<p>I have a 4.0 and a 2030 SAT with good EC’s, and I’m not in top ten percent. Tell me I’m not as qualified as most of at least the 10-7 percent of other Texas kids because my school is ridiculous.</p>
<p>Honestly, whether you think your school is riddiculous and whether it’s actually that riddiculous are two different things.</p>
<p>A 4.0 GPA can mean any number of things. At some schools it’s the best you can do, at others it’s all right, and at some places like Austin Westlake it’s terrible.</p>
<p>That’s why UT uses class rank. They can’t compare your grades to someone else’s with a completely different system, so they see where you rank amongst your peers. Simply because you went to a good high school should not automatically qualify you for admission, I’m sorry.</p>
<p>at my school rank is based on points accumulated from the pre-AP and AP classes you take. most athletes are at a disadvantage because 2 of our 8 classes are sports, and some people move here and are not aware of this point system until it is too late to catch up with those who have gotten more rank points their freshman and sophomore year. our class rank is so distorted that almost 200 out of 600 in our class are graduating summa cum laude and 60 are in the 10% percent.
Unfortunately both of the described situations above occured to me, and i have not been able to get in the 10% percent. people who “played the game right” and have so-so grades automatically get in and people who have conflicts with EC’s and good grades have to be possibly rejected?
That’s why this automatic admission rule is so screwed up.</p>
<p>People that are not fully aware of the GPA game at their school are at a big disadvantage. Ranking is not just about taking a challenging load and doing your best. There are so many ways to manipulate the system. In our area, the top ranked students typically take high school classes in junior high, summer school at least 2 summers, sports only 2 years, are not in band, etc. By the time most figure this out, it is too late.</p>
<p>My child was fully aware of these rules just chose to take a very challenging load even though she usually got “B” s. She just liked the classes. It will probably land her at UTSA, but it just wasn’t worth summer school and always worrying about the grade rather than the actual class to her.</p>
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<p>Ridiculous only has one d</p>
<p>Sorry - once, it’s a typo, twice, it’s a spelling error.;)</p>
<p>loneranger, that’s exactly what I’m saying. A 4.0 at one school isn’t a 4.0 at another school – just like top 10% at one school isn’t top 10% at another. Using a very variable factor like class rank is just unfair. The entire student over all has to be considered.</p>