<p>Read the third paragraph first, if you don’t want to read my stats and just answer the question in general.</p>
<p>I go to a public school, that is compietive. I have a 3.9 unweighted gpa (94 weighted/100) and a 2170 sat score, with a 1470 on reading and math. However my class rank is barely top 20 percent. My school does rank.
I have taken 11 a.p. classes and 9 honors classes/ 30 total classes. My rank is weighted.</p>
<p>My question is how would they look at class rank. I know 82 percent of the kids at JHU are in the top 10 percent, and the other 18 percent make up urms/legacys/athletes probably. So how would JHU look at a bad class rank. I know JHU practices a more holistic approach, but my reasoning is, with the number of qualified applicants they recieve, they wouldn’t want a kid who is not in the top 10 percent, and would probably make up their stats look bad, when they can easily take a kid who is in top 10 percent with great scores and ecs. I don’t bring any diversity to JHU either.</p>
<p>^^ I guess, but I am afraid that I don’t fit the common data set. Is JHU to expect my school to be grade inflated, because I don’t think it is. My counselor did mention in her rec that I would have been in top 10 percent in the surrounding schools in my area. But I doubt a good counselor recommendation can make up for not fitting the common data set.</p>
<p>The other thing is, many people assume that privates are more compietive than publics, which is probably true, because some privates have 10-20 percent of kids getting into ivys. I am just afraid that I will be rejected/waitlisted, because I am just another one of the 16,000 applicants, and even though everything looks “good”, they have tons of qualified applicants, so why would they want me, when they can easily take a person with my stats, ecs, and better class rank?</p>
<p>I asked to major in History at JHU, but still do pre-med* (doubt major/concentration is taken into account, because people declare majors their sophomore years)</p>
<p>The fact that they don’t look at class rank greatly worries me. At my school, a high gpa is extremely difficult to get, and the valedictorian has something like a 3.8 UW, while average low Ivy/equivs have an average of 3.5-3.6 UW gpa. Our school is one of the top public schools in the nation, and I am afraid that JHU will discard my app when they see my 3.4, even though it is right at the top 10% mark.</p>
<p>Adcoms are not stupid. They receive information about your high school so if the valedictorian has, say a 3.5 and you have say a 3.45, it doesn’t look bad. Everything is relative.</p>
<p>A high class rank is always positive; a lower class rank might not be negative, depending on other factors. Colleges take a holistic view, and know what they’re doing.</p>
<p>^^ Our valedictorian has a 2380 sat score, and has a 99.8 gpa (weighted). I have a 94 flat gpa, but am barely making top 20 percent. Which means that 20 percent of the kids in my grade have a gpa between 94-99.8.</p>
<p>^^^ My essays aren’t too strong either, probably average at best…Essays can’t make an application though, so if your essays are average/decent, you should be fine. If they are bad, then they hurt, but average/decent + should only help.</p>
<p>If a student’s relative strengths don’t include essays, s/he could struggle at a school that emphasizes them. Sometimes it’s better to be at a school that values one’s strengths and can better develop them.</p>
<p>First, no such “priority list” exists in our review process. This list is what typically carries the most weight in an application review, and actually the list is: (1) Transcript, (2) Non-Academic Achievements, (3) Essays, (4) Standardized tests, (5) Recommendations, (6) Supplemental Information. However, this so-called list actually will vary from applicant-to-applicant. Since our process is holistic that does not mean that the transcript is more important than tests – rather that all items are weighted quite equally. Finally, class rank is considered when we discuss the transcript, it would not be its own separate category.</p>
<p>
Actually a strong recommendation from a counselor can carry a lot of weight, especially when they provide detailed context of the school’s environment. Secondly, we don’t review applicants based on some “common data set” – I have never engaged in any conversations with my colleagues that we shouldn’t admit a student because they don’t fit into our data set. That kind of thinking is prevalent on College Confidential and I laugh at all the time because it is just now how admissions review discussions work. </p>
<p>
Thank you! But it is true … we do our research … we know our schools … often we know schools better than the students, the parents, and the guidance counselors know their own schools. I have been reading applications from the same region for over nine years … I not only know grading systems, grade trends, inflation/deflation, grade distribution, past year data – I even know by heart certain school’s CEEB codes, certain school’s addresses, and even sometimes reputations of certain teachers. (That is sad when I think of it … but it is my job and I (and my colleagues) are very good at our jobs.</p>
<p>I remember when regional admissioner came to the regional meeting. She numbered an order of importance. First was Academic GPA and the last was SAT score. I remember her eyes when she looked at the parents and the students. I could read her eyes that she was telling the truth. </p>
<p>In the other hand, when i went to WUSTL regional meeting, the regional admission pointed out academic gpa first and SAT score next.</p>
<p>I made a huge mistake putting ED to WUSTL and getting denied. I knew that JHU was my number one school, but I heard great reputation between staff member and students. Only God knows our future.</p>