Click here to go to the NEW College Discussion Forum

hello! at my school, we dont rank (i.e. top 10% or 1/250). will this have any affect on my college admissions ? thanks everyone!

By Crnchycereal (Crnchycereal) on Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 07:33 pm: Edit

I've HEARD that not ranking may hurt the students. The reasoning is that if schools are only given percentiles, then they have no idea how you stand amongst that percentile. So if you're in the top 10%, you could be at the top, middle, or bottom of that group of students. I'm not sure how much that still holds, but I think it's safe to say that ranking does work in your favor, because it explicitly shows how you stack up.

By Encomium (Encomium) on Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 08:02 pm: Edit

Mary Hernandez, a former Dartmouth admissions officer in her book A is For Admission, Ò[college admissions officers] have to rely disproportionately on the studentÕs own writing, standardized testing, and teacher recommendations.Ó

By Girl (Girl) on Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 08:35 pm: Edit

My school doesn't do the official rank either, but on your counselor rec./school profile, your counselor will include the g.p.a. distribution (they give a mean or the highest/lowest etc.). The benefit to having no rank is that colleges have to look at your application beyond the numbers. For example, a student in the top 30% of an academic powerhouse school is much stronger than a student in the top 5% of a poorly performing school. I can't imagine (or hope, for that matter) that no rank could really hurt you... I mean, it certainly isn't YOUR fault your school chooses not to do so!

By Crnchycereal (Crnchycereal) on Thursday, October 16, 2003 - 08:48 pm: Edit

You won't be hurt because it's your fault, you'll be hurt because it gives the admissions officers a more obscure picture of your academic standing.