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(If something to this effect has already been posted, I apologize for the redundance, but I didn't see anything.)

I'm a Semifinalist, and I've already filled out my application and turned it into my counselor and what not... but today he called me into the office to tell me about a problem. The class rank on my transcript reads "0 out of 424," which (according to him) looks really really bad on the application. I found out that since I was homeschooled up until my freshman year and didn't begin public high school my sophomore year, according to the law in my school district, I cannot be assigned a class rank. (Although my counselor tells me that if I had one, it would easily be in the top 20% or possibly 10%.) Nevertheless, according to him, the "0 out of 424" is a Bad Thing and impairs my chances of moving on to Finalist.

However, with that said... I like to think I have a fairly decent high school background. I've taken strong Pre-AP and AP core classes, my GPA is 3.93 (I'm hoping it will go up after my As from this year), my PSAT score was 225, and my SAT score was 1450 (700 math 750 verbal). As far as extracurricular activities, I've been in drama, choir, and quiz bowl team. And I'm told that I did a pretty good job with the application essay.

So my question is: how much do you think the lack of class rank going to hurt me?

By Geniusash (Geniusash) on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 01:10 am: Edit

it won't
your GPA is so very strong
don't worry

By Collegebound123 (Collegebound123) on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 01:33 am: Edit

Well... can't the counselor address that issue in his letter? Usually that's what counselor recommendation letters are for -- to discuss extenuating circumstances (along with all the other important details such as extracurriculars). Application readers might not understand why your rank is 0 -- they might even take it for a typo.

By Over30 (Over30) on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 09:03 am: Edit

I agree - have your counselor explain this in his letter.

I also think this is a very strange rule and I would contact someone at your school board and make sure this is correct, and maybe see if you can get this changed. Good luck

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:28 am: Edit

your counselor should not put "0/424". They should check off the "school does not rank" box, since they do not rank students in your situation. Then they can fill in the part on the form where they are asked to estimate where the student would fall in the class.