<p>now im not even in top 10% in my school.(only top 12%,junior)however,can colleges really realize my situation if i have a job or lots of housework for my family? (im only living with my siblings,and my parents are staying in other country,only my mom sometimes comes back and stays for a while...)</p>
<p>also,if i bring my grades up to a 4.0 unweighted (or 3.8,at LEAST) in this spring term,(i had only a 3.5-3.75 in the last terms)will they ''give me a break''? (im taking honors and APs)</p>
<p>ps: 1st choice is cornell,then nyu,BC,etc.</p>
<p>^^ i dont know if that helps,but i've been in this country for only 3 years,and im not a native eng-speaker</p>
<p>Your grades are exceptional good for someone who isn’t a native speaker of English, and who has only been here three years.</p>
<p>An upward grade trend is likely to matter a great deal under such circumstances. Best wishes.</p>
<p>i would make a note of your unusual circumstances somewhere on your application, or mention it in an essay. do something that will show the admissions office that in spite of your situation, you managed to make school a top priority and succeed at it. congrats!</p>
<p>Some schools don’t rank, many calculate GPA differently. the consensus is that colleges understand that and so so their own thing with your transcript with particular attention to how you did in which classes (ie:whether you took harder classes, whether you maintained grades/showed growth in them). So class rank really isn’t THAT big of a deal.</p>
<p>Particularly in circumstances that your explaining, you’re likely to get some leeway and keeping up what you have so far in that circumstance is impressive. Bring it up if you can, don’t stress too much if you can’t, and definitely use your situation to your advantage once applications start going out. It may seem cruel or harsh to take advantage of hardship, but it’ll get you ahead and it will definitely tall a lot about you and how you could handle all that was on your plate while dealing with your situation at home.</p>
<p>Good luck :).</p>
<p>When they say class rank, is it unweighted or weighted? My weighted is within the top 5%, but my unweighted is not. Our school doesn’t rank unweighted for grades 9-11… only from grades 10-11. In grades 9 and 11, I did well, but in grade 10, I had a slight slump, which is why I raise the question. =]</p>
<p>Well, class rank is determined by your high school, if at all. Some schools don’t rank, some rank by unweighted, and some rank using a weighted scale. All colleges can go by is what your high school offers them so if you’re high school ranks weighted, then that’s what colleges see. So if you know what the ranking will be in the end, that’s basically what colleges will see.</p>
<p>So when they say class rank, they mean simply your rank based on your school’s ranking system.</p>