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Hello all, I'm currently a sophomore in a public high school in California where my school doesn't weigh grades, and I'm afraid that because of this my overall rank will hurt my chances going into an UC.

I slacked off freshman year, in which I got a 3.63 with no honors or AP classes (school didn't offer any for freshmen, but I was taking English IA and Algebra II/Trig, whereas most students were taking Geometry A).

Now I'm keeping a steady 4.0 sophomore year, with 1 AP class and two honors classes, but my school doesn't weigh the extra difficulty, which makes me ranked 75/749 with my cumulative GPA. I know many students who have a 4.0 that are ranked in the top 10% but they are taking general classes (non-honors). I'm just wondering, will my overall rank hurt my application, albeit I plan to take more AP classes in junior/senior year?

Also, our senior class last year had 8 valedictorians - all 4.0s. Just to show you that it's possible to take easy classes in my school and still attain valedictorian status.

By Volley17 (Volley17) on Sunday, December 07, 2003 - 08:02 pm: Edit

Hmm. I live in CA too and I think that the UC will recalculate your GPA when you apply. I'm not too sure about this off the top of my head but I think this is what they do. Check out the UC website for more. (www.ucop.edu)

By Nathaxtaldar (Nathaxtaldar) on Monday, December 08, 2003 - 02:03 am: Edit

Thanks for you reply Volley17. Even if the UC recalculates the GPA I doubt it will reassign me a new rank, because of the 700 students not all of them will apply to UC, so determining a new rank is unknown.

However your reply brings me up to a new question. Does rank really matter for a non-competitive school like mine? Are they superfluous, or do they also carry a little ounce of importance? The only reason I care about rank so much is the fact that I see many of the "What are my chances" threads' posters with good ranks. Thanks for all your help.

By Volley17 (Volley17) on Monday, December 08, 2003 - 09:42 pm: Edit

How much your rank matters varies from college to college. I'm guessing that the less competitive the college, the less the rank matters. Rank won't be reassigned however. I think that it should be fine if your counselor explains your predicatment in your recommendation. If you're taking tough courses, it should be pretty obvious to the admissions committee that you challenged yourself. GPA doesn't matter if someone's taking all the 'cushion' courses.

By Gigante (Gigante) on Monday, December 22, 2003 - 07:42 pm: Edit

Rank actually plays a HUGE part in a lot of schools, it really depends on the school.

UC San Diego - Does not consider your rank
UC Santa Barbara - Considers your rank in admissions
UC Los Angeles - Not considered at all
UC Irvine - Not considered
UC Davis - IMPORTANT. This is higher ranked than other things such as letters of recommendation.
US Berkley - Does not consider rank

I am almost in the same position as you. California, 3.8 last year, ranked 67th, top 7%? It's a piece of •••• system if you ask me. Only took one honors last year, got two honors this year.