<p>Most accepted students at selective colleges do not submit class rank. It most highly selective private schools only ~1/3 of the freshman class submitted class rank. The CDS for Princeton indicates that 26% of the freshman class submitted class rank. It’s 31% for Yale and 37% for Stanford… The glaring exception is Harvard with 60%. This likely relates to Harvard indicating that they do not consider class rank in admissions decisions. In surveys, colleges generally give class rank significantly less importance than other stats. Each year, the NACAC does a survey asking colleges what factors are “considerable importance” to admissions decisions. The highest rated factor in the 2011 survey (the most recent one I found) was grades in college prep classes with 84% indicating considerable importance. Curriculum strength, test scores, and GPA were also all above 50%. However, class rank was only at 18.8%, below essays, demonstrated interest, and recommendations.</p>
<p>I highly doubt that the colleges that do give high importance to class rank are concerned with the degree of detail emphasized in this thread, such as believing a slight difference in class rank will have a notable impact on chance of acceptance or the post above, in which a coworker mentioned a Stanford rejection was caused by one particular class not being weighted. If you look at the Stanford RD thread, the accepted posters have a lower median class rank than the rejected posters… not just a slight difference, quite significantly lower. I was accepted to Stanford without even being in the top 10% of my HS class, and I felt the biggest factor in my acceptance was quite similar reason the coworker gave for his son’s rejection in the post above – taking advanced courses at a nearby universities (I took classes beyond what was available at my HS, rather than than duplicating an available AP class). </p>
<p>Instead I expect most holistic admissions colleges primarily use class rank to get a better idea of how difficult is to get top grades in your HS. Some high schools give out A’s like candy. I’ve heard of some schools where more than 10% of the class graduated with a perfect UW 4.0. And at the other extreme, some high schools only give A’s to only a small portion of students, so it’s almost unheard of to finish with a UW 4.0. A 3.6 GPA looks a lot better if you are in the top 3% than if you are in the top 30%. However, HSs in the latter easy A group generally do not submit class rank, for obvious reasons.</p>