<p>I know how it says that academic record is one of the most important aspects, but when it comes to grades, what matters more: GPA or rank?</p>
<p>neither, really. they essentially combine the two (along with your transcript) to get a picture of your hs performance. looking to see if everyone at your school have perfect grades or if it's spread out. many schools don't rank (or provide quantile ranking) and many schools have wacked-out GPA metrics that don't really reflect the environment (at my high school, people would put off phys ed until senior year because it "hurt" their mostly weighted transcript)</p>
<p>ok cool thanks. Thats what i was hoping to hear because my GPA isn't all that great (3.71) but because of the nature of the grading system at my high school, thats actually a really good GPA (im in the top 2.5%)</p>
<p>Several ivy admissions reps have advised that academic record evaluation is based primarily on your hs transcript, without great emphasis on GPA. At least two reps have told me that they evaluate the transcript by listing most difficult courses (with grades) first and getting a full picture of your record from hardest course to easiest course. GPAs mean very little as they are so different depending on school.</p>
<p>These same reps told me that apps are read by region, not by school. Each regional area will have a limit as to how many acceptances can be initially offered. Comparisons are done, for the most part, across the region rather than within each school. This is why it is possible for a school to have no admits one year and 5 the next year.</p>
<p>Does being a resident in an area that doesnt send many students to Ivy League schools help since they do these comparisons?</p>
<p>yeah, but Dallas certainly isn't one of those areas. Wyoming is.</p>
<p>well what i meant by that is in my part of Dallas there arent that many kids that leave Texas let alone go to Ivys, but yeah I see what you mean.</p>
<p>Guess i should pack my bags...</p>
<p>Pack your bags as in quitting? Or pack your bags as in packing for UPenn? Hope its the 2nd one :)</p>
<p>Well anyways i think the regional directors should look at both the rank & GPA. my school is similar to yours, and a 3.7 GPA is very good. although we don't rank, i think your regional director will know your school presents a more academically challenging curriculum.</p>
<p>haha thanks chair...what i meant by that was pack and move to Wyoming</p>