How is this fair? Class ranking concern.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello all,</p>

<p>This is my first post to the forums, I've been reading a round a little bit over the last few weeks. My brother (danbrenn) used this site a lot before going to school (now at Notre Dame) and recommended it to me. Forgive me if I do something stupid in my first post.</p>

<p>Anyways, I am a junior at a competitive public high school in central Texas. My class has 336 students currently. My high school was built just a year ago, as a means to accommodate the growing population of our town, and the old highschool retained some students. Before the split my class had about 550 students (estimate). The students that stayed at the old school, generally, where at the bottom of the class. </p>

<p>I am currently ranked 19/336, which freaks me out. I went down from 14 last semester mostly due to my first year of varsity football (big in Texas). A senior on the team who was accepted recently to Stanford (I think he was ranked 22 in his class warned me about this before the season. Football takes up 2 out of 8 of our classes, and in a school where everyone is taking GPA boosting classes, that really makes it hard to compete. </p>

<p>My question is this: how important is GPA/class rank when applying to colleges? </p>

<p>I could easily be ranked 2 or 3 with my GPA if I went to the other high school, and would be much higher many other places. And if the split hadn't occurred, I would probably be ranked around 20/550, a much more impressive number.</p>

<p>How crucial is the GPA/rank in the application game? Do colleges account for the difference in competitiveness between schools? </p>

<p>I am involved in many ECs, NHS SNHS, Student Council, Junior Class VP (President next year hopefully), varsity football and powerlifting, ect. I just took the SAT for the first time and take the ACT in two weeks.</p>

<p>Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!</p>

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<p>Make sure you talk with your Guidance Counselor and have him/her explain in his/her letter.</p>

3

<p>Both are just general indicators, nothing to get stuck to deeply into. For basically the same reasons you listed above, my school has decided to remove ranks/Valedictorian-esque titles. This is because the system encouraged people to skip out on electives and take studyhalls/off periods in order to “abuse” the system. </p>

<p>A good guidance counselor should explain any discrepancies. A good admission officer will examine the numbers carefully. Also, UW GPA tends to have more of a role then the W GPA, because class rigor and grades are examined in somewhat different ways.</p>

4

<p>Most colleges that I know have something like a Secondary School Report, which specifically allows guidance counselors to explain quirks about their school that affect their student. Colleges know that there are hundreds of students in schools like that so they have long-standing mechanisms in place to make sure that you aren’t negatively impacted just because of where you live or where your parents sent you to school.</p>

5

<p>^ I’m not so sure - not to be a buzz-kill but the results of DS and his friends have shown that rank does seem to play a bigger part than they had thought. Our top 10% varies between 4.01-4.1 year to year out of a class of 1150ish. Think about it, you can get straight non-weighted As for four years and miss top 10%! One really bad semester, meaning a non-weighted B in PE or band can ruin your chances.
Our school has a nationally recognized music program and students are highly encouraged to participate all four years. None of the classes are weighted, and none can be audited or pass/fail. The rank-playing students drop music in year 3 or 4, take driver’s ed outside of school (it is required,) and get varsity sport exemptions from PE (also required all 4 years - non-weighted). A few non-weighted A’s don’t stand a chance next to weighted As.
The counselors say that the colleges will recognize our school name, they send a profile and all that, but outside of this region our name means nothing. It’s one of the downsides to being a student in a high-achieving school - so many at our school are finding this to be the harsh reality.
Good GPA and test scores will get you into your colleges, but when it comes to merit money or top programs, IMHO, rank - esp. top 10% does matter.</p>

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<p>Okay thanks, that really helps. Its tough here to stay high in rankings, especially because almost everyone above me/near me is not an athlete and has the opportunity to take weighted classes that give you a huge boost as far as GPA goes (Ac Dec, for instance). </p>

<p>I’ve just started looking into school and this site makes me feel behind. I have a lot of work to do to get my SAT scores up and probably to get my GPA up too. Also, I’m not sure how strong my ECs are.</p>

<p>Any other opinions greatly appreciated as well. I have a lot to learn.</p>

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<p>Feel free not to answer, but if we knew the college that you were applying to someone here could probably find out if it was one of the many colleges who have that Secondary School Report / guidance counselor statement that explains the situation.</p>

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<p>I guess it depends on where you are applying obviously, but we’ve found ECs much less important than straight GPA/test scores. ECs, Eagle Scout etc. have been important in developing a well-rounded life socially and all, and may tip an applicant one way or another, but generally are secondary as far as admittance. Do an EC because you love it, not for the app.</p>

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<p>I understand that class rank does make a difference, but how significant are small differences in rank? What I mean is, is that fact that I’m 19/336 going to make my chances at getting it much lower than if I were, perhaps, 10/336? </p>

<p>So far, I plan on applying to Notre Dame, Stanford, The United States Air Force Academy, and The University of Texas as a back up choice (I am a Texas resident in the top 10% of my class, so I will be accepted). Aside from those, I am not sure. I have a lot more searching to do.</p>

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<p>GPA is extremely important. Class rank is not so much, because Colleges know that its not always accurate. Even with GPA, they will find out how your school works and be lenient. You can definitely do Notre Dame, UTexas, and The US Air Force A.
Stanford is very hard to get into. But you could definitely do it! depends on your SAT scores and ECs.
good luck! </p>

<p>and if you are still worried talk with your guidance counselor! They will be helpful</p>

11

<p>A variant question here:</p>

<p>Our son’s public HS is 10th to 12th (separate 9th grade building). Son attended a Private school for 9th grade, then transferred to Public HS in 10th this year.</p>

<p>Question: how is his rank determined upon entrance into the Public school system? Since the Private school grading system is different than the Public, how can we get the most for his grades or do they start the rank when he starts Public school.</p>

<p>I need to go in an ask this question.</p>

12

<p>Thank you very much, and sweetness216 that’s good to hear. </p>

<p>I’m relatively solid on the ECs I believe, not even close to some people here if they’re telling the truth (the ones that started a business while running 4 nonprofit organizations and being the team captain on their football, swimming, and wrestling team and still finding time to do 1,000 community service hours a year!) </p>

<p>I’m more worried about the SAT/ACT. I am in a class at my school for it (mandatory to graduate) but I’m not sure how much it will help! </p>

<p>My brother scored a 33 on the ACT, which got him into ND. We’re very similar in GPA/class rank (same rank currently) and I have many more ECs than he did. I just need to be able to get a good score on the ACT and SAT like he did and hopefully I can get into ND and other schools as well.</p>