So, I currently go to a small charter school with barely 100 students per grade. This school has a good reputation (locally), but I’m not really liking it here. I just emailed my guidance counselor to ask for my class rank and GPA. I was shocked. I have a 4.55 W / 3.92 UW (one B… a 92), but I’m ranked #30 out of 111 in my class, which will probably shrink to 90-95 by graduation due to other students transferring. This is despite taking the most Honors classes (only 2, no AP-weighted classes offered) that you can take freshman year. I’m not even sure if his calculation is right as I used the state grading scale and I should have around a 4.7 weighted GPA.
Now, I’d say my current school is more competitive than the average American HS. It has higher average ACT/SAT scores than any public school in the district (which, being that I’m in the Deep South, means it’s probably just above average by national standards, and laughably bad by CC standards). However, most of the reason for my low ranking is a mixture of small size and grade inflation. I had the highest PSAT (1280) and MAP score (282) in my 8th grade class. No matter how high the caliber of the school (believe me, there are much better schools than mine), it seems a bit ridiculous for a quarter of the class to have a 4.0 UW, no? Some classes are difficult here, but most I found easy. Most of my peers, including those in the top 20%, say they only have to study for one or two classes. Although this school is mainly populated by middle and upper-middle class kids whose parents are too scared to send them to public school, the school still has a drug problem (although I’ve only seen 1 fight this whole year). Many other students hate the school and want to transfer. Also, this school doesn’t even have AP/IB classes, just dual enrollment at a satellite community college (so the course selection isn’t any better than average).
Although my current school isn’t GREAT by any stretch (only about two-thirds on average go to a 4-year college, and we’ll have just 2-5 prestigious school acceptances every year, most students go to our state flagships), my zoned public school that I’m considering switching to has a pretty bad reputation, and everyone at my current school makes fun of it. On average, it has a fight or two every day, the third highest suspension rate in the county, and <5 top 20 acceptances every year, plus maybe one NMS finalist every 2-3 years. However, it would definitely improve my class rank, and there’s at least some smart kids there that I know. The school is much bigger (around 1,800 students) and has 10-12 AP classes plus an IB program. However, their AP pass rate is only about 40% because they throw anyone and their dog into AP to boost their numbers. However, I’m scared that if I transfer they won’t let me take AP classes because they’re full or something, plus most AP classes require a summer assignment (that I could still do in 2-3 weeks… if they let me). I know people from last year’s class transferred to the same school and were able to take AP, but I’m not sure what exactly they did.
I don’t have friends at the public school, but I’m kind of friendless at my current school anyway (I talk to people, but not outside of school). However, I’d see some familiar faces / former friends as my middle school is one of the two that feeds directly into said high school.
At my new school, I’ll be taking a decent hit because of weighting:
Advanced freshman schedule at current school:
6 CP classes
2 Honors classes (+0.5)
Advanced freshman schedule at zoned school:
3 CP classes
3 Honors classes (+0.5)
1 AP class (+1.0)
However, I’ll STILL manage to come out much higher. I know someone who has a 4.4 and I think his rank is in the high 60s out of 500ish. Therefore, with a 4.55, I’d start sophomore year just barely in the top 10% if not very close to it, compared to… not even being in the top quarter.