<p>“The impression I’ve gotten from CC is that everyone at the top knows each other’s ranks, in which case, it wouldn’t be odd. See the thread asking about racial composition of the top ten for an example of this.”</p>
<p>Clearly not “everyone,” and not everyone at the top either. The impression you’ve gotten is wrong, and is odd because I’m not just comparing you to other creepers on this site. I’m comparing you to the normal, top student-y people I know from everyone. None of them know anyone else’s grades or rank.</p>
<p>“This results from the familiarity I have with the top 15-20 members of my class, undoubtedly because all our classes are together. The impression I’ve gotten from CC is that this is not a unique phenomenon to my school.”</p>
<p>But how would you feel qualified to say that one person is for sure smarter than another, unless you are close friends? If you are, I’m surprised that you would give thought to that at all. Again, CC impressions are worthless. What have we learned? Some, many, whatever, CC members are weirdos. Does that make the behavior less strange? No.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: I’m not saying that you’re auto-bizarre if you know other people’s grades. Still, unless the school releases the info, knowing all the top 5 or top 10 strikes me as…odd.</p>