Decline of Class Rank

Decline of Class Rank August 14 If a high school doesnt rank, theres nothing a college can do about it. They just have to deal. Weve written many times in recent years about the decline of class rank as a factor in highly selective college admissions.  And so its no surprise to us that there was a  blog yesterday on the website of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), to which our Founder, Bev Taylor, is a member about how fewer and fewer schools rely on class rank when rendering admissions decisions. As the piece states, At Tufts University (MA), just 20 percent of students who applied this year provided a class rank.  Of  the 2014-15  freshman cohort at Dartmouth College (NH), only a third of students hailed from high schools that rank students. And Tufts and Dartmouth are surely not alone. Class rank has been on the decline for years. There is no advantage for a high school to rank its students and while its taken some time for these schools to realize this, theyve been coming around. Slowly but surely. Theres enough competition in highly selective college admissions. For a high school to pit one of their students against another of their students doesnt help their students. It hurts their students. It creates animosity between students, between families. High schools want as many of their students getting into highly selective colleges as possible, not only the student who ranks first in the class. At some schools, everyones a valedictorian. At Ivy Coach, we applaud these schools for standing tall against colleges who ask for class rank information. We applaud these schools for sticking to their principles. As it turns out, it is, without question, in their best interest. It always has been. Have a question about class rank? Feel free to ask away by posting a Comment below. We look forward to hearing from you.