Not Being In The Top 10%

Applying to College
1

<p>So, you're not in the top 10% of your class, but you go to a competitive college prep school. Will it hurt you dramatically if you going to apply to a top 20 school, but not in the top 10% of your class, but you go to a competitive college prep school? </p>

<p>Our class average weighted GPA is around a 90 (uber grade inflation and competition). I now have a 96.3 weighted average after a good boost in my grades last marking period. Our highest weighted GPA is a 99.6, but still I honestly don't know what my class rank is. We don't have a class rank, but I have a feeling I'm not up there, especially when midterms come around.</p>

2

<p>Ya, I really dont care what school you go to, not being in the top 10% will murder you at these schools. You might, however, stand a chance if you attend an andover or executer.</p>

3

<p>^that’s a little rough, but kinda true. you really need top 10%</p>

4

<p>^ lol i love how you wrote executer</p>

<p>all hope isn’t lost</p>

<p>just do well on all other parts of you application</p>

<p>Make sure you’ve taken rigorous classes, do well senior year, good ECs, good essays, good recs, the whole 9 yards</p>

<p>If that rank is your only flaw you could still get in</p>

5

<p>[Stats</a> Profile](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/profiles/member_stat_view.html?user_id=214905]Stats”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/profiles/member_stat_view.html?user_id=214905)</p>

<p>if you want proof</p>

6

<p>I’d say no. I got to a competitive private school (like everyone else here?) and we’ve sent students in the 10-20% to Brown, UPenn, Northwestern, and a few others. Then again, the top 10% for my school is about 10-14 students.</p>

7

<p>Entirely determined by school size.</p>

<p>If your school is <150 students, I doubt you should be too worried so long as you are in an axtremely competitive class, perform to your full ability, take the most rigirous schedule possible, and perform well on AP and SAT Subject tests. Many students “slide” into top places by taking basic courses and receving A’s, like at my cowtown public.</p>

<p>If your school is >150, you got problems. This means that many students at your school are more competitive than you are, most likely by taking a similar schedule.</p>

8

<p>@rastafarian that’s pretty insane</p>

9

<p>*to OHKID</p>

<p>by saying that many students are more competitive than you, you fail to realize that there are many more that are not as competitive as you</p>

<p>Just work to the best of your abilities. if the colleges don’t accept that, then it wasn’t mean to be</p>

10

<p>My class consists of 130 kids. Back in the 7th and 8th Grade, a 96.3 weighted average would not make into the top 10%, but would rather be around a the top 15%. But my problem is that those kids who were in the top 10% in 7th and 8th Grade shrunk a few positions, because they are now taking honors classes. Even though their honors classes are weighted more than regular classes, they still don’t get a high enough grades in the honors classes to benefit from the weights. A lot of honors students, including me, fell a few points (for me only .5), and a lot of the regents students went up in the class rank. It’s hard to tell now with the disparity.</p>

11

<p>:(
I’m not in 10% and I want to go to top schools</p>

12

<p>It depends on high school.
My son’s super competitive HS sends
35%+ to top 20 national universities or top 10 LACs
45%+ to top 20-40 national universities or top 10-20 LACs</p>

13

<p>Totally depends what you mean by competitive. Most really competitive schools don’t rank. When you look at schools like Penn where 98% are top 10%, you see how important rank is. If you’re at an Andover level school, it’s less of a problem.</p>

14

<p>I think hmom5 is right.
My son’s high school (competitive admission HS) does not rank.</p>

15

<p>“Most really competitive schools don’t rank. When you look at schools like Penn where 98% are top 10%, …”</p>

<p>So if a school does not rank but the school profile does give GPA percentiles, does Penn’s stat include students from this school?</p>

16

<p>You’re going to have to look at your own school for the best idea. Where do kids typically go who aren’t in the top 10%? When you look at the stats for the most competitive schools (princetonreview.com), they’ll have all or almost all of their kids in the top 10% of their high school class, and those below that benchmark are likely hooked in some way. But it depends on what sort of schools you’re looking at as well.</p>