<p>I have a 3.67 UW GPA, roughly 3.8 WGPA. This is because I did not take very many challenging classes first two years of HS (One honors class in soph year, no AP, despite there being the option for me to do so). I took 3 AP's junior year and taking 4-5 Senior year. However, my class rank is only the top 20%(like 70 out of 360ish). When I look at the top schools, they have vast majorities of their students in the top 10% of their class. Even with my decent gpa and good ACT score (32) will my class rank keep me out of these competitive universities? (along the lines of Rice, WashU, U-Rochester, etc).</p>
<p>No, it won’t keep you out. You shouldn’t compare yourself to admissions data when it comes to rank. Because being in the top 20% of a school with 100 students is a lot different than being in the top 20% with 500 students. So, you are still competitive for these schools. </p>
<p>Rochester isn’t as hard to get in to as the other 2, BTW (though it is a fine school, and alumni there do better than those from some elite privates).</p>
<p>Class ranking often depends on how challenging a HS is, especially if it is private prep school. In other words, it depends on your competition.</p>
<p>Those three schools are not completely out of reach for you, although Rice and WUSTL are both definitely reaches. Rochester is closer to a match.</p>
<p>I think Rochester is a good/realistic match</p>
<p>thanks for the response - I thought my school was not planning on reporting class rank on our transcripts but I suppose that is no longer the case. I just didn’t want my application to be ruined by being in the top 20%</p>
<p>Also a thing is, I don’t really know if my school is “competitive” or not. It’s a public high school that is of decent quality in my state.</p>
<p>Frankly, I don’t think most colleges care a lot about rank. They care about curricular rigor, GPA (both weighted and unweighted), test scores, and - at the most selective - extracurricular activities and “hooks.” Many high schools (including most elite private schools) do not rank at all, and high schools have different ranking systems - some use weighted GPAs, some only count academic subjects, and some use unweighted GPA alone. At competitive, affluent high schools, the difference between the top 2% and top 20% can be infinitesimal. Most colleges will take someone in the top 20% with a 32 ACT over someone in the top 10% with a 23.</p>
<p>Depends on your high schools ranking within the state </p>
<p>My school is not ranked in the state, at least on USNEWS. Is that really a factor?</p>
<p>Newsweek has the more accepted HS rankings. US News does something squirrely with their rankings that produces rather odd results. </p>
<p>To be specific, one of their major factors is Algebra I proficiency. They take their numbers from the state, but if the state happens to report your best students as taking Algebra I in 7th and 8th grade, your school is represented only by the worst math students in the school, who take Algebra I in 9th grade. And to be honest, it’s a little odd that a ranking system would rank based on Algebra I proficiency anyway. That’s a little like ranking football teams based on how good the average gym class team is at a school.</p>
<p>What colleges really care about is their own internal ranking systems based on past histories with a school. They know more than you think about all the top schools in the country. There are few, if any, unknown good high schools.</p>
<p>On newsweek, my high school is in the top 15 for my state. However, as a point of reference - the acceptance rate of students from my school to WashU is 38%(250 students on Naviance), much higher than their proclaimed 18%. </p>
<p>Yeah it matters. See the numbers, over 90 or 95% of students at elite schools were in the top 10% of their class, meaning it’s a huge factor. They probably (in essence) throw your app into the trash if you’re not in the top 10% ( yeah they’ll read and review it but it basically dooms you). </p>
<p>The figures regarding percentages of students ranking in the top percentiles are highly misleading, because lots of students and schools simply don’t post their ranks. Yes, by definition, the overwhelming majority of students accepted into Harvard or Stanford are in the topmost percentiles of their classes, but many are completely unranked. How meaningful do you think that the rankings are at Bronx Science or Exeter, where most students are of Ivy caliber to begin with? Now, the OP mentioned some colleges which I think are pretty extreme reaches: a 32 ACT puts him or her in the 25th percentile at Washington U, for instance. I recommend extensive consulting with a guidance counselor to determine where classmates are NOT applying. The general profile is pretty good, but might not look great in comparison with 30 higher-ranked classmates. The student’s stats are high enough for most state flagship universities, but not all. They’d be good enough for the Honors College at some public universities. Rice and WUSTL might be out of range, but Tulane is certainly possible. </p>
<p>I’d say off the few people who’re at Ivies who weren’t in the top 10% of their class, the majority were either hooked or went to the top
10 or so high schools (Stuyvesant, Phillips exceter, etc.) </p>
<p>Is it worth it for me to even apply to universities like WashU/Rice/Carnegie Mellon/Tufts if my class rank will cause my app to be thrown in the trash? As of now, we’d have to pay $500 for application fees but I don’t want to apply to these schools if I have absolutely no chance with my class rank. Are they “reaches” or “out of reach”?</p>
<p>at least CMU seems a bit more realistic… only 76% of freshman in 10%, avg. incoming Freshman gpa is 3.69, ACT range is 29-33. </p>
<p>@Ctesiphon I think that CMU has skewed data because of its Theater School. Also CMU is where fun goes to die.
- experience from classmates, CMU accepts 2-3 every year from school</p>
<p>The average accepted gpa at CMU from our school was 3.8ish, our top 10% is 3.93-3.96 so being in the top
10% doesn’t seem necessary there at least if you go to a decent public school like mine (and yours seems to be as well). I think all those schools you’re thimkmg about
Are worth a shot.</p>
<p>I think I need to even out my list a little bit then. I don’t want my list to have insane reaches (just “reasonable” reaches). I really like the atmosphere, at least from what I have heard, at Rice & Tufts. Maybe I need to not be so picky and consider colleges like Lehigh…Boston University… </p>
<p>The thing is, I have to go to schools that meet large amounts of need (maybe like Rochester) or schools where I’d receive substantial merit because we can’t pay that much for college. Wish I had more in-state options for engineering. I’ll likely go to the school that gives the most generous offer.</p>
<p>As long as the rest of your numbers look good, I would eliminate nothing based on class rank, unless waived off by someone more knowledgable than some random poster on CC. If your test score puts you in the 25-75 range and you have a good GPA with solid rigor, you’ve got as good a shot as anyone else, because then it’s going to come down to rec, essays, and ECs and there’s no way to compare those. Compared to those biggies, class rank is rarely important.</p>