School district officials hope to scrap class rank

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools leaders are attempting to get rid of a statistic many colleges use to evaluate applicants.

District leaders want to remove class rank — the measure by which students are ranked against their peers — from high school transcripts.

While the statistic provides a way for college admissions officials to evaluate an applicant’s competitiveness, some in CHCCS have said they believe it leads to unnecessary competition between students and more stress.

The class rank rule dates back to a 1995 N.C. law that required the information to be displayed on all high school transcripts, along with a student’s GPA and standardized test scores.

CHCCS spokesman Jeff Nash said the system asked the State Board of Education for a waiver last year to remove class rank from transcripts, but it was denied.

“We hope to work with legislators to get the law changed in the coming years, but we do not have the authority to make that decision,” he said.

System Superintendent Tom Forcella was not available for comment.

Montez Thomas, a guidance counselor at Chapel Hill High School, said he thinks students often take more challenging Advanced Placement courses in place of electives that interest them to boost their rank.

“Our students are very competitive — and so conscientious about how they do against other students,” he said.

Thomas said he thinks there are better ways to measure student achievement, such as looking at SAT scores, extracurricular activities and overall leadership experience.

He said he tells students who come into his office to follow their passion.

“I encourage students to be as well-rounded as possible, and if that means encouraging them to take something they’re interested in even if it’s less quality points, then so be it,” he said.

CHHS junior Allison Benedict said she would be more inclined to take courses that interested her if there were no class rank.

“A lot of students will take an extreme number of AP courses only to boost their class rank and GPA, so by removing the class rank there is less pressure on everyone to compete,” she said.

Recent CHHS graduate and incoming UNC freshman Julie Wolforst said she thinks her class rank may have initially hurt her chances of getting into UNC when she was wait-listed.

“It cheats students and the schools they apply to, because class rank is an extremely poor indicator of intelligence,” she said.

Wolforst said she tried to ignore the ranking system in order to stay confident and feel less anxious about the college application process.

“How I feel about myself and how hard I’m working is much more important than some number in a computer database,” she said.

Despite the criticism, UNC’s Senior Assistant Admissions Director Ashley Memory said class rank is a small factor in whether or not they admit a student.

“When reviewing applications, we consider a number of factors, and class rank is actually not as important to us as grades and the rigor of courses selected by our applicants,” she said.

Memory said out-of-state students whose transcripts might not include class rank have the same chance of getting in as other students.

“No applicant is disadvantaged for not providing a class rank,” she said.
Memory said 101 students from CHCCS were enrolled in fall 2012.

Staff writer Taylor Greene contributed reporting.

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