<p>I-dad and bc,
Re the varying levels of reported class rank, I was also struck by this in the collection of the data. For everyone’s use, I post below USNWR"s reported levels of class rank reported.</p>
<p>My view is that there are three major factors causing the discrepancies:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>It makes perfect sense to me that private high schools would not provide a class rank as their student bodies are frequently much stronger than the average public high school. A private high school with a graduating class of 50-100 students and which sends 20+ of them annually to top colleges (Top 25 Nat’l Uni, Top 25 LAC) would be crazy to provide a class ranking as their # 20 student (who would be ranked outside of even the Top 25% in many cases) is often very capable and competitive with highly ranked kids coming out of the public high schools. Compare a class rank figure from a good private where 100% of the students go on to college versus a class rank figure for a public where 60% of the students go on to college and the false indications of the merit of class rank are obvious. These are not just apples and oranges; these are apples and goat cheese. </p></li>
<li><p>Re the differences between the reported numbers of Princeton and U Penn, it could be as simple as how these colleges interpret the question. Princeton could be reporting the % of students who submit a class rank, regardless of whether their high school ranks or not. By contrast, U Penn could be reporting the % of students who submit a class rank, but do so only for those students that come from schools that actually provide a class rank. </p></li>
<li><p>There is often a difference in where top privates and the publics attract their students from. I have seen plenty of evidence over the years that private colleges attract a larger (and sometimes much larger) percentage of their matriculates from private high schools. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>One counterpoint to this, however, is that many publics also report comparatively low levels of % of students reporting a class rank. Perhaps this relates to some state rules/guidelines. </p>
<p>% of students reporting rank , % students in Top 10% , Private National University</p>
<p>100% , 99% , U Penn
30% , 97% , Princeton
40% , 97% , Yale
51% , 97% , Caltech
51% , 97% , MIT
62% , 96% , Wash U
84% , 95% , Harvard
80% , 94% , Columbia
41% , 93% , Brown
48% , 93% , Georgetown
37% , 93% , Lehigh
51% , 92% , Stanford
44% , 90% , Duke
44% , 90% , Dartmouth
40% , 88% , Cornell
40% , 88% , Emory
51% , 87% , Notre Dame
50% , 87% , USC
62% , 86% , U Chicago
47% , 85% , Northwestern
43% , 85% , Rice
53% , 85% , Tufts
39% , 84% , Johns Hopkins
41% , 84% , Vanderbilt
57% , 82% , Brandeis
29% , 80% , Boston College
39% , 75% , U Rochester
38% , 73% , Carnegie Mellon
35% , 68% , NYU
51% , 67% , George Washington
37% , 66% , U Miami
62% , 64% , Wake Forest
67% , 64% , Rensselaer
59% , 63% , Case Western
49% , 59% , Tulane
39% , 55% , Boston University
67% , 53% , Worcester
50% , 51% , Yeshiva
86% , 51% , BYU
32% , 42% , Fordham
46% , 42% , SMU
47% , 40% , Pepperdine
44% , 39% , Syracuse</p>
<p>% of students reporting rank , % students in Top 10% , State University</p>
<p>100% 100% UC SAN DIEGO
100% , 98% , UC BERKELEY
100% , 98% , UC DAVIS
100% , 97% , UCLA
100% , 96% , UC S BARBARA
86% , 96% , UC IRVINE
75% , 96% , UC S CRUZ
97% , 92% , U MICHIGAN
46% , 88% , U VIRGINIA
50% , 87% , U WASHINGTON
76% , 79% , U N CAROLINA
45% , 79% , WILLIAM & MARY
72% , 75% , U FLORIDA
99% , 75% , U TEXAS
51% , 73% , U MARYLAND
58% , 64% , GEORGIA TECH
70% , 58% , U WISCONSIN
68% , 55% , U ILLINOIS
90% , 54% , TEXAS A&M
67% , 53% , OHIO STATE
80% , 52% , U GEORGIA
100% , 50% , CLEMSON
67% , 48% , U PITTSBURGH
84% , 45% , U MINNESOTA
69% , 43% , PENN STATE
53% , 42% , U DELAWARE
60% , 42% , VIRGINIA TECH
65% , 39% , U CONNECTICUT
68% , 38% , RUTGERS
56% , 31% , INDIANA U
63% , 31% , MICHIGAN ST
68% , 30% , PURDUE
75% , 22% , U IOWA</p>
<p>% of students reporting rank , % students in Top 10% , LAC</p>
<p>78% , 95% , Harvey Mudd
39% , 91% , Haverford
30% , 87% , Williams
44% , 87% , Swarthmore
54% , 86% , Middlebury
60% , 86% , Pomona
53% , 85% , Claremont McK
52% , 84% , W&L
52% , 82% , Bowdoin
57% , 81% , Davidson
50% , 79% , Amherst
46% , 76% , Wellesley
44% , 76% , Hamilton
47% , 74% , Carleton
41% , 74% , Barnard
59% , 71% , Whitman
66% , 70% , Vassar
41% , 70% , Scripps
36% , 69% , Oberlin
28% , 69% , Bucknell
45% , 66% , Colorado College
52% , 66% , Macalester
51% , 65% , Wesleyan
30% , 65% , Colgate
38% , 65% , Bryn Mawr
45% , 65% , Occidental
53% , 65% , Lafayette
56% , 64% , Grinnell
46% , 64% , Smith
44% , 63% , Bard
43% , 62% , Mt. Holyoke
54% , 61% , Colby
30% , 61% , Kenyon
33% , 61% , Holy Cross
58% , 59% , Furman
41% , 58% , U Richmond
70% , 56% , US Naval Acad
46% , 53% , Bates
20% , 50% , Trinity
41% , 49% , Sewanee
100% , 43% , US Military Acad</p>