Student-centric advice and objective recommendations
Higher education has never been more confusing or expensive. Our goal is to help you navigate the very big decisions related to higher ed with objective information and expert advice. Each piece of content on the site is original, based on extensive research, and reviewed by multiple editors, including a subject matter expert. This ensures that all of our content is up-to-date, useful, accurate, and thorough.
Our reviews and recommendations are based on extensive research, testing, and feedback. We may receive commission from links on our website, but that doesn’t affect our editors’ opinions. Our marketing partners don’t review, approve or endorse our editorial content. It’s accurate to the best of our knowledge when posted. You can find a complete list of our partners here.
What Is a Good Class Rank?
Along with your GPA and test scores, class rank is the other big metric that is used to assess your academic success. This is why many students will ask “what is a good class rank?”
After all, most students want to put themselves in the absolute best position to win scholarships and gain admission to their top choice colleges.
In this post, we will cover the following questions about class rank including:
- What is class rank?
- Why do colleges care about class rank?
- Where do I find my class rank?
- What is a good class rank?
- What if my high school doesn’t give a class rank?
Keep on reading to learn everything you need to know about how class rank and why it matters.
What is class rank?
Class rank is a metric that measures your academic success compared to other members of your class.
As far as how class rank is displayed, this will vary from school to school. Some ways class rank might be displayed include:
- Percentile (you are in the top 5%, 10%, etc. of your class)
- Absolute rank (you are the number 1, 53, 78, etc. student in your class)
Where do I find my class rank?
You will generally find your class rank on your transcript or even through the college planning software your school might use.
Every school is different, so you should get in touch with your school counselor for more information about how you can access your most up-to-date class rank.
Why do colleges care about class rank?
One of the most important things for admissions and scholarship selection officers is to evaluate students in the context of their opportunities in high school.
Class rank is a great way to evaluate students in their context since it allows the admissions officer to see how a student compares to their peers. Metrics like weighted and unweighted GPA can tell you about an individual student’s achievement, but what does that mean in the context of their high school?
For instance, as an admissions officer I once read an application from a student at a large public school who was ranked #1 and had a 4.0 GPA. Very impressive, right?
It was, but when I looked at their class rank, it was revealed that they shared that rank with over 30 other students. This was useful to see, because it showed me that while this student was impressive, they were not necessarily a huge standout among their peers.
So simply, class rank is a useful data point to see how a student stacks up against their peers.
Recommended: What are my admissions chances? Start with a scattergram!
What is a good class rank?
This is the big question for students: What is a good class rank? The short answer is “it depends,” but I will explain the long answer too.
A good class rank is a high class rank, no doubt. Simply put, the closer you are to #1, the better. However, colleges and scholarships do not generally have absolute cutoffs based on class rank. Instead, it is a general datapoint that will be helpful for them to understand your overall high school performance.
If you are #1 in your class, it does not guarantee that you will win any scholarship you apply for or that you will be admitted to all of your top choice colleges. That will certainly help, but it is only going to be treated as a single data point in the scholarship or application selection process.
It sounds cliché, but your best move is to do your best in school and take the most challenging classes that you can handle. Don’t obsess over how your class rank may ebb and flow. It will only drive you crazy and is not going to help.
What if my high school doesn’t give a class rank?
One of the biggest trends that I have seen over the past decade is that many high schools are dropping class rank all together. It is not a perfect metric and schools worry that it will lead to more cutthroat competition among their students. So if you are looking at your transcript right now and don’t see class rank, don’t be surprised.
Other schools (including the private high school I worked at as a college counselor), will give students their rank in a more general percentile form. At the high school I was at, students would know their rank to the decile: Top 20%, 20-40%, 60-80%, Bottom 20%. However, this was not something that our school reported to colleges.
If your school does not give a class rank, don’t worry. Not having a class rank will not negatively impact your admissions or scholarships chances at all.
However, certain applications may require you to include some sort of a rank. In these situations, talk to your school counselor about what to do.
Related: Scholarships360’s free scholarship search tool
Bottom line for students
- Class rank is one way that college admissions officers evaluate your academic success in the context of your peers.
- Not all high schools use class rank, so don’t worry if your high school doesn’t offer you this datapoint.
- Class rank is just one of many factors that college admissions officers are considering. Your transcript, test scores, letters of recommendation, essays, activities, and other life experiences also matter!
