wants to do their best, and I hope you believe I am not trying to scam the process; I am merely trying to present myself in the best light possible, as I am sure you all have done.</p>

<hr>

<p>That being said, I feel as if I haven't received much help. If anyone, in particular parents, has any advice on how I ought to handle this I would really appreciate it. Calling in lawyers is I think a bit excessive, and I would like to arrive at a solution as subtly as possible. Thanks!</p>

18

<p>From your posts, you seem to be concerned that Wharton in ED denied you instead of deferring you. Colleges use ED in different ways. With most colleges in ED, they take the people who would be auto-admits during RD and then defer everyone else. (Then having applied in ED helps the applicant in RD because they have shown interest.) In some colleges, they figure that ED is just an earlier version of RD and they figure that they only have to look at you once. Northwestern is like this and defers almost nobody. Stanford used to be, but I don't know what they do now that they are SCEA. I tried to find out about Wharton, but I wasn't able to on the internet. Call Wharton and ask how many people were deferred versus denied. </p>

<p>Concerning your freshman year and gpa. At the extremely elite colleges, they have so many applicants that they can obviously be very picky. It is possible that a C in freshman year will keep an unhooked applicant out of HYP. Your gpa is the problem. I wouldn't worry about the way that your high school did your rank. First, there is really nothing that you can do about it now. Second, the grades are more of a problem than your rank. They will run thru how many B's and how many A's you had in each year, and freshman year is there for them to see. I am saying that the issue isn't your rank, but rather freshman year. They won't have to think very long to understand why your gpa/rank is lower. They will know that your gpa and rank are low only because of the freshman year grades. </p>

<p>Whether you get accepted or not depends on how individual adcoms react to your freshman year, and so it is hard than usual to make a prediction. It was hard enough to predict anyway. One of the ivies, I think it is Princeton, doesn't even count freshman year. Certainly, your rising trend will be very important, but a rising trend is not as good as absolute perfection.</p>

<p>I think you can be hopeful except for the insane quality of admissions at the elite schools. Harvard accepts 10%. For applicants with perfect SAT's, it goes up to about 40%. Under those conditions, I would say that freshman year will not hurt you that badly, but you wouldn't have a really strong chance if you had a 4.0u. Nobody would.</p>

<p>The best advice I can give you is to be good to your matches and safeties. You are exactly the kind of person that WashU, Emory, Tufts, etc. turn down because they have not shown enough interest in the college. They don't like to be used as safeties because it affects their yields. Contact the safeties/matches, order their dvd videos, call and ask the admissions office to send you info on different departments, go to local presentations, and visit if you can.</p>

<p>I would think that some adcoms will overlook your freshman year and some won't. You have a better chance than most. Good luck.</p>

19

<p>800 people? that's a large class. what does it feel like being in a large class? i don't know.</p>

<p>there's a lot of things that aren't fair in life. i took the most number of classes(including ap/honors) at my school this year, yet my weighted gpa is insanely low. why? i had too many electives(because i like art and choir and etc.)</p>

<p>i completely screwed up my junior year with...basically what you got your freshman year. i wasn't even supposed to get these grades. the teachers hated me and wouldn't let me take the finals or whatever.</p>

<p>I'm sorry for not helping. But a lot of times in life you just have to deal with the injustice. </p>

<p>I personally think you still have a great chance at HYPSM!</p>

20

<p>injustice is part of life. we feel it all, so we feel your pain. ;D.</p>

<p>despite all that, i think you still have a great chance!</p>