Hello College Confidential! I was a having a question about the class rank I should put on my Common Application. As of now, I am rank 2 in my class of 78. However, our school has weighted GPA's and I am taking seven AP classes this year while the first ranked person is taking two. She has discussed her GPA with me and I know that I will very highly likely be number 1 in my class after this semester's grades are posted. The grades are usually not updated until January 3, but she has gotten extensions on some of her online classes that will make it so the official grades will not be posted until around January 18, making it impossible for our senior class to obtain their updated transcripts. I have completed my semester 1 classes, but will not have the updated transcripts until at least January 18. In my letter of recommendation, my guidance councilor has also noted that I will most likely be #1 in class rank after this semester. The dilemma I am having is if I should keep number 2 as my class rank and send my updated transcript as soon as it is posted to all of the schools with the risk of them not seeing the updated transcript and only seeing class rank #2 or putting #1 as my class rank and sending the updated transcripts after January 18 to my schools. I am applying to all Ivy Leagues and other notable universities and do not want to be auto-denied due to my class rank. I would appreciate advice on what to put as my class rank and I thank you!
Report your class rank as it is now. If it changes you can update it, but I don’t think 1 vs 2 will really make a difference. No one is going to be auto denied for being 2nd in their class.
Your GC is putting you down as the likely #1 in your class, which is all you need.
However, if you think that ANY student is “auto-denied” for being ranked #2 in their class you are wildly out of touch with reality. Nor does being #1 make it any more likely that you will get into Harvard than being #2.