<p>I currently have a rank of 12 in my class at my school for a couple of reasons.</p>
<p>First, I took two classes in 8th grade and didn't get along with the teacher. I also slacked off quite a bit, so I got an A, two B's, and a C. I've gotten straight A's since then.</p>
<p>Also, I'm in Academic Decathlon and Debate, which are both classes that count as unweighted at my school, so I actually got straight A's one semester in as many honors/AP classes as possible, and DROPPED a rank.</p>
<p>Do you think that this low rank will hurt me at top colleges?</p>
<p>Top 2% is so awful. You will be rejected even from your local community college.</p>
<p>In all seriousness, that's a Harvard-level rank, as long as your school isn't a poor inner city school where no one goes to college. How do you have such a high class rank though if you haven't had perfect grades? At my ultracompetitive school, getting a C will screw your GPA so much you will be auto-matically pushed to the bottom of the class</p>
<p>Also, no top 15 school will care. You have a crazy view of admissions if you think they do. They aren't as retarded as you think</p>
<p>My school is a poor public school and we rarely, if ever, send anyone to top colleges. Still, my class is significantly brighter than any of the others (We have a 2400, 2380, and 2340 on the SAT for starters). Sorry if it seems like a ridiculous question about my rank but I just don't want to be doomed by one bad aspect of my application and I'm naturally inclined to paranoia and doubt.</p>
<p>You're fine. The common rule is top 10% is good, although that can be adjusted depending on the competitiveness of your school. Plus, your lowest grades are in eighth grade, so colleges won't care much. Many colleges will even recalculate your GPA on their own scale using only your core classes (or the ones they find important) from your 4 years of high school, so I wouldn't worry as long as the rest of your grades are high and you took high-level classes.</p>
<p>Some people are so full of themselves. Did you really need to make a thread titled "low rank, will it hurt?" How about, "What rank should I be to have IVY status?" That is the question being answered in this thread, but I open this thread thinking you are a top 25% student, not a top 2% student... seriously man.</p>
<p>Geez, guys, stop being so harsh. When I didn't know anything about college admissions, I thought I'd have to retake my 760 in SAT II physics. You learn.</p>
<p>Anyway, your rank is probably fine: top schools care much more that you are pursuing what you enjoy and find important, like acadec and debate, and they'll realize that these courses are unweighted, I think. As others have said, your percentile is great, and you are probably well into the comfortable range, grade-wise, even for ivies. Good luck!</p>
<p>Sorry to post such an inflammatory thread. It's just that I know admissions are really, really harsh and I was wondering whether I could expect them to take me if I'm not (GPA-wise) even in the top 10 students in my class at a sub-par school.</p>