@eh1234 our school does not rank but, on our school profile, the gpas are listed by decile. So the profile would say something like:
Top 10 percent weighted GPA;
5.56-5.90
Top 20 percent weighted GPA:
5.32-5.55
Etc. Etc.
They do it for unweighted GPAs too.
So… when the college has the student’s GPA, they just match the GPA to the percentiles on the school profile.
Our school does not rank. On the school profile provided to colleges, the “does not rank” statement is front and center. But our school is one high school in a huge school system, so colleges pretty much know the strength and rigor of the school and available courses.
Interesting and encouraging bit of fun: My D19 got on the mailing lists for a handful of schools that have industrial or manufacturing engineering programs that she particularly likes. One of these is Iowa State. Apparently, if you request information from them early in your junior year, they have a system where you can enter in a few pieces of information (GPA, class rank, courses already taken and planned to take, and ACT/SAT scores).
Well, Iowa State admits by a mathematical formula, and so what they do is compute where you are and what your odds of admission are. (And then they open their application early for you. It’s a nice trick to get students thinking about going there early on in the process, really—nice job on their part.) As a result, and in great part driven by the fact that D19’s school has them take a larger-than-average number of courses per year (since their formula gives you credit toward admission for every single core academic credit you earn regardless of grade), we’ve learned that if her GPA doesn’t drop (and it’s had an upward trend) and if she takes the courses she’s expecting to take, D19 has just barely guaranteed herself admission to Iowa State no matter how she does on the ACT or SAT.
And Iowa State’s OOS COA is in the affordable range for us, even without any merit aid.
I don’t know that Iowa State’s where she desperately wants to go, but she has nothing against it, and it’s nice to have something in her back pocket. (And maybe it’ll decrease her anxiety heading into the ACT/SAT, too.)
And Iowa State is having a great year in football, beating both Oklahoma and TCU.
Wow, @dfbdfb – that is wonderful news! Having a lock on a very affordable safety (and Iowa State is a wonderful school) with the right major(s) and in the middle of JUNIOR year is awesome! (Plus Ames is a great part of Iowa. 
)
Those provisional acceptances are nice. My DS16 was granted provisional acceptance to Clemson as a junior. It made the process much less stress provoking .
@eh1234 You ask about a super secret GC ranking system in a school that doesn’t rank? We are in a school system that doesn’t rank (and possibly the same one as you if I remember correctly). When my oldest was applying to a selective college that asks for rank her GC said to her, “I’m not supposed to show you this but I can compute your ranking.” She went on her computer and then said, “I can’t tell you your exact number but you are in the top X% of your class.”
So yeah, data point of one but at least one GC in one school that “doesn’t rank” will give out that info if they think it can help a kid get into a school that will be a feather in their cap.
@dfbdfb We have a friend whose daughter went to Iowa State for engineering. She was accepted at a whole slew of other schools but chose Iowa State because of the money they gave her. She had an awesome experience there.
A friend used to be the Assistant Director of Admissions for MIT. He said that for the top high schools from which they receive many applications that do a school level set after they do their first pass. From my son’s school, typically 70 kids apply to MIT each year. After the first pass they look at who they accepted and rejected as a whole for the school to make sure there wasn’t reader bias. They then make adjustments to their decisions if need be. They have an idea of how many kids they want from the school (typically 10) and they just want to make sure they take the “right” 10. He said the whole ranking thing (which our school doesn’t do) isn’t important other than to help the gauge they are smart kids…so being toward the top of the class is important but being ranked 8th versus 10th is not meaningful.
@carolinamom2boys - what did it take to get provisional acceptance to Clemson. That would be the dream in our house.
D19 has a triple-booked weekend in January between a state thespian festival, a follow-up college visit, and a state theatre festival walk-through. If she chooses the state thespian festival, she has to let the coordinator know by Tuesday as there is a registration deadline (by Thanksgiving).
Nothing like Real Life to force a decision!
@cotton2017 My son received this as well. The only thing we did was mail his test scores to Clemson, both ACT and SAT. There is no way to apply for it. Several of my sons classmates got this, however, I haven’t heard of any in our area or school for the class of 2018 so I’m curious if they sent many this year.
Just got back from a visit to Rollins College in Winter Park, FL. The campus is beautiful, the town is adorable and it is only about 1/2 hour from Orlando. The average GPA was about 3.4 (core subjects only) , SAT average just above 1200 and ACT average 27. It is test optional but the recommend scores for scholarships. It is a very expensive school but they do offer a lot of merit aid. Thought it might be a nice hot for some on here who would like a small school. D really liked it but just isn’t sure if she wants such a small school yet, we are keeping it in on the list until she sees some bigger schools to compare it to.
I used to live just down the road from Rollins! (I have a couple friends who went there on baseball scholarships—don’t know if they still are, but they at least used to have a pretty strong baseball team.) I love the school, and wish one of my kids would go there, if only because then we’d have an excuse to go to Winter Park again, but they don’t have lots of offerings for my STEM-oriented older three—so maybe I’ll have to start talking it up for my D25, who I’m already convinced is going to major in philosophy. I absolutely adore the campus architecture—very Mediterranean in style, with red tile roofs and pale-tan stucco everywhere, and on the shores of a lake.
One unique Rollins tradition: Each spring, on a day the college president decides is too pretty for anyone to spend inside taking classes, a statue of a fox is placed outside early in the morning and chapel bells are rung, signaling that classes for the day are cancelled (and that there’s a pancake breakfast and donuts for everyone who comes by).
Also, WPRK was our favorite radio station when we lived in the area.
Rollins is the cutest college town in America (IMO). Alas, much too expensive for one kid and not enough STEM for the other. One does go there several times a year as they are in the same sports conference as her school. Rollins’ video streaming (and announcer) is far superior to other schools. I swear they had a drone for part of the game last year.
And it happened to be Fox Day last year on one day my daughter played there.
Back from Thanksgiving in Montreal. Oldest son is a U0 (First year) at McGill so we brought U.S. Thanksgiving to him. Youngest son (HS junior) said McGill was his top pick; three days in Montreal confirmed it. Took a tour (guide was fine but not great), center of campus is under massive construction…but the school just feels right to him. He is far above their minima for his ACT; now just has to keep up his grades this year (which are a vast improvement from last year).
My challenge now is he doesn’t want to look at anymore colleges…I keep telling him that a list of four (two of which are safeties) is not going to cut it. We shall see!
Why if two are safeties is four not enough? A safety means he’s willing to go there and you can afford it.
My kids only applied to one school each. Rolling admissions, so they knew they were in by October. Each school was a ‘safety’ by statistics for each daughter, but those are the schools they wanted.
Agreed. One of his safeties is actually his second school. BUT…you never know! And the final list all need to be schools he will go to. Easier with my oldest; more of a challenge with the youngest.
Unfortunately, the rolling admissions thing is not something I’ve encountered here in the Northeast. I’ve been talking to my son about adding a couple of schools in the Midwest that do rolling admissions…but only if he is willing to go to them. I like the idea of an early admission to take the pressure off. My oldest got into two schools EA the first two weeks of November. It made a huge difference for him.
D has seven Definitely Will Apply schools but it is difficult to label any of them as a safety due to the portfolio requirement. All seven will have applications submitted in September and October but are subject to artistic review.
Got the good news from University of Alabama today! A great safety because it’s so affordable.