Question about Class Rank

Applying to College
1

<p>I attend a high school of about 200 students, with a senior class of 57 students. I am applying to a few highly selective schools, and I am aware that some of these schools have freshman classes in which 99% of of the students were in the top 10% of their graduating class. The most selective of these schools is the University of Pennsylvania, if that helps. I happen to know that my class rank is 6 which puts me just outside of that 10th percentile, however, my school claims that they do not rank.</p>

<p>My questions: </p>

<p>1) If my calculations are correct, I am actually in the top 10.52%. In a class of 57 students, would a college basically consider me to be in the top 10%?</p>

<p>2) Since my school does not rank, would it be impossible for a college to even determine that, technically, I am outside of the top 10%? Or can they estimate well enough to determine that I am not in the top 10%? The person ranked 5th (one above me) has me beaten by 2 hundredths of a point.</p>

<p>3) I am fairly confident that if my GPA were to be recalculated right now, given my grades and classes this year, I would be in the top 10%. My school calculates GPA at the end of semesters. I realize that this change would not be able to affect the early applications I sent (unless I am deferred), but would applications with Jan 1 deadlines reflect this?</p>

<p>Thanks. If I left out any essential information, please let me know.</p>

2

<p>Here’s the thing to really understand–while top 10% is important because it impacts the school’s reporting/ranking, kids at typical schools need to be a lot higher than just top 10% to get into Penn and peer schools. If they showed everyone’s rank percentile, you’d see that the unhooked will mostly rank in the top 2%.</p>

<p>And yes, most colleges will be able to approximate your rank using info your schools gives in it’s profile and other data.</p>

<p>All that said, there are some schools where top 10% is enough. If you have a lot else going for you and your school will recalculate rank after the first semester, you might consider changing your app to RD. As you can see by the stats you quote, even the hooked would have an extreme uphill climb to get into Penn if they are not top 10%.</p>