There is two different things going on here. The OP’s goal is to knock the number 2 kid out and put his kid in that slot instead, which is very different from wanting “to help all the kids show colleges their entire HS record.” I fear OP has already signalled to the school his intent to do the former rather than the latter. The OP might be more successful in generating assistance from other parents to put pressure on the school if his goal really is to make the school policies help everyone. Challenging someone else’s rank is distasteful.
No, thats not the case. The actual point is the moving goal posts of GPA and never ending calculations and omissions. I have already helped several seniors who were in the middle of applications that had no idea they were missing numerous grades. What I have signaled to the school is that I am paying attention and wont accept a different set of rules other than their policy. If they use one set of rules isn’t that helping everyone? Her rank changing is dependent on two things alone. Her achievement and their calculations. Further, as I said earlier, it isn’t even possible since she was ranked 1 at the end of the year but dropped to 3 before new grades were entered. The only change was she added 2 “A” DC grades over summer. She and 2 Seniors were only one taking courses in summer and as I said those weren’t even entered. Im not trying to knock anyone, but ensuring fair calculation of the work done. If that is distasteful then I guess I can live with that. If someone else earns it, so be it, just don’t cheat someone out of it it in the process.
OP- you are missing the point that many of us are trying to make.
“Class Rank” at SOME schools is a purely objective matter. The school doesn’t weight; every kid takes a similar curriculum. So you add up all the grades, divide by the number of classes, that spits out GPA. Then from top to bottom- that’s your rank. I went to a huge urban HS with 1200 kids in my grade; there was no weighting for AP’s- so taking AP Chem counted exactly the same as taking Home Ec or Woodshop.
At other schools it doesn’t work that way. Some kids take AP’s and an A in an AP is “worth more” than an A in a less challenging class. Who decides the weighting? The powers that be. Some kids take DE at a local college. Who decides which of these classes goes on the transcript but don’t get weighted, which classes don’t appear on the transcript at all, which go into the GPA and which don’t? The powers that be.
So ALREADY you have an inherently unfair system (to someone), since the GC, Principal, maybe a superintendent from 20 years ago set up a ranking system which isn’t objective (like my HS) but already has human judgement weighing in and perhaps putting a finger on the scale. Is a tough music composition or theory class harder than home ec? I say yes, others say no. Is “regular chemistry” harder than AP Psych (considered one of the easy AP’s)? Depends who you ask.
So as an objective bystander- I am observing that you have somehow communicated your distrust of the powers that be- and like most humans, they are now pushing back. You want a system which is accurate and fair. But let’s say they eliminated ALL DE classes from the transcript (which my HS did- you wanted to take a college level course outside the HS? You pay for it, you take it, it’s on you to communicate to the colleges that you took it)… that’s not what you want either, is it? That puts your D even further down the ranking.
So IMHO, your best strategy is co-opt the powers that be. You are arguing that the transcripts are inaccurate and unfair. And what they are hearing is “You guys stink at your jobs”. And so they are fighting back.
Don’t let your D become collateral damage in a battle you can’t win. You feel like your D is getting cheated out of her rightful rank… but if they switch systems and calculations, there are no guarantees that your D will come out on top. Once they decide that PE, or Band, or Yearbook, or any other class which takes place during the school day get equal rank with academic subjects, there’s no telling what’s going to happen to the ranks.
The year I graduated from HS the guy who was #1 (out of 1200 students mind you) went to Yale. OK, that makes sense. #2 went to a regional nursing program which didn’t even grant BSN’s- she got an RN (although later on went back to college and got a BS). #3 went to secretarial school and ended up a paralegal. So the “completely fair and objective” weighting system is sometimes a good thing (number 1 went to Yale and he was indeed a brilliant student) but sometimes a weird thing also- like a kid with a 4.0 GPA who didn’t have the scores to apply to a four year college???
No system is perfect. Work with what you’ve got and make the principal your BFF.
And the performance of the other 22 kids. You believe only 2 other kids were taking summer classes, but others may have taken online courses, or may have had a grade changed from last year. Someone may have dropped out of school and that changed the percentages.
Have any students from a different class been added to her class? When I was a senior, a junior joined our class and graduated with us - as #1! Yep, the girl who had been #1 and the Val was suddenly #2. Totally sucked for all of us who moved down a spot but mostly for the #1. The guy who was the smartest in our class and had taken a lot of math and science classes at the college (didn’t call it duel enrollment then, and I don’t think they counted the grades) was never in the top of the class because while his core classes were tops, his PE, fine arts, and other electives weren’t.
Stay on it but don’t accuse the GC of playing favorites. If you have the documents showing she was #1, ask how she could have fallen to #3 with only A grades.
Feeling very vindicated right now. Just spoke to GC. Very different tone and demeanor. Was told to anticipate a change and not count out state schools due to auto admit and associated scholarships. I didnt dig and was very grateful. I was further encouraged to seek to visit some schools where the district would send her to, as a qualified applicant for visit. Admittedly, I’m a protective dad, but I like to see fair play and let the best one win. What an absolute change, but Im glad to see it.
