<p>I feel your pain, our D missed National Merit cut off by one point. And therefore missed out on the scholarships that being named semi-finalist would have potentially come along. I think sometimes situations like this are harder on us parents than they are on the kids and that is probably a good thing. Good luck to your daughter. She is lucky to have a parent that cares so much.</p>
<p>Patsmom–thanks for the advice but there are a lot of schools out there that do offer scholarships based on class rank. I am sure if your school doesn’t rank it’s students, there are provisions for that. As far as people having more knowledge, um ok. So the rule is no new information allowed if you are a new poster??</p>
<p>In a quick google search:</p>
<p>[Merit</a> Scholarship Information](<a href=“http://www.scholarships.ttu.edu/Meritscholarship.aspx]Merit”>http://www.scholarships.ttu.edu/Meritscholarship.aspx)</p>
<p>[Top</a> 10 Percent Scholarship | Student Financial Aid and Scholarships](<a href=“http://financialaid.unt.edu/scholarships/top-10-percent-scholarship]Top”>http://financialaid.unt.edu/scholarships/top-10-percent-scholarship) </p>
<p>[St</a>. Olaf College | Financial Aid | Merit Aid](<a href=“Financial Aid – St Olaf College's Financial Aid Website”>http://www.stolaf.edu/services/financialaid/meritaid.html)</p>
<p>[Merit</a> Scholarships:: Undergraduate Admissions :: University of Connecticut](<a href=“http://www.admissions.uconn.edu/scholarships/scholarships.php]Merit”>http://www.admissions.uconn.edu/scholarships/scholarships.php)</p>
<p>That is all the time I wish to devote to this…</p>
<p>Those for St. Olaf are not requirements, only what it turns out to have historically been in the past, as info for those applying to the school.</p>
<p>mncollege, our high school weights AP and Honors courses too (the same 5% boost), but some students with no AP courses with good grades can still get into the top 10% rank if their grades are stellar. The merit scholarships that my sons were offered (at different schools), did not mention rank as a criteria.</p>
<p>My high school did not give any academic awards at all, and it didn’t rank. In a class of 80 - 6 went to Harvard, 4 to Yale and 2 to Princeton. Clearly it wasn’t a big deal. :)</p>
<p>mncollegemom, those links you posted to scholarships… they’re talking about the top 10 PER CENT, not the top TEN. There’s a difference. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Almost all of them also talk about other measures of academic performance, service, or other requirements. No kid is going to be turned down for a scholarship they’d otherwise get just because they landed at #11.</p>
<p>“So the rule is no new information allowed if you are a new poster??”
no , the "rule " is dont make sweeping statements or assumptions based only on your own personal experience . “MOST” is NOT the same as “many”, and rank is not considered or even asked for as part of the scholarship application criteria required at many colleges. Rank is an arbitrary means of comparing students within the context of a HS. It means very little outside the HS.</p>
<p>And MANY colleges re-compute the GPA using a formula developed by the college. High school GPAs are calculated very differently from school to school (e.g. some schools weigh/not weigh, some schools count only major subjects, others count electives). Class rank and the GPA computed by the high school matter little…unless you live in Texas where a top 10% finish guarantees you admission</p>
<p>^^ And there are high schools that don’t rank at all. My D’s school didn’t, and there was no shortage of scholarships among those kids.</p>
<p>Oddly enough, when I checked the California state schools, none of them had any scholarships listed with class rankings…perhaps your experience is different, it doesn’t make it any more right than my experience…</p>
<p>Several of the schools we are looking at do look at class rank and not that you have to have x rank to attend but it gives the school an idea of where you fall in comparison to your classmates and it judges the quality of your school using that and other information. It is important to some schools. In the absence of a class rank, the school profile is used alone. With the reported grade inflation people keep talking about here, it would make sense to use this information to give a more education opinion on the quality of the student. If someone applies with a 5.0 on a 5.0 scale and ranks 47th in their class, that pretty much tells me that everyone gets and A in that school.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If their class had 500 students in it…and YES some high schools do have classes that size…this student would be a top 10% student…not bad. That GPA could be unweighted and the 46 above him/her have GPAs that are above 5.0.</p>
<p>But to the OP of this thread…congratulations to your daughter. In the big scheme of things, her number 11 class finish is not a huge issue. She will have great college choices, will do well in the future, and is the same terrific kid she was the day before you found out that class rank.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Whose experience is more “right” is irrelevant. The point is that you implied that a top-10 finish is critical for the student seeking good scholarship money, when it just isn’t. </p>
<p>From the links you posted, I saw only one scholarship at one school that required a rank. The rest, at least the ones who referred to a number at all, required a percentage finish. That’s not the same thing as a rank.</p>
<p>I implied no such thing, I said it COULD make a difference for scholarships and you jumped down my throat for no reason at all…</p>
<p>Deleted…</p>
<p>“In the absence of a class rank, the school profile is used alone.”</p>
<p>You are mixing up applying for admission and applying for scholarships.
