Class rank questions for college apps

[bcafe]

In my state all 11th graders take the SAT at school during the school day.

This is the same for us, but their SATs don't count towards anything but....their score. I would not be happy if this was our policy! What if a high stats kid doesn't test well on a standardized platform?

[SnuggleBuggles]

In my state all 11th graders take the SAT at school during the school day.

Huh. Not the case at all here. I'm just glad our school is finally an option as a testing site sometimes. I had to drive ds1 to different schools.

[AnnieW625]

This is the same for us, but their SATs don't count towards anything but....their score. I would not be happy if this was our policy! What if a high stats kid doesn't test well on a standardized platform?

No idea what currently happens but I had solid 3.50 gpa in high school and my combined SAT was 670. My low SAT score finally got me tested for a learning disability in 11th grade (after being told my grades were too high to qualify in previous years). The college board paperwork that came with my score said I had a 40% chance of ever graduating from college. It said I should consider a technical career. I am not a hands on person at all. Maybe I couldve done something like an ultra sound technician or taken legal secretary certification classes at our junior college but anything else hands on was not in my wheelhouse. I graduated from a 4 year university in 4/1/2 years. Thankfully my state at the time had a sliding scale so my 3.50 or so gpa was high enough to counteract my 670 combined score.


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[scrooks]

Our school does not officially rank but certain teachers can tell the kids where they rank. We wanted this info as there is a state scholarship offered to kids in the top 5% of their class. The ranking will be set at then end of junior year. Ed was able to find out her rank and fingers crossed with maintain her spot in the top 5% through this semester!
I would be really annoyed if SAT (ACT) score was factored in. And while all juniors in our school will take the ACT this month, it just doesn’t seem like a fair assessment. Hardly anyone takes the SAT at our school.

[jenmcadams]

I had never heard of a HS incorporating SAT/ACT Scores in class rank until this thread.

In our large suburban district, class rank is reported as both weighted and unweighted on the transcript. My son was top 5 on both, but wasn't chosen as Valedictorian because while he and the other top student each had one B, her weighted GPA was higher. He took more APs than anyone in the history of the school (graduated with 16+ APs), but his tendency to have 2 vocal music periods + student government in addition to a full boat of honors and AP classes every semester hurt his weighted GPA. He generally was registered for 8 credits in a 7 period day because teachers would allow him to split one of his academic classes with one of his non-academic music or student government classes. His counselor had encourage me to raise a stink about the valedictorian selection, but it honestly didn't matter to him and while his record on paper looked really strong, he didn't actually work that hard and I kind of felt like the girl who got it worked harder and it definitely meant more to her (+ I generally took a very hands off approach in high school and didn't even regularly check his grades). At the end of the day, his class rank did not affect college admissions in any significant way. His counselor emphasized the rigor of his schedule and he was admitted to many of the more selective schools he applied to (Tufts, USC, etc.) and received a ton of merit at most schools, including the liberal arts college he attends now, Occidental.

As an aside, I like to share that the ease with which he navigated high school (and probably my hands off approach) definitely impacted the rocky first year of college he had. He ended up basically failing out of Oxy and had to take a semester of academic leave this Fall. He spent the fall semester taking classes at community college, working a job, working with a therapist and working with an Exec Function coach to build up skills he was severely lacking. He's back at Oxy this spring and excited about his semester albeit nervous about whether he's built up enough skills and has enough support to be successful, but we're cautiously optimistic. I feel compelled to share his story because I don't think enough people talk about when college goes poorly or not as planned. He was dealing with some pretty big emotional stuff and combining that with never having been forced to build skills he needed to function without the forgiving environment of his High School, he just fell further and further behind and dug himself into a hole he couldn't get out from.

[AnnieW625]

I had never heard of a HS incorporating SAT/ACT Scores in class rank until this thread.
????

As an aside, I like to share that the ease with which he navigated high school (and probably my hands off approach) definitely impacted the rocky first year of college he had. He ended up basically failing out of Oxy and had to take a semester of academic leave this Fall. He spent the fall semester taking classes at community college, working a job, working with a therapist and working with an Exec Function coach to build up skills he was severely lacking. He's back at Oxy this spring and excited about his semester albeit nervous about whether he's built up enough skills and has enough support to be successful, but we're cautiously optimistic. I feel compelled to share his story because I don't think enough people talk about when college goes poorly or not as planned. He was dealing with some pretty big emotional stuff and combining that with never having been forced to build skills he needed to function without the forgiving environment of his High School, he just fell further and further behind and dug himself into a hole he couldn't get out from.

Me neither.

I want to share that my brother had better grades than I did (but wasnt close to a 4.00), maybe took one or two more honors classes in high school than I did (I took one), and he never had to retake a math class and he got something like 1100 on his SAT (in the late 90s this was pretty acceptable) and was admitted to UC Davis (but rejected at Berkeley) and well his first year plus at Davis was a disaster. He was a geology major and while he liked the extra curricular activities he was able to do in the major (plus his involvement in the marching band) the classes were just too much. Half way through his second year he had to take a LOA and spent few quarters or so at community college. It was the best decision he says and he ended up as an American Studies major (he was thinking about teaching) and then ended up in nursing home/group home management for about 10 years post college and is now an accounting administrator for a non profit agency where he lives. He absolutely loves what he does and this was nowhere near his career plan in high school.


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[daisyd]

Thanks all for posting. Sounds like there is a huge range in how class rank is calculated and many schools dont do class rank. So that's one less worry for DS1