<p>I keep hearing that it is, but the problem is that my high school doesn't rank... at all. I can roughly estimate that I'm in the top 5% of my class GPA-wise, but my transcript doesn't reflect that because my high school's philosophy does not include rank of any kind. Could that be a detriment to my application?</p>
<p>According to a book written by a former D adcom, they have formulas to approximate rank where schools don't officially rank.</p>
<p>Good, because all they know is that I'm 2nd (which I am) to 9th out of 240, because our school gives them a bar graph and they know I'm in the second highest category which includes the 8 kids after the valedictorian. So, for all they know, I'm 9th. It's so lame.</p>
<p>The book by Hernandez also says schools who don't rank disadvantage their students.</p>
<p>don't schools do GPA ranges for deciles? I have a friend who's school somewhat ranks...by deciles...and they have the range of the lowest gpa to the highest gpa in each decile.</p>
<p>At a school like Dartmouth, about 40% are from private schools, most of which do not rank. I think the disadvantage she was talking about would be at schools unknown to Dartmouth.</p>
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don't schools do GPA ranges for deciles? I have a friend who's school somewhat ranks...by deciles...and they have the range of the lowest gpa to the highest gpa in each decile.
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<p>Each school does it differently, but apark says her school does not rank at all, so I'm guessing no deciles are used.</p>
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At a school like Dartmouth, about 40% are from private schools, most of which do not rank. I think the disadvantage she was talking about would be at schools unknown to Dartmouth.
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<p>Which brings up the question: apark, how many kids does your school send to Dartmouth a year?</p>
<p>I think we are forgetting about the fact that Dartmouth is one of the more liberal ivy league schools. They are not only looking for high school graduates in the top 10%, high SAT scores, etc. This would make for a very dull school if everyone had the same profile. There would be no creativity, etc. So there is no hard and fast rule. The fact that they enroll a large percentage of private school grads is because they tend to be well rounded.</p>
<p>My D attended a high school that does not rank and it did not hurt her in the admissions process. If you look over the common data sheets for dartmouth you will see that close half of the current freshman class is unranked year over year.</p>
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I think we are forgetting about the fact that Dartmouth is one of the more liberal ivy league schools.
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<p>Huh? Source please?</p>
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They are not only looking for high school graduates in the top 10%, high SAT scores, etc.
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<p>And this is different that the other Ivies (and every other highly selective school), how?</p>
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The fact that they enroll a large percentage of private school grads is because they tend to be well rounded.
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<p>Source, please? Or, are you saying that the public school kids are the token "unrounded"?</p>
<p>To the OP: less than half of California public high schools rank, and there are plenty of Californians roaming the Green.....</p>
<p>Source, please?</p>
<p>Our public HS does not weight grades, nor do they rank. (Although they do declare a val and a sal every year, which IMHO is bogus without weighting. One year recently the student who was declared val had never taken a single honors or AP course!) On the school profile, though, they show GPA distribution, which means that a college can figure out roughly whether you are in the top 10%. In most years, the top 10% is roughly equivalent to those with A/A- averages. Of course, the GPA distribution they show is for <em>last year's</em> class, which means that decile guesstimation can be quite inaccurate. And of course you have kids like the val with no honors or AP class in the supposed top 10%. Those kids will never be admitted to a top school because of their lack of rigor, but they may well keep another student with a very rigorous program OUT of a top school by nudging them out of the top 10%. The town next to us, which has a very similar HS, weights grades for the final GPA and has about 20% of kids graduating with an A/A- average, in contrast to our 10%. Our HS does not play the game that some schools do in trying to get kids into top schools. Kids get in, but not because the HS is actively working on their behalf.</p>
<p>Mitcher, huh??? Simply not true. Of those who are ranked, 90% are top 10%. I forget the exact stat, but something on the order of 40% were either val or sal of their class. Time to put these myths to rest.</p>
<p>You'd be amazed how much diversity you can find within any group of high achievers.</p>
<p>of those that submitted class rank for this year's Frosh, 90% were in top decile. The others could be hooked candidates and those attending extremely competitive demanding schools, both public as well as privates, where just being outside of the top 10% is still pretty darn impressive. For example TJ in Virginia has an average SAT score 0f 2150+.</p>
<p>Even schools that do not rank or use deciles usually give some sort of general info on the GPA distribution in the "school profile" that guidance counselors send to the colleges. For example, my son's private school (which does not rank) provides this info:</p>
<p>Cumulative GPA for Class of 2009 (after 6th Semester):</p>
<p>4.0 - 4.44 55 students
3.5 - 3.99 78
3.0 - 3.49 72
2.5 - 2.99 60
2.0 - 2.49 22</p>
<p>This helps the admissions office understand how an individual student's grades compare to others at the same high school -- in other words, providing context for that GPA.</p>
<p>^^Safe to assume that those are weighted grades?</p>
<p>Our HS really screws kids who choose to challenge themselves by taking AP or honors classes in which they may get a C instead of a CP class in which they would almost definitely get an A.</p>
<p>Yes, those are weighted grades. The weighting is +.5 for honors classes and +1.0 for AP classes (provided you take the AP exam).</p>