<p>So my high school does not rank but I heard that colleges make their own ranking for your school when you apply. Do they do that with their own recalculated gpa or just the high school transcript? I'm asking because I took some classes online that won't go on my high school transcript but will probably be accepted by the colleges.</p>
<p>My HS did not rank either and the would be rankings of kids did not really have an effect on college decisions. </p>
<p>Don’t worry about it.</p>
<p>I disagree. Rank does play a role in admission. It may be weighted differently by each college but it does count.</p>
<p>I was speaking of schools that don’t rank (obviously if your school ranked it would matter like kldat says above).</p>
<p>*Also, when I said “would be ranking” I didn’t mean if the HS ranked-I meant if the colleges created there own ranking systems.</p>
<p>Just to clarify :)</p>
<p>Many private schools do not rank. They send their school profile to colleges, which would show distribution of grades. There is also the GC recommendation letter, and it will show if you are ranked top 2, 5, 10…% of your class. The LOR would also ask your GC if you took the most rigorous curriculum.</p>
<p>HS doesn’t rank ~ this could provide an opportunity. Since you do not know for sure, you will not be at fault to state your best (best foot forward) guess. We strongly suspected - from all evidence we could uncover, that a 3.8 was in the top 10% for an unwweighted gpa at daughter’s HS. We had her state this on her application ~ phrased it honestly, that it was her best guess. In our case college didn’t bother to disagree ~and awarded a scholarship typically given to top 10% (we didn’t know this was a possible at the time) Colleges can choose to ignore it since it’s not official. It’s not your fault your high school doesn’t reveal rank - maybe you can use this to your advantage (if it’s a good approximation)</p>
<p>I think Oldfort is right. Although your school may not officially rank, the guidance counselor is asked to give a range of where you fall (% ranges). I guess I thought they were broader (top 10%, 10-25%). Not sure where I got that impression, I think maybe our GC said something about it a couple of years ago. And the GC knows exactly where you fall (“does not rank” usually only means “they don’t tell you where you rank”, not that they don’t know). So they can then answer those percentage questions, although they will still tell the colleges that the HS does not rank (so your specific rank won’t be told to the college, either).</p>
<p>Not all colleges give the counselor the same form.</p>
<p>Same form from the common application. This is probably one of the most important form your school will submit for you.
<a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2013/2013SchoolReport_download.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2013/2013SchoolReport_download.pdf</a></p>
<p>Ratings:
Academic achievement
Extracurricular accomplishments
Personal qualities and character
Overall</p>
<p>For each of those categories your GC is asked to rank you as top 1%, 5%, 10%, very good, good, average, below average.</p>
<p>If it is possible, I would have a discussion with your GC to see which box he/she would check off. D2 was the Sal for her class of 190, so we ask if D2 would be top 1%.</p>
<p>The Common App has a form called the School Report – so I assume any college using the Common App gets that form back. I was just looking at a link for 2012-13, and it doesn’t really have those % range breakdowns – I think a GC can just say school does not rank and leave it at that. But you can see that there is a % down in the ratings section, and the academic line could be interpreted as a sort of ranking. I assume the online form is pretty much the same as this .pdf version.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2013/2013SchoolReport_download.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2013/2013SchoolReport_download.pdf</a> </p>
<p>Crosspost with oldfort. :)</p>
<p>Great mind think alike.</p>
<p>The high schools in our district do not rank. They didn’t do it when I graduated (back when dinos roamed the earth) they don’t do it now. I wouldn’t worry about it. The GC does fill out the forms for the Common App schools.</p>
<p>Not sure why you say not to worry about it. There is a big difference between 5% and 10%.</p>
<p>The application process has reached a point where a majority of students applying to highly selective colleges do not provide Class Rank in their transcripts.</p>
<p>As others have posted, it is important to have an extensive conversation with your GC about:</p>
<ol>
<li> how your GPA compares to your classmates; and </li>
<li> how your relative position is reported to colleges.</li>
</ol>
<p>Adcoms must put your transcript in context of your classmates as well as recent graduates of your high school to understand the full impact of your academic record.</p>
<p>Your job is make sure that how you report your standing is both consistent with what your GC reports as well as ensuring that it is placed in the most favorable light possible.</p>
<p>Our HS reports the top 10%, their exact rank and their GPA. All others are in the same non-ranked bucket. The school provides a profile of the top 10% and the median GPA of the class. It is then up to the college adcom to estimate a rank for the applicant based upon the submitted GPA. Comparing the submitted GPA with the top 10% GPAs and the median GPA along with comparisons to other applicants from our high school gives the adcom enough info to assign an estimated rank. I think different colleges break down the estimated ranking differently. Some may do 5% breaks but most will do 10% or 25% breaks.</p>