<p>I moved before my junior year and so now I am unranked in my school. I recieved Mostly As at my old school. Straight As junior year. Taking as many AP classes as offered-like 9 so far 5s on ap tests. 1520 out of 1600 on SATs. Got national merit scholar letter, not sure if semifinalist. Doest it hurt that im unranked in my class and that my GPA is hard to figure out? Also would love to go to W&M my mom went there and loved it </p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>With grades, SAT scores, and a rigor of course that strong I really don’t think it’ll be an issue for you. Besides, only about 40% of admitted students attend a school which reports class rank, so they usually just look at your grades in the context of the school you attend, taking into account stuff like your schools average GPA/ the classes offered/etc. I’ve got a feeling your academic achievements will look stellar no matter what the context. Best of luck!</p>
<p>We certainly do not disadvantage any student who is unranked. When that is the case we look at the course rigor and grades as we do for any student plus we evaluate the high school profile (information your school sends us on its course offerings, grading policies, etc.) which oftentimes provides some context for a student’s GPA. Furthermore, it’s not uncommon for us to see students who have attended multiple high schools. We understand that those students’ rank and GPAs are out of context at their current schools and we take that into consideration. </p>
<p>We caution any student to remember that we admit only about 33% of those who apply so no one should bank on getting into W&M but certainly the academic credentials you’ve self reported are very strong and we’d definitely encourage you to apply to W&M. Furthermore, your status as a legacy will be a plus factor for you.</p>
<p>Wow I am impressed that w&m admissions actually responded to me that’s pretty nice. Thanks for the explanation. I am looking forward to visit w&m this week during spring break!
Thanks again</p>
<p>We’re here to help. We visit the W&M thread on CC every weekday to assist prospective students and parents so feel free to post questions at any time.</p>
<p>Enjoy your upcoming visit to campus!</p>
<p>W&M Admissions - How do you deal with rank based on UNweighted GPA? That is how my S’s school does it and it seems like it really hurts the kids who take lots of AP classes. My S will have 10 AP classes when he graduates with a 95/100 UW GPA, but will ‘only’ be ranked in the top 5%. The #1 student will have taken only 2 or 3 AP classes.</p>
<p>Also, will this negatively afftect his chance for scholarships (I have read that they are typically kids in the top 1% of their class).</p>
<p>Thnaks!</p>
<p>We look at whether the rank is unweighted or weighted and take that into account. We realize that unweighted ranks are generally deflated from what they should be and do not penalize the student for that (although a ranking in the top 5% is still incredibly strong whether weighted or not). This will not hurt your S’s chances for scholarship. Again, we note if the rank is unweighted and if the student takes a ton of APs and has nearly all As and isn’t at the very top of his/her class, we can assume that’s because the rank is unweighted and adjust our lense accordingly. </p>
<p>The “top 1%” stat of scholarship is merely an estimate, not an exact cut-off.</p>
<p>W&M - thanks!</p>
<p>No problem. We’re happy to help</p>