<p>So, as of right now, I'm 15th out of 500 students. I'm a rising senior. At the beginning of my junior year, I was 50th, and I broke my back with all the work I did trying to get it to where it is as of right now.</p>
<p>All of my close friends have romanticized the idea of being in the top 10, and a lot of them are - and it kind of makes me feel lousy. I feel like I should keep trying to break top 10, but its come to my understanding that rank doesn't even matter all that much to colleges and that if you're in the top 10%, then you're all set. </p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>Actual question is - is feeling bad warranted in this situation or is it really nbd?</p>
<p>If you’re fine with 15th then don’t let your friends change that. Unless you are 1st or 2nd colleges really don’t care. They see the top 15% and think that is good too but they don’t look into what the actual number was.</p>
<p>Top 10 is amazing to have… But sad to barely miss it…</p>
<p>Out of a class that had 633 graduates, here’s how it worked for me: First half of senior year with a full 5.0: 24->14. Another half a year with a 5.0 to finish senior year 14->13.</p>
<p>It’s ridiculously competitive once you get to the top 15 that people are trying to cut into the upper numbers of the top 10 that basically if you aren’t in spot 11 or 12, you basically have no chance. At my school, at most there will be 2 top 10 students that will take their senior year easy and give up their spot. As well, if you water down your schedule with APs to make up for the GPA that you lost due to “regular” classes or B’s it’s not very helpful in catching up with the people that loaded themselves with pass/fail classes that don’t affect their GPA…</p>
<p>I think it’s more important to take classes that reflect your major and get good grades then to chase .01 of a gpa.
I know because my class of about 600 the only way to get top ten is to never miss a beat, and because our classes are weighted if you take an elective or a language you fall behind the kids taking the same classes and then a study hall.
Colleges will look at the classes you take more so then that you were top 10 in the end it won’t affect you what so ever.
Take the classes you enjoy and relax its senior year!</p>
<p>If you really have your sights set to Harvard or the equivalent, then I guess this warrants “concern”. Well, as long you stay in the top 10%. But if you’re wondering if you should just go easy senior year, there as several opinions on that. My homeroom teacher (teaches business) says some seniors really kill themselves taking the hardest math classes senior year, sometimes failing and screwing themselves over (since you need four years of math at my school), instead of taking an easier math applied class. </p>
<p>But it seems like you should go for whatever you can handle, and then some (to “challenge yourself”), een if that is all AP’s. I think the most important thing about senior year is maintaining good grades. Take the type of classes you usually take, and since you probably have more room in your schedule, take whatever electives you like. Start focusing outwards senior year, focusing on what skills you need to survive independently and maybe even start networking if you live near colleges you wanna go to. So no, I don’t think you should be concerned about top 10. I cracked top 10 in the last quarter, but then I realized I didn’t care about the number as much as I needed something to make me stop slacking. I’m not too concerned with it anymore.</p>