Hopefully not, as there is no data that support that belief, AFAIK. More likely rooted in historical practices which no one has challenged. Over the last 10-15 years or so many HSs have stopped calculating rank one would think administrators at schools that rank would take note.
There are data showing the downsides of the practice:
Places extra stress on students
Negative impact on students’ mental health
Depending on calculation methodology, can incent students to not challenge themselves in a rigorous curriculum.
Can incent students to not take risks and/or courses they might like rather than courses they ‘must’ take
Increases competitiveness between students, rather than incenting teamwork and cooperation (which are more highly valued in today’s workplace than the opposite, IMO)
I’m sure there are more reasons that others can share
I have an additional one. Schools have SOOOO many different ways to calculate GPA that this could also add to the reasons. In addition, some schools that do rank use weighted GPA and others use unweighted. Really…comparing apples to potatoes.
Our HS ranked before my youngest was a HS junior. They also had a GPA calculation formula with a flaw in it. When the formula was corrected, the class ranks of just about everyone changed. The school decided to specifically rank only the top 10 students in each class. Everyone else was “ranked” in deciles. I’m not sure, but I believe they have since stopped ranking altogether.
I do not disagree that class ranking can have the effects on students that you list.
This can be true for various ways to calculate HS GPA. Or college GPA (for pre-med, pre-law, etc. students).
Workplaces can often be competitive in actuality (especially when there is an “up or out” culture), but one often has to avoid being seen by others as competitive or cutthroat.
My kids’ school stopped ranking eons ago. However, they do send out an explanation of the only GPA they give, which is weighted. They also include a bar graph showing how many students in the class have a GPA over 4.0, 3.5-4.0, 3.0-3.5, and so on. So at best, the colleges can see that the kid is in the, say, top 10% of the class, and if their GPA is closer to the high end of that range, they can assume that the student is one of the very top students. They don’t even have a valedictorian or salutatorian any longer, although the top two students are given a minor role at graduation, without any mention in the program why they got that role. Also, awards are given at a separate, invitation only ceremony, so that only the kids who got awards know about it. And still, the students do know who are the top students! But between that and the fact that there are no minuses/pluses in the GPA calculation (although the minus and plus does appear on the transcript), it does seem to have somewhat decreased that extreme pressure on the top students.
As for the cheating issue - unless the class is at a horrible school with absolutely no expectations, then yes, the very low AP score combined with a very high class grade can indicate cheating. One of my kids was somewhat socially isolated, and didn’t know that the “in” crowd were all cheating on take home assignments, which comprised a large part of the grade, so my kid wound up with a B, and a 5 on all the practice exams and a 5 on the real exam , while many others wound up with an A, but a 2 on the practice exams, and a 2 on the real exam. The funny thing was that they were questioning my kid about why/how they were doing so well, when it was obvious that the reason was that my kid was doing the work, while they were cheating, and they knew it.
If they are using unweighted, the student is underperforming others. There’s nothing wrong with that - in a rank, you’ll have a top and bottom and everyone in between.
And if they are using weighted, and the student’s rigor is above most others, then he’s especially underperforming vs. others because they are getting more lift wise from the +3/5.
If the student is trying to say, I take Astrophysics and my fellow students take Underwater Basket Weaving, so they get an A+ while I struggle to get a B, then that should be noted by the counselor who states OP took the most rigorous schedule available.
I’m not here to debate whether to rank or not (it’s not the subject here). I see both ways - where life is competitive and we are ranked whether in our job performance or trying out for a sport.
But I also see where it causes unnecessary stress - but so does someone getting a B as we see all the time on the CC - so it seems like so many have gone on to just giving everyone an A.
I’m just talking about OP specifically - trying to figure out how their GPA is near perfect but their rank low relative to the #.
Anyway - OP will have the NMF golden ticket if they so choose - and if they do so (and their parents will likely have a say), their rank may be a moot point.
And in the end, the only thing the OP can control is themselves - and to be the best student (in and out of the classroom) they can be and to not worry about others.
Giving only weighted HS GPA may cause some students to overreach with their college lists when they compare their weighted HS GPA to the unweighted (or less aggressively weighted) HS GPA that some colleges list for their admission stats.
Depends on whether it is common at that school for A students in that AP course to get 1 scores on the AP test. If it is common, then that by itself is no indication of student cheating (though the school or teacher deserves some blame for the poor quality AP course).
So the only classes at my school are all honors besides major classes which are free 100s. APs are only weighted at 2 more points than honors, and often are way more difficult. Say I get a 92 in AP Calculus, add 5 and it’s a 97 final grade. A student in honors precalc can easily score a 98, and end up with a 101. Any student at my school automatically has +3 for all of their core classes. With my APs, I’m only getting 2 more points with the teachers grading very harshly (normal honors courses you basically do the homework and get free 100s, all of our APs are MUCH harder)
If they can easily score a 98, then it’s either a school of brilliant kids or the class isn’t worth a hoot.
I’ll tell you this and I don’t know your major - but your AP will look much better.
No doubt other kids are taking AP but maybe doing better than you and perhaps that’s where the ranking is coming from (assuming they use weighted which is what you’re inferring).
Either way, I again say worry about you - not about others. If you are doing your best school wise and EC wise, then that’s all you can do. You can’t beat yourself up or over think it.
Have you had a discussion with your family about finances? I don’t know if you are full pay or if you have need - but let’s say you’re full pay - would you really go to a Gtown or Vanderbilt over a solid school like Tulsa at a 300K+ savings?
So no matter what - I still say you’ll be playing with house money…
Keep marching ahead…don’t look at others…and it will all work out fine. You’re going to have great options - both academically and if you want them, financially.
In my experience, the admissions staff at top universities are very good at interpreting grades in the context of the level of rigor in your high school, and of the level of rigor of the specific classes that you are taking.
Like others I do not think that changing high schools would help. I also do not think that changing the level of classes that you choose to take would be appropriate. Take the classes that make sense for you, and do your best in those classes.
I think that this is exactly right.
And at the top ranked universities, professors will grade even more harshly, and classes will be even tougher, and the competition will be even tougher.
I do not think that it is correct to think of the top ranked universities as “better”. It is closer to think of them as mostly “academically more challenging”.
There are a LOT of very good universities in the US (and more elsewhere). Once you graduate from a very good (top 200) university you will find MIT graduates working alongside University of [insert your state name] graduates and no one will care where anyone got their degree.
You need to do the best that you can in classes that make sense for you, make sure that you apply to safeties, and keep your budget in mind when applying to universities. You do you as well as you can, and do not worry about what everyone else does.
At any college, A grades will generally be more difficult to earn than in high school, but many top ranked universities do seem to have had considerable grade inflation over the years.