<p>There are so many components that go into a college application.</p>
<p>In your opinion or experience, what's the most important? Grades, SAT/ACT/SAT Subject scores, essays, extracurriculars, or interviews? Just want to hear feedback.</p>
<p>GPA is the first thing colleges look at</p>
<p>Transcript. They want to know whether you’ve taken serious academic classes, and they want to know how you did in them.</p>
<p>^ Agree with Sikorsky. You can find out how specific colleges view admission components by googling their Common Data Set. Look at section C7. Here is an example: <a href=“http://www.grinnell.edu/files/gc_cds_1112.pdf[/url]”>http://www.grinnell.edu/files/gc_cds_1112.pdf</a></p>
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<p>From a former admissions officer on this site. Of course it is not true for all schools.</p>
<p>Very interesting! Many people make it sound like SAT/ACT/SAT II scores are the most important. While the standardized tests do play a prominent role in the application process, I never would have guessed that class rank would play such a high role! </p>
<p>What if you have a small class, though?
My class has a total of 39 people (not just in my homeroom, the ENTIRE class!). I go to a really selective, small high school in which 60-70 are generally accepted in each year. My class is a rare case in which only 40-45 were accepted. In that case, couldn’t there be an abnormally high amount of geniuses or an abnormally high amount of mediocre students? The sample size of students in my class isn’t sufficient enough to determine a true rank of academic achievement, in my opinion. My class rank fluctuates greatly quarter to quarter because I’m among the top 3 in the class, all with our GPA’s (we go by averages out of 100 rather than a 4 or 5 point scale like most schools) within .5 points of each other. I may be #1 in one semester or #3 in the next.</p>
<p>This example is the main reason why I HATE ranking. After the top 3 in my class, the grades drop significantly lower. It’s unusual for my school to only have 39 in a class rather than 60. In the case of such a small class, how can colleges get a large enough sample size to determine whether I’m at the top of the pack in my class or only average?</p>
<p>I imagine this isn’t a problem only found at my school. The top three in my class all have the same rigorous class schedule. We’re about equal, and it will be nitty gritty to rank us. At my school, or any other school with this problem, shouldn’t ranking not count?</p>
<p>You’re talking as if one small element of your application is some kind of filter, and if you don’t make it through that filter, you’re toast. That’s not how it works.</p>
<p>Now, I have said elsewhere–and I stand by it–that overall academic qualification is a filter at selective colleges. If you’re not academically qualified, it doesn’t really matter very much about your essays and your extracurricular activities and whatnot. But it seems as if you’re trying to make the filter finer than it is. Selective colleges aren’t going to say, “Oh, beexx93 scored 730 on the SAT Critical Reading, but we require 750,” or, “Well, beexx93 has an academic average of 94.8, but this other applicant has an academic average of 95.0. Oh, well, sucks to be beexx93.” They’ll use your transcript and your standardized test scores and your class rank, if available, to assess what kind of student you are. If one of these things doesn’t seem like a reliable indicator, they won’t rely on it.</p>
<p>As for class rank, if it is reported, your rank will be reported as “n out of 39.” Colleges, therefore, will know the size of your class. If your class is unusually small or competitive (or both) for your school, the person who does college advising in your school can address this fact in the letter that goes to colleges with your Secondary School Report. </p>
<p>If you’re really worried about this, you ought to talk to the college advisor in your school. Either you’ll get information that will put your mind at ease, or you’ll learn that maybe you need to expand your thinking about colleges.</p>
<p>I tend to agree with with Sikorsky, but I refer to it as a “threshold”. Colleges have what they consider a threshold, based on SAT/ACT scores, class rank/GPA in most rigorous courses available, that a student must reach to predict that they will be able to intellectually handle the classes at their college. If the applicant doesn’t meet that threshold all the EC’s, letters of rec., & essays in the world aren’t going to get them admitted.</p>
<p>Colleges have often been asked that question and the answer is usually the same: the most important factor is grades and difficulty of courses taken, while at the same time considering the courses that could actually have been taken (e.g., they don’t hold it against you if you have no AP courses because your high school has none). There are exceptions, such as colleges which will admit based on having a minimum SAT or ACT score, but at the high ranked colleges which are most competitive you are not going to find those exceptions where test score will be determinative factor.</p>
<p>That of course does not mean test scores are of minor relevancy. They are also important at most colleges (some colleges, however, do not require test scores) and having very high scores can help at many colleges when GPA is somewhat low for the college, although you should assume that is less helpful at the high ranked colleges. At your high ranked colleges, essays and ECs are also important because of the fact that 80% of everyone who applies has high GPA and high test scores and they have to look at those things to make final decisions.</p>
