What's more important?

<p>Hey guys,
I was wondering what colleges place more weight on, rank or gpa.My gpa isn't that great, about a 3.6, but I'm ranked top 5%. All my other stats are pretty good. Will my gpa significantly lower my chances at competitive engineering schools like cornell, columbia, etc.</p>

<p>is the 3.6 low due to tough grading at your school? it seems that way (if 3.6 gets you top 5%). colleges will probably realize this. </p>

<p>at my high school a 4.0 was still below the top 10 percent. haha</p>

<p>wow, yea, haha, the highest gpa in my school is a 3.8</p>

<p>yeah...colleges ask on the counselor rec forms your rank (or an approximation of it) and the highest gpa in the class. That gives them an estimation of how tough the grading system at your school is. So yeah..the rank is more important than the raw gpa.</p>