Is it true that Harvard doesn't look at rank?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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<p>Harvard's Common Data Set: <a href="http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/Provost_-_CDS2008_2009_Harvard_for_Web_Clean.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/Provost_-_CDS2008_2009_Harvard_for_Web_Clean.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>On the sixth page, the cross for Class Rank is in the "Not Considered" section. Do they really not care about it, or are they bluffing?</p>

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<p>^That CDS is for 2008-2009. Shouldn’t we be looking at the latest one?</p>

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<p>I think they put that Because not all schools rank & they don’t want to put any students at a disadvantage. But I’m sure if you have a good rank it will only help your app.</p>

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<p>Example, at our extremely competitive high school, there were 4 valedictorians. All applied to Harvard and Yale. Three were admitted to both, one was admitted to neither. (No one knows why, hard to argue the 4th was not as equally qualified but super OUCH). Harvard, in same class, also admitted a couple of students who were not in the top 10% of the class…one for athletics, one for ??? But at our school its always assumed you have an extremely good shot at admittance if you are val/sal.</p>

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<p>wait, really?
if it doesn’t look at rank then it’s a really good thing!</p>

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<p>2bornot2bivy, just curious, were there many others in the top 10% besides those 3 vals that got in? </p>

<p>I couldn’t find a more recent CDS ([The</a> Office of the Provost | Common Data Set](<a href=“http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/common_data_set.php]The”>http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/common_data_set.php))</p>

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<p>class ranks are a poor measure anyways. Once you’re in the top 10%, the ranking loses significance. I can imagine a large portion of Harvard applicants are in the top 10%. And if you’re not in the top 10%, they probably won’t admit you.</p>

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<p>“Rank” is another way of saying “GPA” and “grades.” Any one of those three terms is meaningless without the other two to put it on perspective.</p>

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<p>What if you are #1 but only a 3.85 unweighted?</p>

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<p>Given that the School Report Part II for Harvard says…

I would surmise they look at rank.</p>

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<p>This Harvard Crimson article was part of the freshman welcoming paper for the class of 2013.
[A</a> Guide to ?Top-Down? Dating | News | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2009/8/20/a-guide-to-top-down-dating-as/]A”>A Guide to ‘Top-Down’ Dating | News | The Harvard Crimson)
It starts off referring to a “69 percent chance you were your high school’s valedictorian”. If an accurate statistic, it would be unlikely to occur if rank were completely disregarded.</p>

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<p>I wasn’t implying rank is disregarded. I think it is heavily weighted as evidenced by the confidence of val’s at our school that they have a better than average shot at admissions. And our school technically doesn’t rank but it is obvious if you have a perfect GPA what your rank is. I was also pointing out that at our school in this example, and many past years, I can point to examples of admittances which were not even in top 10% of class so obviously other factors can weigh more heavily for individual students. And in some rare, really off years no one is admitted.</p>

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<p>Rank, like GPA, is difficult to gauge across schools… a top 10% or even valedictorian of Elsewhere High is not the same as that rank for someone at Bronx Science or Roxbury Latin (where they took almost 30 out of a graduating class of slightly over 80 --so even someone at the 50th percentile at RL got in assuming that at least some of the top kids decided to apply to other schools…)</p>

<p>A friend who has been in the admissions game at harvrd put it succinctly-- they are looking for evidence of someone who has the potential to make a difference at an international level in whatever they pursue. That maybe dance, it maybe fencing, in maybe math. So pedestrian measures of RIC or GPA while indicative of being able to handle Harvard work, are not the sine qua none of admissions. It is kid a late but show them that you are SPECIAL somehow.</p>

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<p>Keep in mind–that article refers only to attending students. While this is indicative if the accepted class, that’s not the statistic for accepted students; there are a variety of reasons to turn down Harvard if one is ranked poorly in their class and has a major inferiority complex.</p>

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<p>Rank, grades, and school profile are all vitally important to understanding each other. Take away school profile and you don’t know if a rank 1 kid’s low grades are because of grade deflation or because it’s a weak class that year. Take away rank and you don’t know if the straight As and two A-s kid was beaten by 5 other kids who had all straight As, and you still don’t know if that’s because there are 6 geniuses or because grades are inflated. Take away grades and, well, you don’t know much.</p>

<p>They are all considered, and they are all considered in the context of each other. </p>

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<p>I’m not so sure that’s true. In a fictional scenario in which rank is completely ignored in lieu of grades/GPA, it might very well be that the people with the best grades also have the highest ranks.</p>