<p>So class rigor and strength of high school cannot balance the weight that class rank puts on an application?</p>
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So class rigor and strength of high school cannot balance the weight that class rank puts on an application?
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<p>It would appear not. My advice to someone wanting to get into an Ivy is to transfer to a weak school with weak competition.</p>
<p>That is why we have test scores, extra curricular activities, and essays people. Basically Tarhunt is correct. GPAs can be extremely misleading and you basically have to deal with it. The same thing he/she just showed happened with my GPA. I mean if the college really wants you, they aren't going to care if you got an extra 'B' or you're ranked below the top 10%. I wouldn't fret about it...it's all beyond your control now.</p>
<p>Tarhunt provided a good hypothetical case.</p>
<p>But as you know, kids who have that kind of schedule and still pull out those grades are usually very bright kids. Although they might go up or down a few spots in ranking, they are probably going to belong in the top 10% anyway, which from that point, won't really matter. That is, of course unless you are in a very competitive school where everyone has that schedule..</p>
<p>btw my counselor would just round a 11 or 12% to a 10% because there are 84 kids in my grade and one person equals more than 1% (chuckles)</p>
<p>I was in maybe the top 25% of my high school, GPA-wise. I was admitted to 5 of my 8 schools, two of which were top ten schools (Harvard and UChicago), and others of which were still pretty competitive (Tufts, BC, NYU). So if you feel like GPA's are the only thing that are getting you down, apply anyways - I didn't let my relatively "low" GPA slow me down.</p>
<p>are you black</p>
<p>Class rank is probably the most overrated admissions statistic that there is.
A quick survey of the footnotes on USNWR indicates that many colleges report the data on the basis of less than 50% of their classes. Sure it is helpful to be in the top 10% maybe even necessary for a non-urm, non-recurited athlete, non-legacy at HYPS but in the the context of a top 20-30 school, as mentioned in the OP, it is not that big a deal. That is unless you are talking about one of the the competitive state schools like Berkely, UCLA, UVA, or Michigan. In those cases top 10 % is very important.</p>
<p>Be careful on the class rank statistics. If you check the common data sets of many colleges, you'll see some where less than half of the matriculants attend high schools that rank students; I think Williams is 30%.</p>
<p>I disagree with Tarhunt. Yes, I know the Ivies accepts xx% of Vals each year, but many of them are from small schools, with a graduating class of 100 or less. In contrast, a competitive HS will 500 graduates can do extremely well with HYPSM et al. A nationally known high school like TJ or Bronx Science will send dozens to the Ancient Eight.</p>
<p>curious: class rank is not a consideration for UC admissions, unless its the ELC program (top 4% are guaranteed admission to the mid-lower UCs).</p>
<p>Nope I got into my first choice school and I think I was around 30% or something. I'd bet the reason people in the top 10% of their class are so often the ones admitted to school is just because the ones in the top 10% are usually better overall anyways. I was just a huge slacker in HS and my grades showed it.</p>
<p>"You guys are lucky that your schools weight at all. My school ranks but doesn't weight. UGH!"</p>
<p>My senior year, four of us were admitted to Ivies. I think I was the highest ranked (about 10th or 12th out of 210); attended one of the HYP schools. The others (3 to UPenn) were probably near the 10th percentile. But the fact is that we took the most rigorous classes. Your GC report will clearly state this regardless of a less than top few class ranking.</p>
<p>Unweighted GPAs isn't that hard to work with for adcoms who are worth their salt. Don't worry, they aren't missing anything.</p>
<p>That being said, for the OP: the single biggest determinant to your admission/rejection at top schools will be your academic potential. Did you really go after the toughest curriculum? Are you really a lover of learning? If you did then you're in a better position than people ranked above you who took cream puff classes. However, if your courseload looks just like theirs, then yes -- you're at an extreme disadvantage.</p>