<p>I have a handful of B's in 9th/10th grade, but will most likely get straight A's junior year. Unfortunately, my GPA will only hover at 3.9/3.89 and my rank sucks, maybe top 5-6%. </p>
<p>My school ranks only based on unweighted GPA and nothing else, and I know many students with straight A's who are taking only regular/honors classes and maybe one or two APs. It makes me mad that they take advantage of this, but whatever.</p>
<p>Anyway, I hear UPenn really likes class rank, but how much do they consider it? Am I out of the running? I've got good SATs (2300+) and ECs, considering taking ACT for a 34+, 4.5+ weighted, and am planning on applying ED Wharton.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s that important. I was ranked 2nd in my class (of 330+), 2330 SATs, decent (not great, but definitely not awful) extracurriculars, a good “Why Penn” essay and was still placed on the waitlist. So it obviously didn’t do much for me. My advice for you if you really want to go to Penn and are nervous about not getting in–apply Early Decision.</p>
<p>It can help, but it won’t kill you. I have an unweighted 3.4 GPA and am ranked around 10-12th out of 50 in my class. I got in with a likely letter. Don’t let it get in your head that a 3.9 ranked 5th percentile isn’t good enough.</p>
<p>According to Penns 2010-2011 Common Data Set, class rank does not seem to be that important. According to the CDS, the relative importance of various admission factors is as follows:</p>
<pre><code>Rigor of Secondary School Record: Very Important
Class Rank: Considered
Academic GPA: Important
Letters of Recommendation: Very Important
Standardized Testing: Important
Essay: Very Important
Interview: Considered
Extracurricular Activities: Important
Talent/Ability: Considered
Character/Personal Qualities: Very Important
First Generation: Considered
Alumni Relation: Considered
Geographic Residence: Considered
State Residency: Not Considered
Minority Status: Considered
Volunteer Work: Considered
Work Experience: Considered
Level of Applicants Interest: Not Considered
</code></pre>
<p>Class rank and GPA differ quite significantly by school, which is why they don’t really give much information out of context. Some private schools send over 20% of their class to ivies, so class rank does not give as much information in this case. Some schools don’t give out as many As as others. This was the case with my school, a very large and competitive public school. There was not a single student taking the top level of classes during my year that received straight As all throughout high school. However, over 30 kids went to Ivy league schools and over 100 to other top twenty schools. I’ve known several people at my high school with unweighted GPAs between 3.6-3.8 get into ivy league schools which is unheard of at some places.</p>
<p>class rank doesn’t matter too much as long as everything else is strong.</p>
<p>both the valedictorian and salutatorian at my school got waitlisted at penn, but i got in. i was more well rounded, and that mattered more to admissions</p>
<p>If you go to lets say Thomas Jefferson High School or one of those elite college prep schools like choate/andover/exeter/philips academy, you will be almost guaranteed admission to atleast one Ivy/Top School, if you’re in the Top 20% and everything else is there. Being in the Top 20% at a not so well known school will make it hard to gain admission to colleges of that level. It’s all relative to your context.</p>
<p>We don’t do rankings, but I will technically be in like the top 2-3% of my grade (to be in top 1%, you had to literally get an A+ in every single class single 8th grade [I got a few As and once got a B+ in AP Euro], take the hardest classes possible [which I did], and do every single 20+ page honors project for the classes that offered [I didn’t do a few of them].) </p>
<p>Anywho, I’m almost positive that the lowest my school will label you as, though, is top 10%. Will this look bad? Wharton is my absolute top choice, and I plan to apply ED [but I’m not kidding myself; I know even people with stellar stats are frequently rejected]. I’m afraid they’ll think that I’m only in top 10% and not even further up and that my school reports up to higher numbers and I just didn’t make it. Because I know almost every school that doesn’t do rank at least gets closer in than 10%… Any opinions?</p>
<p>Colleges will know how your school calculates GPA (they ask if it’s weighted or unweighted on the Common App I believe) and the rigor of your courses will definitely be taken into account if you’re worried. They definitely know that a lot of people will play the take-easy-classes route to get their GPAs higher. It matters more that you took the most challenging classes.</p>