<p>If you don't make the top 10% at your school, is all hope lost? More schools that may not even be ivy league but are very competitive have student profiles with more than 70% of kids that were in the top 10% at their high school. I am pretty sure that I will rank up there, but if I don't I will probably be very close to it. And since my school only ranks the students who make it to the top 10%, I wouldn't get a rank.</p>
<p>Would you have to settle for a non-competitive school if you don't make it to the top? (My average is above a 95 unweighted)</p>
<p>crzy2rite,
Here are the facts for % of students that were in the Top 10% of their high school classes. Admissions at private colleges tend to be more holistic while public universities are more rigid and will have a higher % coming out of their state's Top 10%. In your case, all is definitely not lost as there are many good schools with relatively low Top 10% numbers. Here is the data for the USNWR Top 50 schools. Good luck. </p>
<p>1 Princeton 94%
2 Harvard 95%
3 Yale 95%
4 Cal Tech 88%
4 Stanford 89%
4 MIT 97%
7 U Penn 94%
8 Duke 87%
9 U Chicago 80%
9 Dartmouth 90%
9 Columbia na
12 Wash U StL na
12 Cornell 84%
14 Northwestern 83%
15 Brown 91%
16 J Hopkins 80%
17 Rice 87%
18 Emory 85%
18 Vanderbilt 79%
20 Notre Dame 85%
21 UC Berkeley 99%
21 Carnegie Mellon 75%
23 Georgetown 84%
24 U Michigan 90%
24 U Virginia 88%
26 UCLA 97%
27 USC 86%
27 Tufts 83%
27 U North Carolina 76%
30 Wake Forest 63%
31 Brandeis 76%
31 W & M 79%
33 Lehigh 90%
34 Boston College 80%
34 NYU 67%
34 U Rochester 65%
34 U Wisconsin 58%
38 UC SD 99%
38 Georgia Tech 54%
38 Case Western 68%
41 U Illinois UC 55%
42 Rensselaer 62%
42 U Washington 84%
44 UC Irvine 96%
44 Tulane 51%
44 Yeshiva na
47 UC Davis 95%
47 UC S Barbara 96%
47 U Florida na
47 Penn State 37%
47 U Texas 73%</p>
<p>The top 10% thing is a myth. If you look at admissions statistics, applicants without a hook who get into top colleges are mostly top 2% at worst coming from an average school. At a school that has 70% come from the top 10% you would assume that the 30% who did not had hooks.</p>
<p>Actually, my son is 15 of 575 ( 3% ? ), has GPA of 4.6(w) and did 1430/2140 and frankly, I doubt ( I hope I am wrong ) that schools such as UVa and G-Town will want him....so the "number's" game is sometimes more of a lottery than a formula...</p>
<p>Can't say that makes me feel better about the situation, but thanks for the help. I am pretty sure I will be in the top 10% but hopefully if I am not, someone with a 92 average who may have been in the ranking will be picked over me...grades themselves should count for something too.</p>
<p>don't worry i wasn't top 10%. i barely missed it but i am in a really competitive school so colleges understood. your average is really good so i think you'd have a good chance depends on your sats/ ec/ courseload.</p>
<p>"Actually, my son is 15 of 575 ( 3% ? ), has GPA of 4.6(w) and did 1430/2140 and frankly, I doubt ( I hope I am wrong ) that schools such as UVa and G-Town will want him....so the "number's" game is sometimes more of a lottery than a formula..."</p>
<p>Quite the pessimist are you? If your son is in-state he will most DEFINITELY get into UVA. I had stats lower than your son's and I know A LOT of people from my high school who got into UVA with stats lower than your son's... he's in. If he's out-of-state, then your son still has a respectable shot... OOS is hard to predict at UVA because it's extremely competitive. </p>
<p>Also, I think your son has a great shot at Georgetown. I only know two kids from my high school that applied to Georgetown, both had stats similar to your son's. One got waitlisted, the other got accepted. I would say your son has a good shot...</p>