The Importance of Rank

<p>My application looks great, except for the fact that I am ranked 18/650 and I have "very demanding" checked off as oppose to "most demanding". Is this going to kill my chances?</p>

<p>It won’t kill you, i’m sure
as long as you have some aps/ibs, i’m sure you’ll be good</p>

<p>well it definitely won’t help your chances, but remember you’re more than a rank or an SAT score, your essays and recommendations weigh significantly</p>

<p>You’re still top 3%. I can’t imagine that that could hurt you too much.</p>

<p>I will say I believe rank to be HUGE (at least at my D’s large public high school). About 700 kids in the class. It’s a top 500 school in the country. Very good for who it serves (bottom and top of economic levels of large city). But TOP ivies take 1-3 per year, and Top 20 schools only add a few more onto that. They do ONLY select from the top… 10? students. Even though it’s very competitive, and top 50 students are very qualified and also very well rounded (GPA, scores, athletes, contest winners, etc.). </p>

<p>So it depends on your school. If you’re a tiny podunk country school with 5 AP classes that doesn’t send kids to Ivies…then #18 is not good enough. But if you’re east coast prep boarding school where top 20 kids are all 5.0 and 2300…then it will be good enough to be considered.</p>

<p>I personally also think the “very demanding” is not really good enough. Not for top 20 schools anyway. Why would then take that person when they have 10,000 more lined up with the same stats that took the “most demanding”. It’s an important box. </p>

<p>I say all this because my D is in the same boat and I feel she also has no chance. And Yale doesn’t traditionally show much love to our school. So, if a person takes 3-4 APS each year…that is still not THE most demanding because plenty of kids take 5-7 as Juniors/seniors. </p>

<p>But…whatcha gonna do? Apply. Wait. Good luck!!</p>

<p>I freaked out because i was ranked 26/316, but I ended up getting in everywhere I applied (including 3 other iviezz). There were many people ranked higher than me who were rejected to the schools I applied to, but there were no people below me accepted to an ivy either (but many of them now attend top 20 schools like hopkins, duke, etc).</p>

<p>I went to a random public school.</p>

<p>That’s good to hear…EATINGFOOD. And I know you’re an artist…so is my D. But do I recall reading you’re also a legacy? Or some othe hook? I thought I read that awhile back but I’m probably wrong. At my D’s “random public”…only THE top GPAs/rank get in to top Ivies (5.0-5.2/rank 1-5 of 700).</p>

<p>I am relieved eating food. I was freaked out by some other posts here. Thanks for all your input thus far, people of the forums. I am beginning to calm down.</p>

<p>R124687: Tis true that I am a urm and legacy, but I think what made them overlook my rank was the fact that my school doesn’t weight classes like band and drama (which I took all four years). This hurts a lot of kids at my school, especially because GPAs in the top 10% are so close together. Thus, at least at my school, it’s not uncommon for people ranked lower than 10 to get into ivies.</p>