<p>I was hoping to receive some clarification with regards to whether or not top colleges actually distinguished between A and A-…</p>
<p>Additionally, I was wondering if my class rank will be evaluated in the context of my initial transcript, or with the addition of my midyear report, which I assume would contain my updated class rank. Thanks!</p>
<p>Help, anyone?</p>
<p>Grrrr…</p>
<p>At the high school level, most colleges drop all plusses and minuses–now if your school takes them into consideration, they will affect your GPA.</p>
<p>It depends from college to college, but they will look at your midyear as well as your initial, since it should be in by the time they go through all the applications.</p>
<p>Top colleges won’t care about the difference between A’s and A-'s - heck, they accept plenty of people every year with B’s on their transcripts and even a number of people with C’s. I remember a user on this site who was accepted by Dartmouth two years ago. He had several B’s and a C in his sophomore year, and didn’t have any particularly outstanding activity. He also had no hooks (ORM, from over-represented state, not an athlete/legacy), but he attributed his success to his essays. </p>
<p>Think about it. These schools literally get thousands of applications every year, and they can only spend up to 15 minutes reading each one. It will probably take them about 5 minutes to quickly look over your objective stats and deem whether you are academically qualified (i.e. your transcript, SAT scores, etc.), but once that’s done, they will pay attention to your essays and recommendations. </p>
<p>For your second question, I agree with what meep1234 posted. Both will be considered. </p>
<p>Best wishes.</p>
<p>Okay, thank guys! Much appreciated.</p>