<p>We all know that rank is important and that it guards against GPA inflation. However, what about a sort of reversed situation: cases in which the student has a GPA that may objectively seem to be somewhat low but a high rank? Will colleges, seeing the class rank, take this to mean that the school is rigorous and that to make straight A+'s is extremely difficult, or will they assume that the school is simply not very competitive?
I’m asking because although I was told as a freshman that my school does not differentiate between a 90 and a 99 for GPA purposes, I recently found out that this isn’t entirely true-- that, for ranking purposes, an A is an A is an A, but that the transcript GPA and the ranking GPAs are calculated differently, and that the GPA number that colleges will see on my transcript will take into account the differences between an A-, an A and an A+.
I have a few 90s and 91s in harder classes, and only having to reach the 90 bar has enabled to me to focus more on other things. However, I’m pretty sure that my rank should be high-- I’m thinking about 15/700something. Will the low A’s hurt me?
I guess what I’m asking boils down to this: in light of a class rank, does an objective GPA carry weight?
Thanks for all feedback. :)</p>
<p>An A is an A. No differences between A-, A, and A+ for colleges. Frankly any school can throw around A+s like candy… </p>
<p>If the GPA is low and Rank is high, then it is one of two cases.
1). School is ultra rigorous and you are doing pretty well. (Competitive schools)</p>
<p>2). Or like in my case, school is sorta bad academically- only about 10% or less go on to four year colleges- but the teachers actually try to give you an education with APs and Honors for those that try. Students get a plethora of Bs and Cs, making a high rank for a low GPA. </p>
<p>How about not worrying about it? There’s nothing you can do.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback. There’s nothing I can do about the lower As that I’ve gotten now or about the policy, but if the general consensus were that higher As and therefore a higher objective GPA is genuinely helpful, I would work harder and not set my goal at the 89.6 that I aimed for last year. I just don’t know if that kind of effort is worth the time or if I’d be better off spending it on ECs-- or, better yet, sleeping! 
Anyway, yeah, my school’s competitive and I think? most colleges know that…</p>
<p>Bummmp?
Eeep</p>
<p>Rank is more important at most schools. However, as stated Gryffon, ay those kinds of schools colleges will look more at GPA.</p>