<p>I am currently a junior in high school who just found out my school does NOT rank students, but only give out quartile rankings to colleges. As a student looking to apply to Cornell ED, I am a bit worried because Cornell(or other highly selective colleges) won’t know that I am in the top 10% of my graduating class. Therefore, I am worried that because my colleges won’t know how strong of a student I am in my respective school, more emphasis will be put on my standardized test scores. So my question is: How will no class ranking impact how admissions officers read/interpret my transcript? Will this hurt my chances of admissions, considering I have slightly lower SAT scores when compared to the rest of Cornell’s applicants? Any answer will be highly appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>Long answer: If you are really worried about it, you can always have your guidance department mention your actual position in its report. My school did that for me when they abruptly took away our class rankings. SAT scores are looked at with equal weight regardless of ranking or no ranking. They will see your transcript and make judgements based on the rigor of classes you have taken, the grades you earned in them, and the classes you plan to take- NOT on ranking.</p>
<p>I visited Cornell this past summer and had the same question for a different reason. My HS Junior S’s school does not weight classes so his rank is really low (top 30%) because of the handful of B’s he has through 5 semesters…GPA is 3.9+ UW. I asked the Cornell admissions counselor at the end of the general session 1:1 if this would be an issue, she said no. The rigor of the classes is more important (he takes AP and honors courses)…and shared that many schools no longer rank (1/3 is what I recall her saying). We visited a total of 6 schools on the tour: Cornell was the first…but asked the same question at Lehigh, Lafayette, Princeton, Stevens, and Colgate. Only Colgate said they would need to fully understand the low rank–and that we should include that on our application.</p>
<p>Above responses are correct, although I don’t know if GC will reference exact rank if their policy is now to not rank.</p>
<p>You might want to ask your HS guidance dept if they can show you a copy of the school profile they will include with your submission. The school profile may include a GPA distribution bar chart or some other diagram that will reveal approximately where your GPA places you in the class. It won’t show exact class rank. The profile should also include a list of the honors and AP courses offered so a university can determine the rigor of your course load.</p>
<p>As @LCalum says above, I have only seen approximately a third (or even lower–say high 20s %) of schools reporting class rank. You can verify this by looking up each school’s Common Data Set.</p>
<p>Now, your lower SAT scores are still within your control and you should do something about that. Keep in mind when looking at the middle 50% of scores that these figures are university-wide (so your specific program at Cornell may have higher stats), and also include hooked applicants: athletes, legacies, URMs, etc. If you are none of the above, you will not want scores that are lower than the average applicants’. </p>
<p>Google Common Application pdf. You will see for the school report, your GC will rank you for
Academic achievement
Extracurricular accomplishments
Personal qualities and character
If you are top 1%, 5%, 10%, Very Good, Good…Below Average
Your teachers will also rank you relative to other students.
Whether your school rank or not, you will be ranked when they fill out your LORs. You should have a discussion with your GC how he/she is going to fill out your form. On the form, they will also ask your GC if you have taken the most rigorous courses.</p>
<p>In comparison with other college preparatory students
at your school, the applicant’s course selection is:
0 most demanding
0 very demanding
0 demanding
0 average
0 below average</p>