<p>I understand that many ppl say rank is important because it gives admission officers an understanding of how a candidate compares to other classmates. But at my school, rank is based on unweighted GPA so a lot of ppl who have taken lighter courseloads (much lighter in fact) are ranked ahead of me. How will the top colleges view this situation? I'm still well within top 10% but seeing the majority of ppl on the Ivy League Decision Threads ranked mostly in the top 5 gives me a sense of insecurity. My unweighted GPA is 3.96 with the most rigorous courseload but that only puts me around 10-13 out of 260 students. Would it be better to just ask my counselor to try and just report the decile and not the specific rank?</p>
<p>10-13 puts you in the top 5%, I don't think that will hurt you much, especially considering when decile ranks are listed, admissions officers tend to put it in the middle of the decile. Therefore, I think that both of those would look fairly similar to colleges</p>
<p>top 5% and youre fine</p>
<p>Two of my friends weren't valedictorian nor salutatorian, and got into Stanford :] They both took pretty rigorous courses, but didn't load up with too much. They each "stood out" doing something they felt passionate about. One got a 2400 on the SAT and wrote amazing essays, and the other is ranked 13th in the US for piano. I guess it really depends on what type of college you want to apply to. Ranking is important, but one B won't kill your chances.</p>
<p>There was a girl at my school who was ranked only in the top 35%, but had very excellent SAT scores. She got into Stanford.</p>
<p>Another kid (different year) barely was in the top 50%, but was a strong athlete. He also got into Stanford.</p>
<p>In all honesty...class rank isn't as much of a factor as some may think. The only case where class rank becomes a factor in admissions is with grade-inflated schools. Most likely, the admissions officers already know about the circumstances of your school, and are aware that they rank based on an unweighted GPA, and that's assuming they consider the class rank for your school.</p>
<p>Honestly, I wouldn't be worried. If you are rejected from any school, it will be for a different reason than your class rank.</p>
<p>I really hope it IS important...so I can have some type of advantage</p>
<p>If you are in the top 5% or whatnot, it can only help you. If you are in the top 10%, that's good too.</p>
<p>If you are ranked below that, it might hurt you depending on what school you go to.</p>
<p>My school is really difficult and small, so there are only 5 people in the top 10%. We don't rank but several people not even close to the top 5 got into Ivies, so I guess it just depends on the HS</p>
<p>You guys are talking about weighted class rankings right?</p>
<p>Well it depends... My school doesn't rank by weighted grades.. so its stupid.. UCs don't consider class rank as a factor.</p>
<p>How much does it help to be rank 1?</p>
<p>Who knows? All we can say is, it beats being rank 400/400.</p>
<p>...you're kidding right?</p>
<p>i'm in the top 50% of my class... so stop your *****in all you number 1 and top 5% kids...</p>
<p>and yeah i would probably be ranked in the top 35% if they ranked by weighted GPA... barely anyone in my school takes AP classes...only 8 in my AP bio and 4 in my AP history class...</p>
<p>Well if you are ranked 10-13 with a 3.96 uw then it sounds like your school could have some grade inflation. 10 kids out of 260 shouldn't have 4.0 uw, regardless of what classes they take. Yea, but as long as you're in top 5%, you're cool.</p>
<p>Akajjred,.. they dont all have 4.0s. We have maybe 2 4.0s and some 3.99, 3.98...</p>
<p>Yeah--I've been wondering the same thing recently. My unweighted GPA is a 3.9 (two Bs in high school so far--I'll be a senior) and weighted is a 4.7. Still, my school's very competitive so my rank is only about 50/524. I have a great transcript with difficult courses, but I feel like my class rank is going to hurt me.</p>
<p>This should give you guys an idea. Here is an example from Brown University:
<a href="http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Admission/gettoknowus/factsandfigures.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Admission/gettoknowus/factsandfigures.html</a></p>
<p>Rank / Applied / Admitted / Percent Admitted</p>
<p>Valedictorian: 1,217 / 321 / 26%
Salutatorian: 554 / 143 / 26%
Ranked Third: 494 / 100 / 20%
Ranked Fourth: 384 / 78 / 20%
Ranked Fifth: 365 / 56 / 15%
Other Top Five Percent: 2,647 / 369 / 14%
Second Top Five Percent: 1,135 / 83 / 7%
2nd Tenth 1,115 / 53 / 5%</p>
<p>That is useful information, stambliark41. Thanks.
My school ranks based on weighted GPA which is the correct way, I think. The school also reports unweighted GPA which favors kids who load up on easier level courses.
There was a report recently that more and more schools are shying away from reporting class rank. This apparently is making the admissions officers mad because that is one less piece of information for them.</p>
<p>"This apparently is making the admissions officers mad because that is one less piece of information for them."</p>
<p>For many this is the most important piece of information.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Akajjred,.. they dont all have 4.0s. We have maybe 2 4.0s and some 3.99, 3.98...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>How do you get a 3.99? One A-? My school doesn't count +/- otherwise I would not have a 4.0. An A- is 4 points, but a B+ is only 3.</p>