Class rank is one of those factors listed as very important by many highly selective schools. But I have always wondered to what extent can it impact an application. Personally, I have a very high class rank (1-3 haven’t checked exact in a while). Is this one of those factors, such as essays, that can sway an application to the acceptance pile (granted the applicant has decent EC’s, test scores, recs, etc)? Any thoughts on class rank as a whole?
I think having a high class rank will make you a competitive applicant. At the extremely selective schools, it does not hold the same sway as essays or letter of recommendations (in terms of getting an applicant to the accept pile), but at some schools like UT Austin, it is extremely important and holds a lot of weight.
At a minimum, applicants to the top 20 schools are expected to be in the top 10% of their class (there are always exceptions). Beyond that, not much else. Valedictorians have a slightly higher acceptance rate than everyone else, and there is a perceivable trend the higher one goes in the top 10%. But these schools reject 36 ACT Val/Sal all the time, so it probably won’t be a tip factor so much as a helpful one.