So I am aiming for some pretty top tier schools (some T10s and T20s as my reach schools) , and I’m getting worried. I just found out my class rank, and it’s top 7%, which doesn’t sound too bad, but I go to a pretty average public school, so its not very impressive. Disregarding other aspects of the application, is this a problem for me?
As a junior, don’t worry about your rank (this thread), don’t worry about how “holistic” admissions are, where you should ED, or how impressive your ECs might be (other threads).
If you want any chance at T10 or T20 you should be spending your time concentrating on your studies and improving your GPA. Still plenty of time to improve your GPA from 3.6.
From looking at all of your threads I’d strongly suggest that you stop focusing only on the very elite colleges which are reaches for any unhooked applicant. Spend more time seeking out a group of wonderful and affordable (run net price calculators) match and safety schools. They are out there.
@happy1
Looking at my threads will give you a very skewed view of my intentions. Yes, my reach schools are elite schools, but I am also looking to apply to much less prestigious schools and I would be very happy with some of them (UF, Tulane, SUNY, etc.)
Of course, I am less pressed about these schools, which (although they are certainly not safety schools) I feel fairly confident about.
Of course, if I do manage to get in to one of my reach schools I will be very happy, and I am trying to take all possible measures to make this more of a possibility, but I hope you don’t get the impression that I’m obsessed with ivies or that I want to get in to a school for the bragging rights, or that a school’s ranking is more important to me than fit.
That being said, thank you for the advice. I am not counting on an acceptance letter from the ivies, nor am I going to be devastated when I receive the inevitable rejection letters - but I will still probably focus my posts on how to better my chances for reach schools, just in case.
Much of your worries will be washed away if you have a great AND affordable safety/backup school in your deck.
There’s not much value worrying about something that you can’t control. Study, perform well, do your best, apply to a smart portfolio of colleges, etc…
Worrying about a factual data point won’t accomplish anything