It’s no surprise that students compete for the highest Grade Point Averages (GPAs) or titles in their classes to impress colleges. Students spend years of school perfecting their assignments and grades to satisfy themselves. Schoolwork is stressful, and feeling pressured to do well in advanced classes is inevitable. 

Class ranks are numerical values that represent one’s academic stance in competition with their classmates using the grades students make in their core and language classes. Although class rankings can cause pressure, their ability to alert colleges of the most successful students makes them worthy of keeping for students to compete for.

In addition to looking at a student’s weighted and unweighted GPA, colleges use one’s class rank to gauge how they compete and compare to other students in their class, according to an article published by April Maguire from CollegeVine. This is a positive factor for students applying to colleges because unweighted GPA, which is calculated on a 4.0 scale, can be the same for students in regular and advanced classes, and doesn’t show the rigor of classes taken by a student. By using class rank, colleges are able to see the amount of advanced classes taken, because class ranks use a weighted GPA on a 5.0 scale, Maguire confirmed.

Class ranks are also an effective way to assess the comparison of students with similar class options. High schools have different levels of academic resources and class availability; more privileged schools have easier access to advanced placement, or AP, classes, which inevitably raise their GPAs. With class ranks, colleges are able to see how ambitious students are with their class choices given at their school.

 According to an article on College Raptor, it is important for colleges to have more information than less when accepting applicants. Class ranks allow colleges to have more insight on the student applying and how high they are in their classes, which is a huge benefit when competing against other students applying with less academic information. 

Another useful reason for class ranks is the use of scholarships. College Raptor claims that students must be in a certain percentage or numerical value of class rank to apply for scholarships at colleges, and may not be able to without a numerical class rank. Scholarships are very helpful for college tuition, so class ranks ultimately aids with paying for college.

According to an article from Tenney School, class rank is more effective depending on the size of the class. A larger graduating class allows for more comparison and significant information for colleges to look at. For Bowie students, this is important because a graduating class of 750-800 students creates more competition among peers and beneficial information for colleges to study. 

In addition to class ranks, another crucial part of college admission for an applicant is one’s ACT and SAT test scores. These exams can take months of prior studying and preparation and can greatly impact a scholarship from a college or acceptance. This is another stressful part of high school for students, but using class rankings allows for colleges to look at something else other than test scores for acceptance. If a student is not confident in their exam scores, their class rank takes off the pressure of them and gives colleges better insight as to how successful the student is. 

Although some may argue that class rankings cause unhealthy competition and stress between students, the benefits that they give colleges when assessing high school students is worth the pressure to succeed among one’s classmates. This is more important because getting into a good college is helpful for one’s future career, and working hard to get the highest class rank is a crucial step to achieving one’s academic goals.