Way OT/reporting student rank

[njsweetP]

I know this is WAAAYY off topic, but have a question about reporting student rank when applying to colleges. My dd is in the middle of college applications and was advised by her HS counselor not to report her rank when applying to colleges. What is your input on this? Is there a guideline to follow like if the student is in the top 10% then report it, if not don't? I've tried doing some research but thought I'd throw the topic out there on this board to see what your experience is with this. Any HS counselors on this board? Thanks much!!

 

[4HppyCamprs]

I am not a HS counselor but would advise perhaps seeking out college admission personnel instead as they are the ones who are really in the thick of evaluating applications.

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[msp2mco]

My DD's school did not report class rank. Instead, all the information that the school counselor was supposed to input into a database-type thing was included in a separate letter with the school profile and some other information. From the school profile, the admissions office could tell where she fell in her class--such as top 10%. She attended a small college-prep school, so that may not be possible at a larger public school.

 

[pryncess527]

I work at a University, though not in Admissions. 'm pretty sure our admissions office can figure out where you were in your class whether you include it or not. Over 50% of the students admitted at my school were in the top 10% of their class.

If the school application specifically asks for rank though, I would not leave that blank. If it does not ask, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[scrapquitler]

I know this is WAAAYY off topic, but have a question about reporting student rank when applying to colleges. My dd is in the middle of college applications and was advised by her HS counselor not to report her rank when applying to colleges. What is your input on this? Is there a guideline to follow like if the student is in the top 10% then report it, if not don't? I've tried doing some research but thought I'd throw the topic out there on this board to see what your experience is with this. Any HS counselors on this board? Thanks much!!

Does it really matter if she reports it or not, since it's on her transcript that the college will be getting anyway?

 

[scrapquitler]

I know this is WAAAYY off topic, but have a question about reporting student rank when applying to colleges. My dd is in the middle of college applications and was advised by her HS counselor not to report her rank when applying to colleges. What is your input on this? Is there a guideline to follow like if the student is in the top 10% then report it, if not don't? I've tried doing some research but thought I'd throw the topic out there on this board to see what your experience is with this. Any HS counselors on this board? Thanks much!!

Does it really matter if she reports it or not, since it's on her transcript that the college will be getting anyway?

 

[njsweetP]

Thanks all for the replies.
I have spoken with college admissions staff but wanted more input. I'm trying
to gather as much info on this as I can.
Our school has a form that we have to sign. It says we can either choose to report class rank or not. Once that paper is handed into guidance, it's a blanket policy, meaning if she chose not send class rank, they will not send it to ANY school DD applies to. She can not say send it to this school and not that one. It just gets taken off the transcript.

 

[pryncess527]

Thanks all for the replies.
I have spoken with college admissions staff but wanted more input. I'm trying
to gather as much info on this as I can.
Our school has a form that we have to sign. It says we can either choose to report class rank or not. Once that paper is handed into guidance, it's a blanket policy, meaning if she chose not send class rank, they will not send it to ANY school DD applies to. She can not say send it to this school and not that one. It just gets taken off the transcript.

In that case, I would only include it if she's in the top 10%. I mean, they can probably deduce it either way, and class rank (IME) is not a significant factor in admissions, it varies so much based on school that GPA and test scores tell us a lot more than rank does, so it's probably not going to be a factor either way.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I agree that I would not report class rank unless my child was at least in the top 10%.

 

[bdcp]

My oldest DS HS doesn't rank students. He graduated in 2002 from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology which is a Governor's school and admission is based on testing and recommendations. Everyone in the school would be in the top 5% of their local HS. The colleges all know that. My youngest DS went to our local HS and the school provided that when it sent transcripts. I have no idea what his ranking was, but it wasn't top 5-10%.

I wouldn't hesitate to give the info, but mainly because it's the school's info really and they will report it anyway.

Both are now successful adults and have realized it really doesn't matter where you go to college.

 

[tvguy]

My oldest DS HS doesn't rank students.

My kids HS didn't rank either. And a couple of colleges we visited made a point of saying they prefer to admit a diverse student body across a wide academic spectrum. I know one of my daughters friends struggled in High School and Junior College, and still managed to get several full ride scholarship offers from Universities that looked just has her musical talent.

 

[DVC-Don]

Always wanted to use that smilie.

 

[teller80]

Our school has a form that we have to sign. It says we can either choose to report class rank or not. Once that paper is handed into guidance, it's a blanket policy, meaning if she chose not send class rank, they will not send it to ANY school DD applies to. She can not say send it to this school and not that one. It just gets taken off the transcript.

When I worked in college admissions, each admissions counselor had a territory and knew the high schools from which students were applying. If we received transcripts from several students, some of which had a ranking and some did not, we would deduce that the rank was not very good and the student chose to omit it. It could be a flag. But in any case, we still inputted two gpa's: one that the school reported and we calculated our own (based on core subjects and no weighting), since so many schools weight differently.

