<p>Question: ... My school is extremely rigorous and as a result I am not in the top 10% but the top 20%. Will my class rank keep me out of top schools like Stanford, Harvard, Duke etc. ...? I have seen the stats of these schools and it seems like the only students who get in who aren’t in the top ten percent are athletes.</p>
<p>Thank you for addressing this topic. However, a concern that I was faced when looking at the statistics of accepted students was that I noticed as many as 98% of the students accepted were in the top 10% of their graduating classes at certain schools. (I don’t remember which one specifically had a number that high.)</p>
<p>Even when I have other ideal factors (decent GPA, Good test scores, extracirruculars), class rank feels like a barrier I won’t be able to get across when such a high percent of accepted students at selective universities are in the top decile of their graduating classes.</p>
<p>Parke Muth a former top admission official seems to disagree:</p>
<p>“Most importantly, schools do all they can to enroll students in the top 10% of their class. This isn’t because they have done studies to demonstrate that anyone in the top 15-20 percent would not do as well. Instead, the 10% figure is measure as a rubric on the US News ranking; therefore, schools turn down far more ‘interesting’ students (based on life experiences and activities for example), so that the ranking will rise.”</p>
<p>I agree with Mr. Muth. Based on Naviance data at our son’s nationally recognized public high school, if a student is not hooked, and not an athlete, the student almost always has to be in the top 10% to get admitted to a top 20 college.</p>
<p>Agreed that the dean’s answer is correct for many schools - but not the top 50 or so. Although they all know the difference between high schools - ie one is more rigorous another - they all want that top 10% stat in the US News and rankings. One way they are getting around this is to offer Spring admission to students they want to enroll past the top 10% or with slightly lower test scores than their median. That way, they don’t have to report them, but they get great students later on. Interesting trend to watch.</p>
<p>If this is true then colleges need to come clean and stop having people outside if that rank apply. It should not
be true as the top 10% at an easy school should not get a seat over students at a rigorous one. If they do then how can any school say the care about rigor. </p>
<p>Read both articles, by The Dean and Parke Muth. They generally say the same thing: If you are not in the top 10% you need a hook. But one generally needs a hook anyway in order to be competitive at the top 20, so I’m not entirely sure what the point is. </p>