<p>After looking through Zuma's Stat Roster, I noticed that just about every applicant was ranked in the top 1% of their class. I'm ranked in the top 15% (exactly at 15th percentile) in a class of about 300 at a pretty good school. Is this gonna kill my chances at Harvard?</p>
<p>I have good SAT scores (2320), and will have taken 6 AP's by graduation. My unweighted gpa is a 3.9 - weighted it isn't much different, since my school only weighs AP classes.</p>
<p>Class rank is a stat that is of declining importance, since fewer high schools and prep schools - and, in particular, good ones - rank their students any more.</p>
<p>I mean, check out USNews:</p>
<p>Here are just a FEW of the schools that base their report for the "number of matriculants in the top 10% of the class" stat on information provided by "LESS THAN 51% OF THE MATRICULANTS" !!!</p>
<p>Princeton
Duke
Columbia
WUStL
Cornell
JHU
Emory
CMU
UVa
Georgetown
Williams
Amherst</p>
<hr>
<p>... and a few other random % numbers:</p>
<p>U of Chicago 68%
MIT 60%
Dartmouth 53%
Brown 54%
Swarthmore 55%
Stanford 83%</p>
<p>So, what you're saying is that I shouldn't be worried about my rank so much?</p>
<p>I ask this because a declining trend is still a trend. The big question is, how big an impact does it have on admissions if your school DOES in fact rank.</p>
<p>I know am being kind of picky but this is really important for me. College apps are only in 4-5 months, so I need to know where I can compete.</p>
<p>SATs count far more, along with ECs, recommendations. essays and interview.</p>
<p>I agree fully with Byerly. Though I was not admitted to Harvard, I was admitted to other similarly competitive schools w/ a comparatively lower rank. (non-urm, non-legacy)</p>
<p>A lot of the honor students at my private school is very competitive, especially the ones in my class!!! I'm ranked within the top 10, but all the students within the top 10 are only .0001 away from each other in terms of gpa. I sure hope that colleges will look at this with consideration.</p>
<p>" SATs count far more, along with ECs, recommendations. essays and interview."</p>
<p>Excellent, that's definitely very reassuring. Harvard recently sent me an information booklet, along with an application. Needless to say, I'll be spending my summer working on that app!</p>
<p>BTW, does being URM but not US citizen (I'm a permanent resident) hurt my chances at Harvard and other top colleges?</p>
<p>Your non-citizenship is a non-issue at Harvard. There are some colleges, however, where it may matter, especially where financial aid is concerned.</p>
<p>PR status is usually treated the same as citizenship in evaluating for financial aid purposes.</p>
<p>I disagree on the non-citizenship comment. I don't know his exact legal status, but a friend at my HS got into Harvard, and they couldn't give him aid (tho his family was very poor). Sad thing is, he was probably the only other one from our school that got into an Ivy in quite a long time, if ever (I'm shipping off to Dartmouth next fall).</p>
<p>Now he's at UToronto.</p>
<p>He was probably considered an international student, even though he was living in and attending school in the US. This could happen if he was on a temporary travel visa or a student visa.</p>
<p>It is much different for permanent residents.</p>
<p>I hope you're right suburbian. I think I'll send Harvard an email asking them about this.</p>
<p>Suburbian, Harvard treats international students who are not permanent residents the same way it treats permanent residents and U.S. citizens. No one is ever denied financial aid because of citizenship. </p>
<p>ChrisCuber, if you know an international student who was denied financial aid, then there is more to the story than the student told you. An admitted undergraduate student can be denied financial aid are if the family has assets exceeding Harvard's maximum or if the student/family fails to complete paperwork correctly...but NEVER because of foreign citizenship.</p>