I don't think it matters that much anymore, this is from College Board:

Why high schools are forgoing class ranking
Class rank was once a major component in admission decisions. But according to a recent report by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), more than half of all high schools no longer report student rankings.

Most small private and competitive high schools have done away with it because they feel it penalizes many excellent students who are squeezed out of the top 10 percent of the class and then overlooked by elite colleges. Although most public high schools still rank students, some now make it optional for students to report their rankings to colleges.

Class rank and colleges
Due to the tremendous differences in curricula and grading standards at different high schools, many admission officers (especially at selective private colleges) have begun to discount the accuracy and importance of class rank as a factor in evaluating students. Some colleges that used to rely on class rank now use SAT® scores and GPA.

Most large state universities, however, still require applicants to report class rank (as do many scholarship programs) and rely on it to help sort through the high volume of applications received.

 

[MineMail]

I am in college admissions and here's the down low.

Few colleges require the class rank and size at application time because many high schools don't rank their students and because there are many homeschooled students who (for obvious reasons) aren't ranked. (A student once put "1/1 - duh" under "rank/class size" on his application, to emphasize that point.)

If the student has a class rank to be proud of (read: top 10%,) report it on the app and transcripts. Otherwise, just be prepared to answer the question during an interview because if the school does rank, the student should know his/her place in the ranking.

"My school does not rank" is a perfectly valid response, as is "I am a homeschool student." At that point, it's mainly to gauge how the student addresses the missing information and determine if it's a concern. As someone else pointed out, the admissions counselor for the territory likely knows the caliber of students at a given HS. Being in the top 50% at a very-competitive, high-achiever school carries more weight than being in the top 50% at a less-challenging school.

Rank is never the only deciding factor for college admissions, so don't sweat it too much.

Public Service Announcement: Please make sure your students use the same email, home phone and given/family names if you want to have a smooth admissions process. It's unbelievable how many applicants use random email addresses - one student used a different one for every step of the process. (Inquiry card, application, test scores, interview, etc.) The nicknames like "Jimsy" don't match automatically to "James" so the staff has to hunt for the correct documents to match up. Don't even get me started on the pretentious suffices, like "James Earl Jones XIV" like they're royalty. Your family name is JONES, not JONES XIV. Gak.

Set up a special email account when they're sophomores and make sure they use the same names on everything, including college fair registrations.

 

[mistysue]

Don't even get me started on the pretentious suffices, like "James Earl Jones XIV" like they're royalty. Your family name is JONES, not JONES XIV. Gak.

You do realize that those numbers can legally be part of somebodys name, right?

 

[zoemurr]

Our school no longer ranks. It was getting too difficult and there were too many variables.

It was shown to me this way: (a simplistic example)
We could have 2 kids w/a 97 average.

One has taken all AP classes and no electives
One has many APs, some honors classes and band and art classes

Then we have another kid who has a 99 average:
They have only taken classes at grade level to keep their GPA high.

Who should be ranked first?

Even with weighting, a child w/5 honors academics all scoring a 95 would have a higher GPA than another child with the same schedule and grades but who added band and art which are not weighted.

Then you also get into issues of kids who are taking math 3 years advanced at an honors level and kids taking grade appropriate math at an honors level. Should those be weighted the same or differently?

It gets really messy..

 

[christineann]

My kids' school doesn't rank either, but that hasn't been a problem with admissions.

The issue came up though when my daughter applied for scholarships. She called the college to ask about scholarship weekend and was informed that her application was not considered because there was no class rank on the application, so the application wasn't pulled. Fortunately, someone in the office was familiar with her high school, and her application was added to those in the scholarship group.

Check with the financial aid/scholarship office after admission just to confirm that the exclusion of class rank is clarified.

 

[LMN]

My son is a junior and this year for the first time our school district is giving seniors the option of reporting or not. They have to report their option this month and it is a blanket "yes-report my class ranking" or "no-do not." It will be interesting to see how this plays out in our district.

 

[happymommy]

My children's high school also is a college prep private school, which will not report class rank with one exception - military academies (since they require them). Their curriculum is so rigorous that even to graduate, they would be in the top of the local large public schools (not that those schools don't offer excellent courses as well, so I'm not knocking the public schools, especially where I live they're actually great).

So I don't know what to say, other than to agree that unless the student is at the very top, I wouldn't mention rank.

I don't know any private schools nearby that give rank either, but maybe some do. One exception is of course valedictorian!

Good luck to you! That process we'll be going through next year (or rather DS will, not me thank GOD, just worrying about funds for college )

Maybe post this on the Disney for Families board here?

PS: there should be a support group for those of us about to muddle through college applications! So much has changed over the last 30 years!

 

[zoemurr]

We don't even have a Valedictorian.. They decided there was just no fair way to figure it out. Another local school solved this by having several. Not sure what I think is best (DD should be up there but no way she'd be first) but it is a tradition I am sad to see gone.