<p>I've heard that Princeton doesn't use freshman year grades (is that true?)</p>
<p>if they don't use freshman year grades, then do they use rank?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>Rank is important because it allows the admissions council to compare your achievement to others in your school most directly. I’d imagine it to play a larger role than GPA, but being valedictorian is probably negligible over being in the top few percent. You definitely want to be in the top 10%, preferably top 5%.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of them not using freshman year grades, and I seriously doubt this is true; however, all colleges enjoy seeing improvement, so if you’ve improved since your freshman year (assuming you weren’t a C and D student) and have other reasons for them to be interested in you it’s probably okay.</p>
<p>Back when Fred Hargadon was Dean of Admission, ninth grade wasn’t considered.</p>
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<p>[Princeton</a> - Admissions - Frequently Asked Questions](<a href=“http://web.archive.org/web/19990218204607/www.princeton.edu/~compub/admissions/QandA.html]Princeton”>Princeton - Admissions - Frequently Asked Questions)</p>
<p>I can’t find anything definitive on if that’s changed since Rapelye took over, but one CC poster wrote this:</p>
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<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/431088-freshman-hs-grades.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/431088-freshman-hs-grades.html</a></p>
<p>Wow, that’s very interesting. Glad you cleared up my lies :)</p>
<p>I’m not sure if top 5% ~ valedictorian (except for top privates), but I think top 1-2% at a regionally competitive public or better is pretty much what you need for rank at HYP. But yeah, because Princeton probably shaves pluses and minuses off of final grades when they recalculate GPA, a high rank is important in distinguishing from what will certainly be a plethora of 4.0’s.</p>
<p>I think rank is important if your school calculates rank, but Princeton views all students in terms of the school that they’re in and how competitive it is. If you go to a very competitive school I don’t think it’d hurt you not to be #1. But if you go to a weaker school, being valedictorian might not matter that much to them. </p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that Princeton doesn’t count freshman year grades - that was true when I applied (when it was already Rapelye)</p>
<p>how does rank work within a small school? </p>
<p>if a school has 40-50 people, does rank still matter that much (because there are so few people to compare with?)</p>
<p>Rank does not matter as much in small schools. Many schools don’t rank, and just give deciles (especially private ones.) In that case, it’s best to be in the top decile or quintile, since admissions will assume you’re somewhere in the middle of that ranking group.</p>
<p>what i dislike is that Rank includes your freshman year grades :[ My rank will barely be in the top 10% yet my grades without freshman year will be top notch.</p>
<p>Does rank matter when your class is about 130? I hope so because I’m first even though my school isn’t that competitive.</p>
<p>It will of course help you that you’re ranked 1st, it just won’t help as much as it would if you were at a larger school.</p>