<p>“also, you make it seem as if my parents are some ivy league alumni or somethin. neither of them excelled much in high school–i think my mom was a straight B student and my dad was C/D. they both got all of their degrees from U of Texas Pan American…not a bad school but definitely not top notch either. i think it was post-high school that they both got serious about their education.”</p>
<p>Your parents college grades aren’t what’s important. What’s important is that you are in the privileged position of having parents with lots of higher education. Presumably, that means that you grew up with books and newspapers in your home, parents who spoke standard English (and may also have been native English speakers), parents who supplemented your weak schools, parents who showed up at PTA meetings and knew how to talk to the teachers, parents who put you on track for college.</p>
<p>Since you say that you’re in an area that has lots of poor people, your having highly educated parents means that you had much more going for you than probably most students did in your school. Since one parent has a doctorate, the other has a masters, one can assume that it’s likely you inherited a high intelligence. Consequently, when all of your advantages are considered, your class rank is low. It’s also low for most of the colleges you’re applying to except for probably UT, where since you’re top 10%, you’re guaranteed admission.</p>