How significant is do colleges consider class rank? Because I am a senior and applying to colleges I am wondering how my class rank will affect my admissions. I am currently ranked 10 out of 438 because I have one B+ in my first semester of Calc AB. My school does not weight GPA, so my rank is lower than the 9 people who are ranked 1st and have 4.0’s, regardless of AP class count. However, I know for a fact that I have taken at least one more AP class than all the students who are ranked 1st, so will colleges take into account that compared to my classmates that although my GPA is lower, I have taken more AP classes?
I just want to know if I am exaggerating the difference between 1st and 10th because I am technically only one step down from rank 1. However, I am below 10 people.
Rigor is critical for selective colleges. Your GC in his/her report would make note of that. You might want to visit with your GC to see if he/she might be willing to at least note in your report how rankings are calculated in your school (on a completely unweighted basis) and that there are students ranked ahead of you with lower rigor (assuming that is in fact the case). Even if he/she doesn’t/isn’t willing to do this for you, I would not overly stress about this as you are still within the top 3% (closer to top 2%) of your class. Your rank is not going to be the reason you get accepted or rejected.
Look up the CDS of each school for that info. Even it is not considered, it may help to gauge the grading curve of your school.