Class Rank

Applying to College
1

<p>The way my school’s grading system works, only overall grades (no quarter grades) are factored into the overall GPA. As such, there are usually 15+ people who are ranked #1 (out of 340 overall) because they have 4.0 GPAs. I got 1 B and therefore, will be ranked just after them. Unfortunately, I might not be in the top 5% because of my 1 B. How much of an impact will this have if I want to apply to top colleges (Ivies)?</p>

<p>I heard some colleges really pay close attention to the class rank and I’m worried my class rank will be looked down upon because of only 1 B.</p>

2

<p>There is not doubt that it is a huge advantage at schools like yours (grade inflation) to be val or sal at an ivy. That said, if everything else is stellar, a top 5% ranking will not count you out.</p>

3

<p>Talk to your GC. I’m pretty sure every school has to send out a HS Profile with college applications, and your school’s will probably explain how its grading system works. Profiles basically give an overview of a HS to help colleges understand where applicants are coming from–like if a student only took one AP, they might wonder why until they’d see that the school only offered the one AP class. That kind of thing.
Your GC will probably be able to explain better than I can, though.</p>

4

<p>Hmom- This does not necessarily indicate grade inflation- at highly competitive schools there are many students with perfect scores, all deserving an A.</p>

5

<p>Merryecho, at the most competitive schools in the US–let’s take Exeter–one person gets a 4.0 every couple of decades. There is rampant grade inflation in any school where many get an unweighted 4.0.</p>

6

<p>Sorry but I have to disagree. D’s small school has many national merit finalists every year, workload is huge, and quality of papers required are higher than I did in college, yet there are many A’s, all earned. IB classes at local public schools don’t come close in rigor. </p>

<p>If only one person gets a 4.0 in 20 years, I guess I would call that ridiculously high standards, especially compared to the average american education. And yes, while a Duke adcom no doubt knows about the difficulty of Exeter, I doubt they are as familiar with the standards of the schools in Boise or Billings, where they never visit.</p>

7

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<p>your GPA would be the same either way… this is how all schools i know of work. </p>

<p>you get 4 A’s for 4 quarters. that’s 4(4x.25) = 4(1) = 4.0</p>

<p>correct me if i’m wrong.</p>

8

<p>But if someone say, got a 86 one quarter and a 100 the second, it would be different. If only overall counted, they’d have a 4.0. If each quarter counted, they’d have a 3.5.</p>