<p>I have been rejected from Rice, WashU, Vanderbilt, and Boston college. With the exception of WashU, I was expecting to get into all of these colleges. I have excellent essays, so the only thing I can think of is that my class rank is responsible.</p>
<p>Here is the breakdown of my application:</p>
<p>Academics:
35 ACT
2190 SAT
11 AP tests (7 5's and 4 4's)
3.74/4.0 GPA (3.2 freshman year and 4.0 sophomore-senior year)
Class rank- 27% (I'll explain why it's so low later)</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
Captain of varsity Ice Hockey team
I have my Private Pilot's License
I went to the Intel International Science an Engineering fair and got 2nd place in category ($1500 cash price) and the Richoh Sustainable Development award ($12,500)
I work as a lab tech at the University of Kentucky, and I ref Ice Hockey games.
I go to a bunch of youth in government conferences and always win outstanding speaking awards each time.
I am a member of all the standard academic clubs in the school</p>
<p>Class rank explanation-
The GPA at my school is so inflated, almost everybody gets almost strait A's. My school calculated class rank by weighted GPA, but the weighted GPA is messed up because almost every class the school offers is considered an advanced class, and is therefore out of 5.0. Even though I take all of the hardest classes the school offers, and am obviously one of the best students in the school, my freshman year GPA has caused my class rank to be embarrassing.</p>
<p>So my question is whether this is really because of my class rank, because I don't see what else It could possibly be.</p>
<p>Fact: Colleges report to US New and World Report how many kids were in the top 10% of their high school class. This number is used to “rank” the colleges. </p>
<p>Fact: Princeton in 2009 reported the following. Percent of kids in top 10% equals 99%. Here is the kicker- Percent of kids reporting rank equals 29% (moral of the story - if you don’t report it, then it doesn’t count against them. (45% of all high schools no longer report rank)</p>
<p>If you can find the “common data set” for each of your colleges, you could look this up. (WashU does not provide this)</p>
<p>This has been such an interesting and confusing year for college admissions. Every admissions thread I read shows top kids getting rejected or waitlisted. You are not alone in your dilemma.</p>
<p>Yes. Elite colleges use class rank in lieu of GPA whenever possible. If your class rank is listed on your official HS trancript, then GPA is ignored. The quality of that class rank is then adjusted according to the competitiveness of the HS.</p>
<p>The message conveyed by your 35 ACT (top 1%) and 27% class rank is that you are a really smart kid that doesn’t take actual in-class and coursework that seriously (or possibly that you are bored by the elementary nature of your HS coursework). YOU DIDN"T PLAY THE GAME/ There are many threads on this BB about “High Test Scores, average Grades”. </p>
<p>Good luck with the your top choice you DID get into. You will likely be a top 10% student at that school, and everything will work out in the end.</p>
<p>Could be class rank. Could be teacher recs. With a ranking of 27%, you have to be careful not to apply to only the same schools to which your higher ranking classmates applied. You are a special case. You need a really good essay and a pointed GC rec that explains the freshman year grades.</p>
<p>Saugus, yes. GPA is meaningless outside of Rank, so what is its purpose? If Rank is supplied on the transcript, GPA is not needed at all. Then the adcom must understand what #1 means at your school… is it a rigorous school, or a school from which only 25% go on to 4 year colleges? Context is everything.</p>
<p>Yeah, class rank is important, because that’s how they understand your GPA in the context of your high school, since each high school grades differently.</p>
<p>It’s probably a result of your class rank and freshman year grades more than anything else, especially if higher-ranked students from your school applied. The rest of your application seems strong.</p>
<p>My S’s class rank was just out of the top 10% because he was accelerated in math, and the Bs he got in the 7th and 8th grade are, by local policy, factored into high school class rank because they count as high school classes. That apparently kept him out of Rice despite an SAT of 2250 or thereabouts, National AP Scholar, and similar stuff.</p>
<p>Don’t sweat it. You can’t expect schools to figure all this stuff out when they are overwhelmed with thousands of similarly qualified applicants. But if you’re smart, as you obviously are, you’ll do fine for yourself. Go somewhere else, and excel. My S is having a great time at a excellent school.</p>
<p>So my Junior D’s GPA is 3.98w, 3.93 uw and her rank is 47/456 with Honors and AP classes. Is this considered an unacceptable rank? Would adcoms consider her rank rounded or truncated. i.e, 10% or 11%?
Her school has its share of straight A students studying personal training (I’ve seen their resumes) and my D’s B grades have been in classes like Religious Studies and Home Economics (she went to school in the UK for 9th &10th grade). She also took several subjects/classes in the UK and it appears that taking more classes reduces one’s GPA. Who knew?
Will this be a deal killer for her? Her dream school is Rice but I’m trying to be brutally realistic with her on her chances. I’m hoping her class picks up a few more kids next year so her rank looks better ;-). She wants to major in engineering so she has some good state safeties.</p>