College Comparison XVIII: Students Ranked in Top 10% of HS class

[hoedown]

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Caveat emptor: On this one, most of the top schools now have under 50% of their students reporting class ranks. It is usually the top privates and publics who refuse to rank. Therefore, the validity and usefulness of this data is questionable and you are starting to see significant year to year fluctuations – not because the students are actually changing, but just as statistical noise depending on whether a particular year’s cohort comes from reporting or non-reporting high schools.

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<p>You beat me to it–this is exactly the case, even at schools that are outside the top. </p>

<p>I heard from a colleague at a school ranked between 60 and 75 who said that only 40% of their enrollees came from a school which supplied class rank. They were trying to figure out what to do about reporting. </p>

<p>Another colleague at a top public school told me that they did their own calculation (based on some data complications they couldn’t get around) and had less than complete faith in its accuracy.</p>

<p>These are just anecdotes but it’s not speculation–these are higher ed professionals who generate the numbers that go into the CDS and USNews.</p>