How much will not being in the top 10% hurt for getting into a top 50 school?

Applying to College
1

<p>Just curious. My school only does deciles, and I'm currently just outside of the top 10% (off by about 3 or 4 people in a class of ~250). However, my mid-year grades are most likely going to be higher than my overall GPA, but my school only recalculates cumulative GPAs at the end of the year.</p>

<p>I'm pretty sure I'll be in the top 10% by the end of the year, but for applications, I will most likely only be the top 10%. How will this look when colleges are reviewing my application? Only 2 of my schools are not in the top 50 according to Newsweek (BU and Rutgers). Also, my school is a pretty competitive school (usually 5-8% of grade goes to Ivy League Schools, so far out of ~250, 7 got into Ivy's ED).</p>

<p>Thanks for any input.</p>

2

<p>Go to collegeboard.com and for each college, see the percentage of students that enter at the top 10th of graduating class, top quarter, etc. That should give you a rough estimate of your chances.</p>

3

<p>moomoo where do u live?</p>

<p>are u just staying up really late?</p>

<p>sorry Akalboy to steal your thread >.<</p>

4

<p>i also have this qquestion because i am international and i only have 15 people in my grade (seperate ib grade altogether) and so top 10% and top 20% is bad because im no. 4 or 5</p>

5

<p>akalboy,</p>

<p>No offense, but this is kind of a dumb question to ask. It is entirely possible to get into a top 50 college and not be in the top 10% of your class; all depends on the rest of your application. I suppose it matters for Harvard, yet even then you can't really predict the outcome. But towards the bottom of the list...?</p>

6

<p>If you go to a really competitive school (like you say you do), then you should be fine.</p>

7

<p>depends on your school and app. my friend was barely top 10%-like 10th % and she got into brown</p>

8

<p>newchick,
How is that a dumb question to ask? He's not denying that some people who aren't in the top 10% get in; he's just wondering how much it will affect his chances.</p>

9

<p>Well I'm not saying it's impossible, was just curious how it affects my application. But I'm not sure how exactly the percentage of people ranking in a certain percentage would affect it. Like NYU for example (my #2 choice) has 66% in the top 10, but I'm applying to Stern, so I'm assuming it's going to be higher. But for all I know the 33% not from the top 10% could all be from Exeter and Andover. Probably not, but yeah, wasn't sure exactly how it'd come into play.</p>