<p>Selective colleges first want to be sure that you’re the kind of person who will succeed academically if you’re admitted and you enroll there. Once you’ve met that threshold, they want to know what kind of person you are in every way imaginable, because they want to “build a class” of people of diverse interests and backgrounds and accomplishments who are not cookie-cutter images of each other.</p>
<p>At the threshold stage, I agree with Waverly is that class rank is the first indicator, if available. GPA is less important because some schools have a lot of grade inflation, while others don’t, so raw GPA–even unweighted GPA, but certainly weighted GPA–isn’t all that informative (unless the GPA is really bad, which may get you a quick rejection). But class rank is inherently comparative within the context of your school. If you’re val, you’re the cream of the crop, and whatever the level of competition was, you rose to the top, which is a pretty good indication that you have both the talent and the drive to succeed academically. If you’re sal, well that’s almost as good. If you’re top 10%, you’re among the best. If you’re not top 10%—well, that raises questions about how well you’ll succeed in college. And the numbers tell the story: in 2011, Brown accepted 19% of vals, 14% of sals, 10% of those in the top 10% of their HS class, and only 2% of those below the top 10% of their HS class. As a result, 91% of Brown freshmen in 2011 were in the top 10% of their HS class (or higher)—and it’s a fair bet that most of those who weren’t in the top 10% were recruited athletes or had some other major “hook” that got them in. The admit rate for unhooked applicants who weren’t in the top 10% was probably somewhere well under 2%; pretty much in the “why even bother?” category.</p>
<p>They also have another reason to be concerned about class rank: the percentage of their entering class in the top 10% of their HS class counts pretty heavily toward their US News ranking, which they all care about, whether or not they admit it.</p>
<p>Next, they’ll look at the rigor of your curriculum in light of what your school offers; did you take the most challenging classes available to you? They’ll look askance at a high class rank with a light load and may be more impressed with someone with a slightly lower GPA and class rank who tackled harder challenges; but they can’t hold it against you for not taking APs if your school doesn’t offer them. They’ll also see how your GPA stacks up against your school generally (especially important if your school doesn’t rank). This is more impressionistic and holistic than rigidly numbers-driven; again it all goes to, will this person succeed here? Then they’ll look at teacher and GC recs and standardized test scores, but perhaps more for verification purposes: are the recs and test scores consistent with class rank and GPA (in the context of schools standards and course rigor) in predicting a high likelihood of academic success in college? Here again, though, they have an incentive to pay closer attention than they otherwise might like, because the average (not median, but mean) SAT and ACT scores of their entering class will also play a big role in determining their US News ranking. So it’s going to be advantageous to them (and to your application) if you bring up their average, and disadvantageous both to you and to them if you bring down their average. They know what that number was last year, and they know what their target is for this admissions cycle. Generally speaking, if you’re above their target, you’re probably pretty in good shape; if you’re below their target, they’ve got to have some compelling reason to want to admit you.</p>
<p>If you clear all that, then I really think it ceases to be a search for the “best qualified” applicant, and more about character, interests, and “fit.” At many elite private colleges, as much as 40% of the class may be taken up with “hooked” applicants—recruited athletes, URMs, legacies. That means the actual admit rates for the unhooked are probably lower than the published averages. They consider things like character and leadership and evidence that you’re a self-starter. They may be looking for some things in particular—interest in an undersubscribed major, or cellists for the orchestra, for example, so if you play the cello it may help you that year at that particular school, but possibly next year at that school, and possibly not this year at some other school. But mostly they’re looking for variety and diversity and a range of talents, accomplishments, and interests; they want their school to be a lively and interesting place, and they’ll place a great deal of weight on what they think you’ll contribute to that. A rejection doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t think you were qualified; only that at that moment, they passed over you in favor of someone they wanted more, perhaps only because they had already chosen half a dozen people with backgrounds, accomplishments, and interests very similar to yours, and enough was enough.</p>
<p>Rigor of course work taken in high school in combination with grades and/or class rank (importance of grades versus class rank depends on the college) are typically the biggest considerations.</p>