<p>How much does a low class rank hurt, i.e. top 15% vs. top 10%, particularly if the rank is unweighted but the course load is the most rigorous? If all else is equal in the app: 2300+ SAT, good/great recs, ECs, etc. This is for schools such as Brown, Penn, etc.</p>
<p>At that point, not too much. You should actually be in really at least the top 5-2% to be competitive for schools like brown and Penn, if unhooked.</p>
<p>Look at the Common Data Set for each school to see (section C7). Here is Brown’s <a href=“Office of Institutional Research | Brown University”>Office of Institutional Research | Brown University; Note class rigor is more important, as is showing interest. Here is Penn’s <a href=“http://www.upenn.edu/ir/Common%20Data%20Set/UPenn%20Common%20Data%20Set%202011-12.pdf[/url]”>http://www.upenn.edu/ir/Common%20Data%20Set/UPenn%20Common%20Data%20Set%202011-12.pdf</a> and rank is lower than GPA, Scores, etc.</p>
<p>At the top collges approximately 90-96 % of the entering class will have class rank in the top 10%.</p>
<p>Interesting CDS from UPenn; they used to break down class rank by top 5%, top 10%</p>
<p>…now, since only 42% submit class rank, they have reduced it to just top 10%…</p>
<p>in reality, however, wonder how many who are ranked 5-10% are actually admitted; used to be miniscule the old way…</p>
<p>I’ve been watching admissions results from our highly regarded local public HS for several years now. Without exception, there have been no admissions to Penn, Duke, or Brown outside the top 5%, and none to HYPS outside the top 2%.</p>