I was just wondering what the reasoning behind it was. It seems like it’s a pretty unfair method of determining admissions/scholarships/etc. For ex, at a school I got accepted to, I would have qualified for a pretty good scholarship with my SAT score, but I didn’t have the matching class rank. But, I live in a wealthy area at a very large high school filled with competitive students- we usually have multiple people going to Ivy Leagues. So, even though i’m a good student I’m still only in top 25%.
Meanwhile, my friend goes to a very small school(class of 60 students) and is top 10% while getting lower grades than me. I’m not trying to complain about my class rank because I don’t really care about it anymore since i’m going to be graduating in a few weeks, but I was wondering why some colleges place so much emphasis on it. It seems pretty unfair to have such strict standards for class rank for scholarships and stuff when there is so much that goes into what your class rank is.(class size, school area, how good of a school…)
Does anyone have any ideas?
Life lesson #1: Life is not fair.
I think class rank is used as a “control” per se for inter-school grade inflation, among other things. If someone has a 3.7 but is #1 in their class, while someone has a 4.0 but is #50 in their class, that speaks to different grading schemes. Besides, many colleges use top x%, not necessarily top 10 people or whatever.
@mademoiselle2308 Yeah, I guess fair isnt really the right word…I just didn’t really understand how it could have a meaning if it varies so much based on school. That does make sense for grade inflation and I could see how it would be useful there! I still don’t think it should be one of the 2 determining factors for scholarships, though.
I understand your frustration, @blackkitteycat ! “It’s not fair” is just a MAJOR pet peeve of mine.
In a few years, missing the scholarship will just be a very distant memory. Use this time to get excited about going to college and making the most out of the last few weeks you have of high school! Good luck!
I know that a lot of better schools in my area have moved away from rankings for this reason exactly. With that being said, your school does send a school profile. This will have things like the average act/sat and gpa so they can get a context of your school. For example, they will probably know that a kid who’s ranked in the top 20% with a 4.0 at a school who has an average ACT is a 20 isn’t really comparable to a kid who’s ranked in the top 10% with a 3.5 at a school who has an average ACT of a 30. One school seems to obviously have grade inflation and the gpa seems to be less valuable there.
Not all high schools are created equal what the school has to offer will potentially make a difference in the students grades as well as schools that offer a lot will potentially have students more prepared for the SAT. Low income area schools won’t likely have a lot of higher-level classes and sat prep classes. 1 use of class rank is to evaluate how well you are doing with what is available to you. At College visits, we heard over and over the actual number of the GPA isn’t what is important but rather how rigorous is your schedule and how are you doing in those classes
Our neighboring district’s top 1% wouldn’t even make top 10% in our district so I can totally relate to why OP is questioning it. Educational standards vary so much from one school to another that it’s an apples to oranges comparison.
You say it’s not fair, but what is the neighborhood like in your friend’s school district? Are people as wealthy as in your district? Does this other school offer all the opportunities that your school offers? Are there many AP classes, sports, lots of after school clubs? Do students in that district routinely get into Ivy league schools? its very possible that in your community, kids have access to tutors and resources that kids in your friend’s district don’t have. Your distrcit might have higher educational standards because people in your district have the advantage of such resources. You can’t compare different standards.
In our case, demographics and services of neighboring district are pretty much identical. If they weren’t, it wouldn’t be a fair comparison.
@Lindagaf Yes, she has extracurriculars and AP classes. I’m not trying to complain about it, I was using it as an example. I just wanted to know why some colleges place so much emphasis on it when theres so many variables that go into it.
When my nephew graduated from HS, there were something like 30 students graduating with an unweighted 4.0 GPA (he was one of them). At my kids’ HS in a neighboring state, it was exceedingly rare for ANY student to graduate with an unweighted GPA of 4.0. Both were large public schools.
I think class weight could possibly help an admissions committee see the student’s GPA in the context of their HS. But I think it’s just one piece, together with standardized test scores, weighted GPA, course rigor, HS profile, etc.
To clarify, I am not upset about the situation with my friend, i’m using it as an example as to how much class rank can vary based on the school. My question was, why do some colleges place so much emphasis on it.
@college_query Yeah, that does make sense. I don’t think it’s bad for colleges to want to see it, I just think placing a lot of emphasis on it is a little iffy
Percentage of entering students in top 10% of their class is a weighted factor in the US News rankings. It is worth 3 - 4 percent of the college’s score; see https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/ranking-criteria-and-weights
Many families/students move to different “worse” schools for the purpose of climbing the ranks. This is particularly true in Texas and Florida.
I feel your pain. I think if I could go back in time I might not have moved us from a mediocre (but acceptable) school district to one of the top publics in the county.
They rank, and it’s crazy how it’s been gamed by people starting in 8th grade.
We’ve seen the effects for colleges who place importance on rank-older D’s merit offers there were way off what they were for schools that didn’t look at rank, just gpa and test scores. Younger D will be really avoiding colleges that take rank into consideration. With a 3.0 average, she’s in the bottom 10% of her grade. Ugh. Yes, a B student who takes AP/honors classes in the bottom 10%. It’s a bummer.
@MotherOfDragons , wow, that seems crazy. Bottom ten percent? Thanks for your post, you have just helped me see clearly exactly what the disadvantage of ranking is.
I hear you, that’s how it is at D’s school. They do great in colleges though, having solid foundation and being used to competition and rigor. @MotherOfDragons
@Lindagaf it’s pretty crazy, D1 missed NMF by one point, has crazy high test scores, took all ap/ib courses through high school, and is ranked 250 out of 700. D2 is a “normal” kid who gets mostly B’s with an a or a c thrown in every now and then. I know that there are parents who have been gaming the system using dual enrollment, summer classes and online classes, but it’s pretty crazy. Going in to freshman year D1 was ranked #4, so you can see where the gaming comes into play.
@SugarlessCandy I think they’d be well prepared at a “typical” high school as well, since they would have taken the same courses and done as well or better grade-wise in them. Same academics, less competition.
Well, if there was ever a great reason NOT to move into an uber-competitive district , you have nailed it. I am more glad than ever that we deliberately chose not to buy in the top district in our county. Our district does not rank.