Where's the rank?

As a college admission officer, I read a lot of college applications - obviously. In the process, one of the attributes I pay careful attention to is class rank. It's no secret that many schools and school systems choose not to rank their students, and for good reasons and that's fair. But in the multifarious world of grading scales and weights in which secondary education occurs, many schools do so to the detriment of their better students.

I do understand not ranking students, especially in a competitive school. The difference between the 1st, 21st and 51st ranked students in a class of 400 is minute, and all three students can and should be considered high achievers by someone in the position of evaluating their academic performance*. Also, rank can lead to heightened competitiveness and unnecessary tension within secondary schools. So I have no objection to the choice not to rank.

*Admittedly, the 1st ranked student does deserve some recognition for her accomplishment.

What I do object to is a school's or a counselor's refusal to indicate the decile, or some general measurement, in which a student's rank would reside if it did in fact exist when the student applies to college. This isn't a dramatic issue on a traditional 4.0 scale, even if it's weighted, or a 100 percent scale. But when a school uses a 5.0, 6.3, 8.0 or other scale, the absence of a rank or general indicator of rank opens a student's GPA up to interpretation.

For instance, If Student A has a 4.83 GPA on a 5.3 weighted scale and the high GPA in the student's class is a 5.3. Admission Officer A might interpret that as being first decile academic achievement, while Admission Officer B might interpret the same GPA as being second decile or deeper. If the two admission officers work at the same institution, presumably they'll discuss Student A's application and reach a consensus. But when they work at different institutions, the uncertainty of rank leads to perceived inconsistencies in admission decisions that vex applicants and secondary school officials alike.

More information leads to better decisions.

Even if a school or counselor would rather not indicate the actual or general rank of an individual student, a grade distribution of some kind on the school's profile is paramount to understanding an applicant's academic performance and placing it in the right context.

And context is everything in admission.