I apologize if this is beating a dead horse. I thought I’d seen some threads on this, but just can’t find them. My kid’s HS does not rank students any longer, which I understand is pretty common. I asked our College & Career Counselor if there was a way I could at least get a decile to aid in my search for merit aid, and what they do for colleges who ‘require’ it according to the CDS. This was the counselor’s response:
"We do not order our GPAs to calculate rank so I can’t provide you with any ranges or deciles. We do not provide any of these details to colleges or scholarship agencies either. "
I also looked at our high school report to see if this information could be inferred from any information in it. No dice. So, my question is, are kids at a disadvantage in their quest for merit aid and college admission when rank is not divulged, even though everything I hear is that this is a good thing? I’m assuming the answer is that it’s ‘important’, but not required…and really doesn’t matter if the school reports it even though they say it’s required. That doesn’t make sense to me.
By way of example, UMinn - TC states it is ‘required’.
My kid’s high school did not rank. Our guidance counselor was willing to write in her recommendation that my son was in the the top 5 % of the class. Perhaps your DC could define it that way.
There are several ways. First, in the GC LOR, it may show a decile estimate as mentioned above. Second, in the school profile report, it may show the distribution of GPA in the school and your rank may be estimated from there. Third, the adcom may compare your stat with other students from your high school as a reference.
My D’s school does not rank, however, the state mandated merit exam does and they give awards to the top 5 students of each school (after factoring in GPA). That was the only way I found out my D’s class rank to be among the top 5 out of 400+.
@ErinsDad I heard an admission officer from UT-Austin speak recently and she said that if the school does not rank that they have a way where they calculate a (projected/estimated) rank for the applicant (even OOS applicants)-- not sure exactly how they do it, and I guess the rank they calculate could prove to be an advantage to some kids and a disadvantage to others (as compared to what their actual rank would be).
Our HS doesn’t rank either, but they recognize the top 5%, so in fact, they are ranking to some degree. Also, our HS lets the student know what decile they are in.
The decile estimate is bull in my son’s school. He got into a highly ranked engineering program and according to the decile method, he was barely in the top 50% of the class.
Why not just ASK the college what to do? Your child’s HS is not the first to not rank.
@billcsho Yeah, our school report does not show the GPA distribution. I thought it would be there, as others have mentioned this as well. I asked my daughter’s counselor in a setting with other parents about this, and she confirmed they have no way of ‘sorting’ GPAs, so couldn’t provide either rank or decile. Maybe when pressed on this, and in a LOR she would find a way…I guess at this point I can’t worry about it.
Colleges want as much data as possible to determine suitability – that’s natural. With the cessation of many HSs providing ranks – the colleges adopt. If your kid’s other info contains top grades in a very rigorous curriculum and top ACT/SAT – the colleges will be able to infer suitability. Remember, they WANT kids w/great academic potential and seek to reward them w/merit $ and acceptances b/c they know those kids are being wooed by other colleges too.