I don’t remember if we even had a guidance counselor. My parents paid 0 attention to where I applied. I randomly chose where I applied and did not see any of them or have any discussion with anyone about my choices. It was very lonely. I am really enjoying visiting colleges with my kids and being a sounding board as they make their choices. (I am really trying hard to keep my opinion to myself). My D22 is at a school that she absolutely loves (UW Seattle) and she is thriving and happy. I hope my S24 finds a good fit as well.
They could solve this by not ranking or reporting GPAs as many private schools do. At for the rigor, the CC will apply context and the school profile will/should state that APs are not possible before Jr year. AOs Will be able to see that some students did part of their HS elsewhere.
Would they mention all of this in the school profile? I feel like this is the type of thing that needs explaining to colleges to give them a sense of the school and the student body. Perhaps counselors are submitting something clarifying this for schools (hopefully).
See next post.
I think that would be their preference, but some selective colleges are still requiring an exact class rank. That’s what I’m concerned about. It’s not going to be an apples-to-apples comparison but it will all show on the transcript- where the credits were earned. Also, GPAs at our schools are only calculated using grades earned at our school, so not grades from DE or other schools previously attended.
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I highly doubt this. None of the top board schools in the country rank. I can’t imagine they would automatically disqualify their students. Not to mention these students often make it into the most selective colleges.
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I have not heard this to be the case any longer. Do you know which schools are saying they want the exact rank?
My D’s HS stopped reporting rank entirely and they still had kids going to HYPSM. (Even five years ago they only reported decile).
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I don’t think this is true. Our school hasn’t ranked for over a decade (exception is valedictorian & salutatorian) but kids are regularly accepted at top schools. They do show a breakdown by weighted average, but that is it.
This isn’t accurate. My D’s HS has never provided a rank (or even decile), and they send lots of kids to the T20s.
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My kids’ private school does not rank students, and there is no weighted GPA. In the school report sent to colleges, the school gives the middle 50% range of GPA as well as the middle 50% test scores for the class. You can see where a student is in relation to the middle 50 range of their peers. Students each year accepted to top 20 ranked schools.
Any advice for resources for true college rankings and not the USNWR garbage? I am curious, especially for more the schools in the 100-200 range how they rank for specific areas of study, etc.
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That doesn’t exist. Figure out what is important to you and research that. Student faculty ratio for example.
We liked cross referencing with Princeton Review lists. Happiest students/best classroom experience/most engaged alumni……etc
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Our school does not rank, they eliminated it several years ago, no school can provide what they dont have
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We also liked reading the Fiske reviews and CC posts.
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Same with our school does not rank and this has been for many years. We do have multiple kids going to Stanford, Cornell, columbia, MIT every year.
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There are no “true” college rankings. The best things to do sometimes is see where your interest lie. Then see what colleges have resources in that. Check LinkedIn to see where people in that field went to college. Then look at those colleges to determine the “why”. For example, if you are interested in forestry…then you probably need a forestry school. There are several good one out there (none of which are T20, see Vermont, Oregon State, SUNY-ESF). If you are interested in natural resources, then look at Colorado State. If you are interested in space, look at Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah State (which has tons of NASA funding).
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Our HS doesn’t rank either. HS class each year is in the 25-45 total students range. Last year, a kid went on to Princeton.
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There is a great aggregate ranking created by Brown - I can’t find the link, but you might find this thread interesting.
Our school doesnt rank but our counselor told us she’s #3 in her class.
I assume they can tell by the weighted GPAs but not sure.
That’s only for CS. I have the link and can provide it if that’s were you meant.