Great, now here is your chance to just “be cool” as they say. Keep an eye on things, but it seems the atmosphere has turned from adversarial to collaborative. Do what you can to keep it that way and don’t sweat the small stuff. Best of luck to you!
As I noted upstream. Our HS had a screwed up formula whereby kids taking honors and AP classes and getting A grades had LOWER weighted GPA than unweighted. Clearly…something wasn’t right.
I was pretty persistent…because I knew my kid’s weighted GPA should have been higher than her unweighted.
And I was right. The school reviewed the formula when my kid was a junior and adjusted it for her class. They also made a decision at the same time to report class rank specific for the top 10 students only…and everyone else was reported in deciles.
One thing happened…in the recalculation, one of my DDs classmates went from class rank 2 to class rank 3. That kid’s mother personally blamed ME for her daughter’s lower class rank (which frankly only meant she didn’t get to speak at graduation…BFD. The kid graduated from Notre Dame and medical school and is now a doctor…her class rank of 3 instead of 2 didn’t scar her for life)
The mother has never spoken a word to me or DD since that year. She still tells people her kid would have been second in the HS class and it’s been 11 years since HS graduation.
My point is…great for your daughter…and you are right. But don’t expect everyone to be happy about this or love you or your daughter because of this change.
ETA…my own kid’s class rank was unaffected…she was 8th before and after the calculation changes.
BUT my purpose was to get this fixed for all kids. I knew something was wrong when my older kid did not get accepted to UMD-CP. he was initially waitlisted and then outright declined. His SAT scores were well…well within the top 25%ile, as was his unweighted GPA.
BUT his lower weighted GPA made it appear that he was not taking a challenging course load. That was UMDs first “view” of his application…and at the end, students came off the weight list, we are guessing, who were viewed as taming challenging HS courseloads.
That kid graduated from Boston University…so it wasn’t like he was a slacker.
But the HS had to fix that formula calculation…for all kids.
Thats my plan, now were working to add an endorsement and have her graduate with a national license, since they are gonna run out of stuff for her to take. really a positive day!
Good news, glad to hear you are working together! Any time you can thank a HS guidance counselor, do so, because they are generally not thanked enough for what they do.
My SIL is still annoyed that she graduated #2. She had the same grades as #1, but also took orchestra during her lunch period. It was unweighted so even though she had taken more courses than #1, her rank went down. They both went to Harvard, so obviously no harm done in the long run. Sometimes life just isn’t fair. She knew what the rules were, but they wouldn’t let her be in the orchestra unless she took it for credit.
I think at this point the OP can just say they don’t understand how the weighted GPA calculations work and can they walk them through the process. Which classes are weighted? How much? Are their classes not included? Are they dividing by the right number of courses? There are some funky things they could do that might make a small difference. For example they could calculate a weighted GPA by the year, instead of adding up all the courses for the entire time in high school. Our high school only counts approved summer courses, but they also count NYS Regent’s exams like a quarter grade in addition to the school grades. My son took Chemistry in the summer outside of the high school and it didn’t count, but the Regent’s Exam he took that summer did. (We wanted some official record that he’d covered the chemistry.) I think I may have mentioned that I never did get my younger son’s weighted GPA to line up with what the school had calculated. Since it was slightly higher than I thought it should be, I just let it go. (And by slightly higher I mean something like 93.22 vs 93.11.)
Oh, and it’s true high school GCs don’t get a lot of love. My younger son wrote a pretty gushy thank you letter to his GC in the spring after he got into a lot of reach colleges. He basically told her that he thought her letter must have made a big difference and thanks for everything she had done. She actually called our house in tears she was so touched by it.
As the OP…I can say I stand by everything I said. Im playing nice for my child. No doubt that mistakes were made, but in the end my job is to get the kid through it. GC is genuinley a nice person, but its a whole different world here. You deal with the hand your given. For now, I am gonna quietly play nice for her benefit. Discretion is the better part of valor.
Good to hear. Thanks for keeping us updated.
Request to have an official copy of her transcript sent somewhere (maybe to an out of town/state family member/friend). Tell them it is for an internship or some program or something. Pay the fee assuming they have one to send an official copy. That way you can at least see what they are stating for an official copy with a GPA or at least the grades thus far. I only suggest this because it sounds as if you might have a hard time getting them to give you an official copy. At least this way you can see what they are claiming for her transcript and then go from there. Getting her transcript form the Community College will be easier.
Personally, this is why I’m glad my kid’s school doesn’t rank…sounds like it creates drama. We do end of the year awards for National Honor Society, National Merit Scholar, Highest AP test awards and subject book awards.
Problem is, the OP is in Texas, where rank is the primary admission criterion for the state universities. That forced zero-sum competition can incentivize cutthroat behavior within the school. Or corrupt behavior that excessively penalizes those seen as outsiders.