I have a 3.93 unweighted which is something like top 11% at my competitive public HS. My school reports in deciles (10%, 20%)
I have a 1580 SAT too… are T20s gonna think I’m dumb because I fall out of the top 10%? It seems unfair if my app gets thrown out because I missed those two questions on my biology final.
It’s not a matter of thinking that you are dumb! And a 3.93 UW doesn’t get ‘thrown out’.
But also, it’s not 2 questions on one exam.
First, The super-super selective will look at that 10%-ish, b/c they can only take so many students and that is a handy tool. For that matter, a couple of them generally don’t look past the top 1-2%- b/c they don’t have to. But: there are people at every single tippy top who were not in the top 1 /10 / 20% of their class: it depends what else they bring to the party. So no, your app won’t get ‘thrown out’ straight off.
Second, it was more than one final that put you outside the 10%. That might have been the last straw, but it was not the first or only one. There usually is a difference between the kid that gets through the impossible teacher with a good mark and the one that doesn’t. Might be smarts, might be determination, might be some combination of the two- but there is usually something. In another thread you acknowledged that in Semester 1 of Grade 10 you ‘slacked off’. Obviously, you have pulled that back- a 3.93 UW is superb. But I’m guessing that it’s the ones who didn’t ‘slack off’ that term who are farther up in the 10%. It is an unforgiving system, and imo it is a harsh way to judge growing things- but sadly I am not in charge so the fact that I think that perfect consistency is an astonishing thing to ask of adolescents is irrelevant. And, at the end of the day, there are a surprising number of students who pull it off. Go figure!
I have watched this play out with my collegekids, and you know what? it works out in the end. The person who got through the impossible situation has done brilliantly…but so have most of the ones who missed those two points on the final.
You can only run your own race, but you can choose what race you are running. Define your own terms of success- and if you need to re-define the definition.
If you would like an actual example, your chances of admission might appear to go down from, say, 21% to 13%, as seen in the figures below (or an equivalent percentage for your specific colleges of interest). However, few applicants outside of the top 10% of their classes would be able to submit standardized scoring in your range, and few as well would have grades indicating they are near the border of the top 10%. For these reasons, you might have reason to be optimistic with respect to your chances for many highly selective colleges.
For the purpose of accuracy, I should correct the above figure from 13% to 9% for reasons that should be obvious through the link.
Asking if 2nd decile will automatically keep you out is just the wrong question. The 3 B grades you mention in another thread may be the issue. And that depends on what those classes are.
You seriously think rank is all that can blow chances? Try to learn how your targets do admit, what they value, and do some self assessment. Do you have the rigor, top grades in cores, expecially those related to your possible major, and the right pattern of ECs?
@collegemom3717 I disagree. Percentiles are not that an important tool, especially when you consider how many schools do not rank. If there is a low performing school, it helps admissions people see a GPA of 3.8 in context of the school. However, in upper-middle-class, highly competitive schools, a substantial number of kids have stats which are piled up in the upper right corner of a GPA/SAT scatterplot, and an applicant with UW GPA of 3.93 and an SAT of 1580 can be only a couple hundredths of a grade out of the “top 10%” range.
The Ivy-pipeline high schools (the very expensive private east coast boarding schools) mostly do not rank, and many more than 10% of these kids go to colleges which boast that “70% of our students are in the top 2% of their grade”.
The only reason that people even look at the top 10% is because we have 10 fingers, and therefore tend to divide things into multiples of 10 (or 5). There is no objective reason to say that the top 10% are the group which should be considered, compared to, say, the top 8%, the top 13%, the top 7.3893%, or even the top 1/11th or the top 1/(4*Pi).
Moreover, who is within those 10% also depends on how the school decides to weight GPA versus SAT.
@doubledog Your UW grades and SAT make you as competitive as any other viable candidate for a T-20, which means that the chances that you will be rejected are far higher than the chances that you will be accepted. Being in the top 11% instead of the top 10% will make little, if any, difference. Your application will definitely not get “thrown out”, but, since there are many more applicants with similar stats than there are available places, it is highly unlikely that your application will be selected.
It’s not all about gpa and scores. You’ll fill out a complete app and stats alone don’t put you in the finals. Blow another section and your chance drops.
Is this question sincere? Obviously no one is going to think you’re dumb.
It’s not just that you missed those two question; it’s that someone else got them. FWIW, admissions is by region and readers of your application will be very familiar with your HS. Top 11% may well be a good rank.
However, since the OP’s school reports in deciles, his rank may be perceived by some colleges as falling within the top 11-20% range, which I think relates to the OP’s concern.
@merc81
Agreed, but it’s a zero sum game, no? Someone has to be 11% percentile (or 11-20% decile). Not exactly an issue of “fairness”.
To me, this is just another example of a GPA problem caused by taking AP Biology. This class should be avoided at all costs for any student that cares about their grades is not willing to do the many hours of studying required to completely memorize the subject matter.
Yes, you made a good point here, @damon30:
Lol. you’re right. I probably should’ve taken AP Physics, or APES, since those classes are known to be easier at our school. I guess there’s nothing to do but work hard at my essays.