what do you do if your high school doesn't do class ranks?

CT_Woods
Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:34:09 +0000

We faced the same thing four years back when my son was starting the USNA application process. Our local HS does not publish class rank as a way to “reduce the competitive frenzy” or something like that.

What they did publish as a fairly detailed distribution graph of GPAs for the class as part of the high school profile that went out to all colleges. And they did provide the student’s GPA as part of the grades. Put the two together with a little ruler action and it was not hard to to figure out a pretty close approximation of relative rank (“see that bump? That’s my kid there!”).

Further, one of the guidance counselors who had been in the admissions game a long time had been empowered to go off in a secret closet and calculate class rank for the very small number of kids that wanted to go to SAs. It took a special request (a “pretty please”), but what seemed like an intractable problem was in fact one that was successfully worked around. My son got an appointment (and ultimately declined it - I am still recovering).

Best wishes for your success as you pursue the appointment. Just going through the process will be a good learning experience.