<p>say someone is barely in the top 30% of their class at a competetive hs but has 33-34 on the act. can they expect to get into highly selective schools? what do you think is the most selective school they can get in to if every thing else about them is decent but not stellar?</p>
<p>Well, unless you have a good hook, Ivy and Ivy comparable schools are out of the question. But I’m sure you’ll end up going to a great school. What state do you live in? Do you prefer LACs or Universities?</p>
<p>mostly good state schools( mich, wisconsin, indiana, uc boulder, syracuse)
and some privates (BC USC, miami)</p>
<p>i should also note that i have a significant upward trend with poor freshman year grades.</p>
<p>Those all sound realistic. You’ll definitely get into your flagship state U. unless you live in Mich or Cali, but even then you probably will.</p>
<p>thanks, im worried because some of those schools say like 90% graduated in the top 10%, will not being in the top 10 or 20 percent keep me out??</p>
<p>If 90% of the incoming class were in the top 10% of their high school class, then yes, not being in the top 10% will almost surely keep you out. Unfortunately, that’s why they’re called elite or selective.</p>
<p>not even if my test scores are above the 75%?</p>
<p>I ****ed too, My class rank is terrible but I’m just as qualified as any Princeton acceptee. I’m in the top 11% of my class, just floating out there, even w/ 2300 SAT 4.0 GPA and national office for extracurriculars along with pwnzor relationship w/ my counseler. The only thing keeping me out? Class rank, because so many morons at my school take all easy classes in order to sneak into the top 10%. </p>
<p>I’m working my butt off now to get a perfect 100.0 GPA so I can sneak back int oteh top 10%, and kick those suckers out who dont deserve to be there.</p>
<p>RootBeerCaesar, you do realize that Princeton’s gonna know why you aren’t in the top 10%, and will be totally chill with that, right? Because your ranking is messed up, they’ll probably just ditch it and measure you based on your classes and grades.</p>
<p>I suppose, but I just felt in the “heat of the moment” for that post there. The acceptance rate for ivies for ppl not in the top 10% though is like 1-2%, so when I saw that statistic a few days ago I just like felt uber-depressed</p>
<p>Your reason is valid. I don’t believe that it will auto-disqualify you.</p>
<p>
The acceptance rate for most of the ivies drops significantly after the top 10 or so ranked students, let alone top ___% percentiles.</p>
<p>edit: of course it’s a bit different for students at highly competitive high schools, where most students are admitted to elite schools (and thus, being in the top 10-30%+ is not a problem at all)</p>
<p>If 90% of the incoming class were in the top 10% of their high school class, then yes, not being in the top 10% will almost surely keep you out. Unfortunately, that’s why they’re called elite or selective.</p>
<p>That is an incorrect statement. When they say 90% are in the top10% of a class, that is referring to the number of students who actually submitted their class rank. Class rank isn’t popular anymore, in fact, in many schools only ~50% submit their rank.</p>
<p>yea, which still makes it suck for schools that submit class ranks…only if my school would listen to reason.</p>
<p>Some related questions:</p>
<p>1) What if my school does not rank, but I know for sure I have the 2nd GPA? You realize that it’s not hard to figure out who has the first 2-3 GPAs from a school class. How strange will it look in my application if I say rank 2, but then I say school doesn’t rank?</p>
<p>2) The opposite of the topic question: to what extend does a very high class rank make up for not so great test scores, especially at top schools like Ivies? Am I screwed up with a score around 2000-2100, but near perfect GPA?</p>
<p>As I wrote once on the Harvard Forum, “It’s never enough background information to ask about grades without identifying the courses too.” What kind of courses each high school student is taking makes a HUGE difference to admission officers.</p>
<p>Same crap happened to me, the top 8 kids really belong there, they took every higher level course since 8th grade, since in our school 8th grade counts when you are taking honors/accelerated courses. BUT kid 9 to 22 took regular classes, aced them, bombed their regents exams, well in the 80’s. Senior year they are taking cake electives, almost guarenteed 95 or greater mid year grades. Our school gives no extra weight to accelerated/honors courses at all. </p>
<p>The rest of us idiots who took accelerated courses, APs in all subjects that we could avail of, who have solid 92-94 GPAs are ranked down below them. </p>
<p>Three of the scholarships that are worth at least 12-15K from my dads job, go by SAT score and Rank. Well in a class of 225 and your ranked 26, doesn’t help much even with an SAT score over 2200.</p>
<p>We should have never have taken these stupid AP courses would have been in the top 3-4 %. </p>
<p>The kids who got screwed dropped all their AP exams( I didn’t yet, not sure if I should) to take easier courses, to kick them back up into the top 10.</p>
<p>I think the failure to take available AP courses would hurt you more than a few positions in rank.
I think probably the answer to the OP’s question, as well as the alternative question about high GPA and lower scores is: somewhat.</p>
<p>^ That is true up to a degree. Once you fall out of the top decile, then having not taken those AP classes would be less hurtful than the loss of class rank…
. I dont regret taking my AP classes, just I wish those other kids in my class would have taken them too, so they wouldnt have such a high UNDEsERVED Rank. I mean, is my 94 in AP classes really ranked lower academically than their 95 in college-prepatory (not even honors) classes? pftt</p>
<p>say i took the hardest classes available but was only in the top 30% wuth a 3.45 uw gpa and 34 ACT what is the most selective school you think i could get into? (michigan?)</p>