<p>How important is it to have a class rank in the top 10%? I'm currently in like the top 8% but I'm sure that could fluctuate by the time I'm a senior next year, for the better or worse.. Is being in the top 10% acceptable for Ivies? I know there's no "magic formula" but clearly somebody who's only in the top quarter of their class does not have as good of a chance.. My gpa is only about a 3.4 but my rank is 31/413 so will a good rank make up for a not so stellar gpa?</p>
<p>ask your school’s GC and check out the Naviance. Both will tell you hard number chances at your level.</p>
<p>Being in the top 10% is essential for an unhooked candidate at an ivy, but just top 10% would not get most in. If you look closely at ivy stats, you’ll see kids not from top high schools arevtypically the val or sal.</p>
<p>a lot of schools like to brag about how many of their freshman class is from the top 10% of their h.s. class. It is not a deal breaker, but if you are unhooked, it could make a lot of difference when push comes to shove. Work as hard as you can to stay in the top 10%.</p>
<p>Some approximate numbers to keep things in perspective:
3,000,000 - high school graduates
1,500,000 - college-bound graduates
15,000 - size of combined ivy class starting fall 2011 (1% of college-bound grads)</p>
<p>The ivies do not require you to be in the top 10% of your graduating class to be admitted. The UCs, however, do.</p>
<p>The ivies do expect a higher GPA than 3.4.</p>
<p>RML is incorrect. Wow RML, you have some highly unusual myths about UCB!!</p>
<p>UCB, like all of the UCs, profess that they are there for the top 12.5% of California students. Largely, this is the case, but they seek to enroll kids from all over the state, and maintain some holistic methods in admissions to get at least a little diversity. This does yield students with a variety of ranks. They actually
don’t look at rank at all.</p>
<p>To get into an ivy not being in the top 10% takes an act of god, all are much more selective than Berkeley.</p>
<p>@ Erin’s Dad, to my understanding a good class rank can negate a bad gpa and vise versa… i think class rank’s put gpa into context more considering how much they vary nationwide (gpas)</p>
<p>Stocker, think about it, that makes NO sense. It’s about rank. You can gave a 9.0, and if rank is low, who cares?</p>
<p>At Harvard 95% of their incoming freshman were in the top 10%. 100% were top 25%.</p>
<p>I’d assume that answers the question. The 5% that were outside were definitely all hooked (URM, Legacy, Recruit, etc)</p>
<p>The rules for top boarding or other special case schools may be different, but for regular high schools I agree with Redroses that top 10% is necessary but definitely not sufficient for Ivy admissions.</p>
<p>For some reason (probably because the % in top 10% is a commonly reported statistic) a lot of people seem to think that being in the top 10% is enough, but in most cases it isn’t.</p>
<p>Take my kids’ HS as a case in point. As one of the best high schools in an underrepresentated State, it probably sends more than its proportionate share of students to elite colleges. There are about 300 students in each graduating class, so the top 10% is 30 or so kids.</p>
<p>Two years ago the val (recruited athlete) went to Princeton, the sal went to Columbia, the #5 kid (also an athlete) went to Brown, the #7 or 8 kid (a legacy) went to UPenn, and another top 10 kid had his choice between UVA and West Point. Most of the rest of the top 10% went to other good but not particulary elite OOS schools or our State flagship. There were no elite acceptances outside the top 10%.</p>
<p>Last year was similar. Of the top ten (top 10, not 10%) two went to UPenn and one to Duke. Nothing notable outside the top 10 or top 10%.</p>
<p>So from what I’ve seen, without a hook you’d need to be in the top 3% or so to have a decent shot at any Ivy. Legacy or URM might drop that down to top 10%, and for a recruited athlete (depending on the school, sport, and how strong an athlete) it might drop down to outside the top 10%, but I find that pretty difficult to fathom. I agree with Redroses’ assessment: “To get into an ivy not being in the top 10% takes an act of god”</p>
<p>being top 10% does not give you automatic admission to UCB or UCLA or even 2nd teir UC’s. My D is top 8% of the best public school in the county she did not get in UCB or UCLA, we are residents of CA. </p>
<p>As I have illustrated before in another posting. Top 10% of a HS class will be around 150,000 students while only 20-30% of that will be admitted to USNEWS T25 schools, that is 3% of the total college bound students.</p>
<p>Redroses, that’s the point that I was making… maybe you misunderstood.</p>