<p>Hi everyone! I'm a rising junior, so maybe it's a little early for me to be wondering, but does anyone know how much Vanderbilt looks at class rank? My school just stopped ranking us at the end of this past year, and I was on Parchment.com playing with their "See Your Chances" feature. When I typed in all my stats, it chanced me as 29%. I was using the "What if?" feature, and plugged in my class rank as top 1%, which is true. My new chances were at 48%, which, granted, is still not great, but an almost 20% jump? Just from one input?</p>
<p>So I'm wondering, does the fact that my school stopped ranking really hurt my chances that much? Or is Parchment just being dramatic? The other schools I was doing this for didn't change my chances at all. </p>
<p>Thanks so much!</p>
<p>PS: I don't know if this matters, but in case it does, I think my original chances were so low because I was using my PSAT scores to predict for ACT/SAT. Those scores will almost certainly improve once I actually take the tests when school starts.</p>
<p>An adcom told me that less that half of applicants have class rank included in their transcript. You will notice that every selective school now includes some small print after their class rank statistic that indicates it only holds for those applicants who included rank.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, private schools and competitive public schools do not send out class rank. Thus, when Vandy (or others) publish these statistics, they are grossly overinflated. The only high schools that actually send class rank any more are those where a minority of graduates even apply to college.</p>
<p>What is more important, in my opinion, is that your Regional Counselor from Vandy be familiar with your high school. Even without a rank included, they will have a good idea based on other applicants where you fall in your class.</p>
<p>My D’s school does not rank students, and she definitely would not have been in the top 10%. Her school was small and very competitive, so only a small number of kids was even in the top 20%.</p>
<p>The number may be “overinflated” in terms of the true average class rank, but it is still very meaningful if your school does submit ranks. While many competitive high schools man may not release ranks (taking your word for it), it doesn’t change how accurate the statistic is for schools that do release ranks… Rank does appear important.</p>