<p>Hey! I'm only a rising sophomore this year, so it will still be a good two years before I apply to UNC, but how important is class rank? I'm not sure what my rank is but I know I'm not in the Top 10 or anything. However, (not bragging) I do take really hard classes... Next year I'll be in senior-level math and AP science classes. This year I took all honors and junior-lever math. Is rank a big deal? Or do the hard classes kind of cancel that out? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>My understanding is that rank is a huge deal to UNC. Like the application even gives you a tick-off box and almost everything the counselor has to answer is how you compare to the rest of your classmates. I screwed myself, and my GPA, by taking AP Calculus BC and AP Physics B sophomore year after making a 99 in Honors Pre-calculus and very high A’s in my other classes, including an AP. So guess what? That’s 4 other classes I could have taken. Now I get to take Calculus I and II again as a Junior.</p>
<p>P.S. Whatever you do, don’t take AP Calculus BC or AP Physics B online. Oh, and have you considered NCSSM?</p>
<p>I never thought it was a big deal, just try to get like top 5-10% rank for most public schools…but you definitely don’t want to be below top 20%</p>
<p>pfft, physics online isn’t so bad… as long as you don’t care what grade you make in it lol :P</p>
<p>aigiqinf, where are you getting your information? I don’t know who you are, but some of the things you have said seem to be wrong. You say here that rank is a “huge deal”, but I have never heard that it is any more of a deal at UNC than other schools. Also, in another post you mentioned that UNC preferred the SAT to the ACT, but this also seems to be misinformed. Where are you getting this information?</p>
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<p>Maybe I’m a little out there but at least the way I look at the application, UNC seemed to put more emphasis on rank than I had seen on other schools’ applications.
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<p>A1-Student Profile (First Page)</p>
<p>Your just listing your basic info, first school I’ve ever seen to put “Approximate class rank” so conspicuously on the first page.</p>
<p>B1-Counselor Statement</p>
<p>My feeling is since they’ve already assessed your current schedule on another page they’re like (OK, did this student take the hardest course load? Which is a good comparison to other students). </p>
<p>Class Rank</p>
<p>Then max GPA and highest GPA in the class (How close or far away is this guy from the top?)</p>
<p>B2</p>
<p>First question: “Difficulty of student’s academic program
compared to that of other students”</p>
<p>I really remember reading that UNC prefers the SAT over the ACT, maybe I dreamed it up. 0.o I couldn’t find it when I looked for it again earlier.</p>
<p>UNC used to prefer the SAT over the ACT, but no longer has a preference for either test. Class rank is about as important as at most other top universities. If you are in state and in a larger/more competitive school district, you will want to be in the top 10% of your class, if you are out of state (or in state and from a smaller, less competitive school district), you will want to be in the top 5% of your class.</p>
<p>These are general guidelines…not hard and fast rules…UNC puts a lot of emphasis on subjective factors (well, a lot more than most public schools), leading to some surprising in state rejections every year.</p>
<p>I guess I didn’t realize all of the places on the application that they ask about rank. But I’m glad that they no longer prefer the SAT because my ACT was better :)</p>
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Ah, so I’m not completely out of my mind…</p>
<p>I actually just found out that I was number 10 out of about 200 freshman this past year! But I definetely want to get into the top 3 this year!</p>
<p>And aigiqinf, I have most definetely considered NCSSM and am applying this year</p>