The vast majority of admits to HYPSM… type colleges do not submit class rank, so I suspect your top 10% stats only reflect the minority of entering freshmen who submitted rank. For example, Princeton’s CDS indicates 29% submitted rank, Yale’s CDS indicates 30% submitted rank, Stanford’s CDS indicates 35% submitted rank, Harvard’s says they do not consider rank in their admission process. At privates with a few steps down in selectivity, most students also do not submit rank, but it is not as extreme as the examples above. The large portion who do not submit rank fits with an increasing portion of high schools not ranking or making rank optional, particularly ones with a large portion of students who have GPAs like the one described by the OP, so the rank tends to hurt students more than it helps. I realize TX public colleges are an exception, and ranking can be critical for admission to such colleges.
What if your school uses UW GPA to determine their top 10%, top 20%, etc.?
And why do colleges place such importance on rank when a person in the top 50% of a very competitive school could conceivably be in the top 5% of a lower performing one? How do they reconcile that?
Well, in Texas the importance of rank is the result of the state legislature’s lazy way of admitting minority students to UT/A&M. Initially the Texas “auto admit” program included minimum SAT scores, I think a 1400/1600 was auto admit even if you were bottom of the class. Top 10% for UT had a floor of 800/1600, and I know my HS sent a auto-admit student to UT with a 860!
Auto-admit… the opposite of holistic.
Even when schools do not officially rank, when GC & teachers submit the LOR he/she will check off what is the student’s percentile ranking for Academic Achievement (below average, average…top 10%, top 5%, top 1%). I would have a discussion with the GC on which box he/sh would be checking off for the student. I think the GC may have some leeway and it may not need to tie strictly to GPA. I had such a discussing with D2’s GC.
Many universities have an adjustment for the perceived quality of the high school. My son’s HS received a 0.5 GPA bump from admissions at his highly rated university, in fact, kids from his school were commonly admitted with GPA’s 0.8 pts below the admissions GPA median. His school doesn’t rank either.
I hear you…and I agree with everyone who sees the nuances (colleges know about the hard schools). on the other hand, my kids attend a “tough” urban public high school…and my kid was 3 out of 300 in her class…and it did seem to help boost schools paying attention.
Also, just to speak out in favor of attending lower-ranked schools and seeking the best of it (i may actually start a thread about this 
but my kid (and the 2nd one too) received an excellent education…D1 ended up with a 33 ACT and an unweighted 4.0 .
@SouthernHope , Congratulation for your kid’s achievement and self drive. Many kids could have settled with less. Your kid prevailed. Generally, I think it’s a bit easier to achieve more at a higher ranked school because teenagers are not always self-driven.
I think you need a good enough high school with a big enough cohort of high achieving kids there’s someone for your kids to hang with intellectually. Our high school isn’t particularly highly ranked, and many other school districts are considered much better, but the fact is, that the teachers are pretty good, many are excellent and there is a group of kids every year heading off to top ranked colleges. I think my kids would score fine even if they had attended a truly terrible high school, but fwiw they scored very well on the SAT and got 5’s on all their APs (oldest) and most for the youngest. Our taxes are half that of some of the neighboring towns for the same size house and lot.
Many colleges recaculate GPA as well, stripping out grades for things like PE. Your kids’ transcripts will be evaluated and the reputation of the school considered. Focus on essays, recommendations etc and they will be fine.
2:3 of the best places my son had most interest in, barely knew of his HS. 2 had never had anyone from his HS. When he happened to meet the best interviewer from school #3, the man said, 'I’ll take u next year".
They accepted my son’s friend, a grade younger. I found most of son’s teachers were really good, and enjoyed what they were doing. It was a different attitude than when I lived in the NE.
Class rank is an explicit, weighted criterion in USNWR’s college ranking methodology. GPA is not.
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/ranking-criteria-and-weights
Thanks.
Agree with many of the others. My D goes to a very rigorous private school. She is probably hovering around the 50% wrt to class rank (school doesn’t rank, so that is a guess). Her GPA is around a 3.7. No weighting and few AP classes. But, she got a 32 on her first ACT and scored in the 90% on the new SAT. I am not worried, admissions folks know her school. I am sure they also know your D’s school.
Thank you mom and dad for supporting me, not trying to build my resume that you wished for me. I’m proud of my achievement and awards that I did for myself.
You see it’s not about anything, but the individual and there passion. Plastic surgery is not going to change you, however, it will confirm that you live a life of being fake.
Many colleges will use only unweighted grades and look at the course rigor, expecting acceptable students to be taking the best their HS has to offer in general (hence not penalizing students whose Hs does not offer as many APs et al). Colleges recalculate gradepoints to fit their criteria- I never did figure out what counted as “academic” for our flagship (gym? art? music?).
Your kids learned how to study and mastered skills and material. This will help them in college and life much more than learning how to game the system. Good advice given to discuss colleges which should be on the radar with the HS guidance counselor. The schools suggested should not limit your kids’ choices but give an idea of how high to reach.