How Important is Class Rank

MrMom62
Wed, 20 Nov 2013 11:54:05 +0000

Rank only makes sense when everyone takes the same courses - once you have one kid in Calc III and another kid in Algebra II senior year, comparing their rank means absolutely nothing to colleges. Throw in weighting, and you get kids chasing easy honors and AP classes for the extra GPA points, plus the pressure to always ratchet up the grades in those classes. Don’t weight, and some kids will dodge the tough classes to maintain high ranking. Quite frankly, I’m glad to see it go away, because the downside vastly exceeds any upside. Colleges can spot the good kids without having a number attached to them.

I’ve been opposed to class rank ever since my HS salutatorian was a flute playing stoner who never took a math class beyond Geometry, yet had a 4.0.