Is it realistically possible to get in with out a perfect rank?

<p>Well, I have taken all honors/accelerated/AP classes with the exception of the classes required for graduation. My school offers 9 AP's, I took 2 Junior year and am taking 4 right now. But my question wasn't specifically about that. </p>

<p>My question was relating specifically to how much weight Harvard would give a rank that is only partially weighted.</p>

<p>I'm ranked 43/264, but the only weighted part of this rank are my AP's. Would Harvard consider this to be a weighted rank or unweighted? Keep in mind that 12/17 classes have been h/a/ap with 2 college classes...</p>

<p>eyezonharvard, im not sure how that would work, i think that they would take your weighted with aps gpa, but they might convert it to non weighted. </p>

<p>apfreak, so you saying that i should emphasize the difficulty of my course in my letter? i should be able to get my guidence counsler to say something about that. i will have taken 11 tests at the end of my junior year, more then anyone else so cool.</p>

<p>Out of the 3 Kids that got into Harvard from my school last year...one was Val. (class of 128), one was top 10% (hispanic, triple legacy though) and the other was bottom 50% (hispanic, 150 year + legacy)</p>

<p>Well, here's my one hundredth post!
I feel so pitiful that I even know that.
Oh, and by the way, I think that legacies are not very fair. s snack mentioned somebody getting in while being in the bottom half of the class. This is probably due to his crazy legacy. It is so overrated.</p>

<p>maguo1: Here is the thing. Schools have an incentive of having legacies accepted at a higher rate. In Michele Hernandez's first book on college admissions, she really echoed what admissions officers feel especially about developmental cases and "crazy" legacy cases. They might as well admit that one student in order for the whole student body to benefit from, let's say, a new science center or new library. It may be unfair, but it does have its logic.</p>

<p>Shark_bite-</p>

<p>So would they not consider my rank at all?</p>

<p>They will consider your rank as long as you are not from a very renowned/selective private highschool</p>

<p>Even if my rank isn't fully weighted?</p>

<p>i think this is where the rank comes in eyezonharvard. they might not be able to compare you to all other high schools (but id bet they will) but they can compare you to other students in your class.</p>

<p>the only reason i asked about this is that i have never heard of a person getting into harvard without being one of the top five students in their class unless they were an Under Represented Minority or a Legacy.</p>

<p>Damn, so basically what you're telling me is that I'm screwed? </p>

<p>So I should've just taken the easy classes instead of the honors/accelerated and gotten better grades for a better GPA?</p>

<p>BTW, my unweighted GPA is around 3.9, weighted it's 3.93; does that change anything?</p>

<p>no your not screwed, getting worse grades in harder classes is better then perfect grades in easy classes. also when you apply mention only your unweighted gpa, its seems more impressive.</p>

<p>btw: it shows you were willing to work hard without any academic incentive. your in good shape; dont worry.</p>

<p>Well, I've already applied so I can't do that :(</p>

<p>I hope my counselor didn't mess my unweighted GPA and the listing of honors/accelerated classes. I don't trust my counselor, he's already messed up a whole bunch of stuff. </p>

<p>That's another thing. If your counselor is a total douche, will Harvard hold that against you?</p>

<p>i am ranked 13th out of 808, any opinions about my chances</p>

<p>i am 38th of 449, very competitive public school on long island- will this rank make it impossible for me to get in?</p>