There may be some instate scholarships where rank is a factor, but private colleges, which draw students from all states, rank is rarely asked for when evaluating the tip top applicants [ based on GPA, SAT, ACT. EC’s, LOR’s ] for the tip top full tuition or 1/2 tuition scholarships. Those students have generally already been accepted at those colleges [ many of whom accept 50% of their incoming students from HS’s that dont rank] and the committees deciding on who to award them to do not consider the student in the context of his HS. They look far far beyond that narrow criteria.</p>
<p>lol–some things never change. </p>
<p>I had the same disagreement with mncollegemom on another board this time last year when she insisted “most colleges look more strongly at class rank vs GPA” and “Look at the acceptance information on any college website and you will see that they put MUCH more emphasis on ranking vs grades.”, despite all evidence to the contrary presented to her.</p>
<p>Must… resist…</p>
<p>re post 54
wishing or assuming that something is true[ the importance of rank in this case] does not make it so… </p>
<p>and as for this erroneous assumption:</p>
<p>"“most colleges look more strongly at class rank vs GPA” and “Look at the acceptance information on any college website and you will see that they put MUCH more emphasis on ranking vs grades”</p>
<p>its a good thing I wasnt drinking tea when I read that!</p>
<p>any college counselor that spouted that type of nonsense would be fired!</p>
<p>mncollegemom, if you are here to contribute to the CC community, tell us what your experiences are and then ask what others have discovered instead of making sweeping generalizations, pronouncements and assumptions based only on your own experience. There is lots of information available here, for those who are willing to learn from the experiences of others.</p>
<p>FWIW, our school (with approximately 375 per class)* doesn’t rank, and we are pretty competitive in the admissions game. I don’t think our school would continue this practice if it were to the detriment of our admissions stats, which are a big point of pride around here.</p>
<p>OP, I totally feel your pain but realize that the skills that got your daughter to#11 will take her many other, even greater places. A few decimal points won’t change that, and others will recognize her soon enough, perhaps in bigger and more rewarding ways.</p>
<p>*i misstated our HS size in another post–mixed it up with MS size–but realized too late to edit. Just for those who follow those things for consistency. (don’t know how to put in smiley emoticon)</p>
<p>D’s school also does not rank or even have an honor society. As far as I know they do nothing to mark students at graduation who excel academically - no special gowns, cords or asterisks. The principal selects the 2 speakers for graduation and it isn’t based on grades. Not that D would rank high enough for that, but she would probably be in the top 5% of her class. I am sometimes frustrated that they don’t recognize the kids for their achievements, but knowing myself it would definitely upset me if she missed out on the top whatever by just a little bit (and it would not bother her at all). So, I guess it is for the best. Our school sends many students to top colleges and D has been accepted into some herself, so this obviously has not hurt the kids to not rank.</p>
<p>Way back in the day, I was #10 as a junior and did the whole junior marshall thing…wearing the white dress leading the seniors into graduation,had my name in the grad. program and small town newspaper (where I had lived all my life). I had taken honors/college prep classes. There was no weighting of grades back then.
A new girl moved in senior year who was taking vocational classes. She took my spot. I became #11…no graduation recognition for me! I was a little ticked off because it seemed unfair but didn’t fret over it for long. I was so ready to be done with h.s. and off to college that I didn’t care that much. I don’t remember my mom saying a word about it to me. </p>
<p>S1 was in the top ten in his class. At senior awards night (which only parents of seniors getting an award attended) they called the name of each top ten kid and had them stand up. That was it. No special cords, no certificates, not even a mention in the graduation program. S was also NM Commended but there was not even a mention of that ever.
I don’t think he really cared. I prob. noticed it more than he did. Like his Mom, he was ready to get out of h.s. and move on.</p>