How the heck does class rank work?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hey everyone,

I found this little thing on my district’s online gradebook to look at your class rank. Earlier in the year I requested my transcript and they told me the rank they had listed on my gradebook and my transcript was only temporary because my school was getting rid of ranking, and they did it by quarters but only semester grades count for ranking and for transcripts. My school only ranks only for this end of the year award they do for the top 10 of every class.

Last quarter I had 3 B’s because 2 of my teachers accidentally messed up on my grades RIGHT before the quarter ended, and I had a well deserved B in one of my other classes haha. I checked my rank recently and I was 27 out of like 490 kids. My friend with an almost identical schedule as me (she has all the same amount of weighted classes as me) got one B last quarter and she was ranked 50 out of 490…the only difference is I take 2 other non weighted classes…but that would bring my weighted GPA down right? and my school ranks by weighted GPA?

Can someone explain how all of this works haha?

2

You could probably ask your guidance counselor what factors are taken into account. It doesn’t make sense that your friend’s class rank would be so much lower than yours. My only guess is that the school takes total credits earned into account, so that you have a higher class rank because you’ve taken more classes.

3

@halcyonheather I think my school somehow factors in the fact that I take more classes. My only guess is that maybe because my unweighted is higher? But they told me they rank based on semester and quarter weighted grades so idk…

I know last year’s valedictorian didn’t make her junior year top 10 list, but was extremely involved in almost every club, with mediocre grades though, but my school places an emphasis on extracurriculars so she got the title.

4

when college look at class rank, its solely based on how well you do in your classes, not clubs/extracurriculars

5

@bvo112 oh ok. Can you explain why my rank was so much higher?

6

Most class ranks keep in mind past years’ performance and weighting too. If you’re a freshman, it could be due to high school credit classes in middle school.

7

@observeraffect I’m a sophomore. Last year my friend had a 4.0 unweighted but I had a 3.8 unweighted. Her weighted GPA was higher too. So I’m not really sure what’s going on?