<p>I submitted my application and SRAR to Illinois today. Since my school does not rank, our counselor sends a school profile along with the transcript that shows a graph of the weighted averages. From there you can "ballpark" the student's class rank. However this year UIUC admissions will not be getting this profile or my transcript because they are using this new SRAR system where you input your own transcript into the computer. How will they know my class rank? It seems to be an important factor in admissions?</p>
<p>then U of I will not know your class rank. My school doesn’t provide class rank either but thankfully my mom was able to email the head counselor and he provided it so I was able to but U of I will not know your class rank then.</p>
<p>I am out of state so it is not like admissions knows anything about my high school. I just find it out that one of the criteria for admission is class rank and I will not be able to provide one because of the SRAR system. If not for the new system my counselor would send a school profile where admissions could see where I fit it and see the rigor of my high school now they have none of that info! It does not seem to work in my favor!</p>
<p>SRAR has nothing to do with determining class rank. Your admissions decision is primarily based on your gpa, class rank, course rigor, and standardized test score through your junior year. If your school does not officially rank on the transcript sent, then the admissions office will calculate a rank based on a school profile provided by your HS counselor. Your application undergoes special handling to arrive at a computed class rank.</p>
<p>SRAR, as I understand it, allows you to self report your senior year grades directly into the admissions database. Self-reported grades, as I understand it, will be subject to an audit of final transcripts sent by your high school, with material differences requiring explanation, which, if inadequate, may adversely affect your academic record. It would be ideal if Drusba would fill in the blanks here on both computed class rank procedures as well as SRAR’s purpose and any follow up the UIUC admissions office might take regarding material discrepancies between what has been self-reported and what the final official transcript from your HS sends in upon graduation.</p>
<p>Correction on the SRAR information above. I see your point, OP. In the SRAR, you self-report your entire academic career, and no official transcript is sent for your application to be considered complete. Essentially SRAR pushes the data entry of individual courses and their grades out to the applicant. This allows admissions to more quickly process the 25,000-30,000 applications they receive. In SRAR, you can check a box indicating that your school(s) does not rank its students. Admissions, as stated above, will then calculate your approximate class rank based on a profile of the high school(s) sent by your counselor(s), if it’s not already on file. If admitted, your school will need to send in your final, official transcript so that your SRAR can be verified.</p>
<p>Right…that is my point. I am out of state and we have only about 6-7 kids apply from my school every year. I don’t really think they know too much about my high school without a school profile. I have posed the question on the admissions blog with no response yet. I will call admissions if it comes to that before the deadline. I would like admissions to have a school profile so they can see the rigor of my school and see where I fit into my school as an approximate rank.</p>
<p>Not to beat this point down but they would only have a school profile from last year since school profiles are sent with transcripts and with the new SRAR system no transcripts are sent. Even if they had the school profile from last year it would not be applicable to my class. Every year they give a graph of the weighted GPAs and you can determine from the bar graph your approximate class rank. It changes with each graduating class. Do you see where I am going…I will call Admissions I guess…seems like a flaw in the system to me!</p>
<p>I’d call if I were you. If you have time, post the results of the conversation. I’m assuming that they can obtain a current school profile, regardless of whether transcripts are sent. I doubt your school will turn down a request for a current profile saying “Sorry, no transcript, no profile…”. But, an assumption is what I’m basing that statement on.</p>
<p>I did call admissions and they were very helpful. She said not to worry that if they needed to get more information they would look up the profile online or call the counselor at our high school. She did say that they are not considering class rank as much as rigor and whether the student challenged themselves with AP classes that were offered.</p>
<p>The Business school is very competitive to get into…hoping for the best!</p>
<p>Plain fact is this is not one they completely thought through. In SRAR you provide rank if your high school ranks. If it does not or only provides ranges you answer that the school does not rank. Thus, they won’t necessarily assume that school provides ranges by answer given. This year class rank has become a secondary factor and GPA and class rigor will be more important; that actually started to a degree last year. Part of the reason is that more and more high school’s have gone to not providing rank. However, they are still doing estimates of rank. If they feel they need a new profile (they do have last years), they will contact the high school to get it. This way schools will send only one profile rather than one with every transcript. Nevertheless, internal issue they are having is different in that SRAR also does not tell you number of AP and honors courses offered at a high school so you can evaluate rigor of schedule particularly for those that show only a small number taken (which is often becuas ethe school has a small number, a fact they want to know) and those change often enough, although not usually significantly, that strictly relying on prior year profile might not be enough for a particular school. Apparently someone overlooked the fact that other colleges that use a SRAR system, such as the UCs, have a sytem where high schools submit the school profiles. Possibly some changes for next year.</p>
<p>That is exactly the feeling I was getting from Admissions. It is a bummer for me being from out of state and not being an known entity to Illinois admissions. I am from the east coast and only about 7 kids from my school apply and few attend! However, it is my top choice! I wish they had the profile in hand so they knew the rigor of my high school because I think that would work in my favor! She did assure me that they would look at the profile online if “it came to that”…meaning for borderline applicants.</p>
<p>I just hope they don’t defer a lot of Business school applicants during priority because of this. I want to get in December 16th!</p>
<p>What they need is a national “Standardized Profile for High Schools” that universities can programatically tap into to extract data for use in the application process. I’m available to create that database…(contact me at 1-800-PayMeCash). Just kidding, but I think a standardized profile would be a good idea.</p>