How much does class rank matter for Ivies and Top 20 schools?

Data10
Sun, 18 Jun 2023 23:22:19 +0000

True, but the larger point was about assuming that the portion in top 10% listed in CDS is applicable to the OP’s HS. The CDS top 10% is based on the 18% of matriculating students who submitted class rank, not the counselors report. HSs where >10% of students have 4.0s rarely submit class rank, so they are generally not included in the CDS figure. Instead I expect the CDS figure is largely based on different types of HSs for which a top 10% class rank usually corresponds to a different level of academic achievement.

It’s unclear what portion of Cornell admits/rejects received what counselor ratings in which category. I also wouldn’t assume that only the 10% of students with the highest class rank are rated “excellent” or higher in academic achievements. If it’s anything the other recommendations, far more than 10% may be given ratings for which the guidelines say top 10%

What is more clear, is there are many specific HS that have a good admit rate among students who are not within top 10% of class. As an example, some numbers for Harvard-Westlake are below for unhooked (“without distinction”). students in class of 2019 to 21 . Cornell doesn’t appear to expect unhooked kids to be anything approaching top 10% rank, at this selective HS.

More than 65th Percentile Rank (top 35%) – Admit Rate = 26%

Middle 35th to 65% Percentile Rank – Admit Rate = 20%

Less than 35th Percentile Rank (bottom 35%) – Admit Rate = 9%

I have no idea how the OP’s HS compares, but he/she may be able to estimate using information from tools like Naviance, or information published by the HS. The numbers above for HW are based on the HW College Counseling Handbook, which is given to students/parents. Students can use the handbook to see admit rate for different HW GPA/rank range at different colleges.