GPA Significance in Top High School

milee30
Sun, 20 May 2018 15:05:39 +0000

a, b, an c are all true. AOs will know that a 95% is not top of the class. However, depending on all the other factors mentioned in my post, it may not matter that you’re not top of the class. Your goal is to get into a great school that’s a great fit for you, not get a gold star for being #3 in your class or whatever, right?

My son’s experience in a rigorous HS has been exactly what I described. He has barely an A GPA and although the school doesn’t disclose class rank, it wouldn’t surprise me that this is the bottom half of his class. But he will be headed to his top choice school this Fall (UChicago) and received acceptances from multiple other fantastic colleges (including London School of Economics), so apparently being bottom half of the class in a highly rigorous HS isn’t fatal. One data point isn’t conclusive across this big country, but it’s an indication of how things can work if you are not in the top of the class at a rigorous HS but have solid grades, great ECs and other features.

At this point, even though you have two more years to improve your grades, you are not going to be in the top 10% of your class since those top achievers are also working hard to keep their spot and unless they all have a random horrible year, there’s just no way to claw your way up in relative terms. So stop sweating the class rank thing. Try to find your “in” in other ways. If this truly is a rigorous HS, you will be OK even if you are not at the top of your class as long as your grades are high enough to demonstrate that you are intelligent enough and have the base skills to benefit from a top college - and an A average even if it’s in the bottom of your class rank demonstrates that.