<p>I think it is sort of unfair that some schools place little importance on class rank. I have a 3.77 GPA but am in the top 3% in a class of 650 students. If class rank is not considered, then a person with a 3.9 GPA in the top 20% with the same course load at an easy school would appear to be a better student than me when it may not be the case. Isn't that unfair? I think I was looking at Northeastern's common data set and it said class rank is not very important at all :l</p>
<p>Except in certain situations, like formula schools or UT admissions, GPA is almost always looked at in context - which is a fancy way of saying that they look at more than just the number your GPA is, they also look at how everyone else in your school does. </p>
<p>Class rank by itself is a misleading number, knowing where the breakpoints are for top 5%, 10%, and 25% combined with knowing how many APs the average student takes and then looking at your GPA and transcript produces a much clearer picture.</p>
<p>Sorry that won’t help you much at Northeastern but it’s not true across the board that Class Rank is not very important. U Texas has rank as the most important element in admission. As MrMom stated it’s usually look at in conjunction with GPA and class rigor.</p>