Is this obsessive?

I’m thinking about signing up for a summer school course this month as I enter my senior year. My goal is to replace a B in an honors class for hopefully an A. My reasoning behind it is to boost my class ranking. How much my rank would improve....? I couldn’t tell you. I have not even the slightest idea of where I stand in my class at the current moment. My rank will not be released by my school until August. Just curious to hear some outside opinions! I want to know if I’m being a bit paranoid. Thanks!

My opinion is that it is quite obsessive.

Two issues:
1) You’re 3/4 into your HS career. Replacing one B with in A isn’t going to move the needle much in terms of your GPA. I’m going to estimate you have 30-36 units of classes done. Changing the grade of one of those units just doesn’t have a big effect since that grade has to try to move the other 29-35 units.

2) Even if you were to be able to change your class rank, the entire class is 3/4 into the marathon. What would your rank move to? Maybe 15th to 14th? 8th to 7th? The point I’m making is you’re probably not going to move much in terms of ranking anyway. If you’ve got 100 kids in your class, then going from 15th to 14th still gets you in the top 15% of your class. Going from 9th to 8th still gets you in the top 10% of your class. You didn’t tell us your class rank so for all I know you may be still in the running for Val or Sal. Really at this point, it’s hard to move significantly in class ranking unless your class is separated by thousandths decimal places.

You’d be better off getting in shape for the CFA or doing other things that may improve your app like volunteer work. Work on your essays. The common app (which you will probably use for your plan B, C, and D schools) open up in August but the essay prompts are out there. Work those essays as well as those for the SAs, noms, and ROTC.

If you get into a SA, then this will be the last summer you’ll get with significant amount of free time. Enjoy it. Go on vacation. Relax. Hit senior year hard so you’re not letting off the gas.

Good luck.

It depends on how big and competitive your high school is. A single B could drop you 20 places, I know it could at my DS high school. I really think improving SAT or ACT scores and becoming an officer in an organization would help more. Also try to max out your CFA. It's a hard appointment to get but remember the WPS is what matters and every district has a different competition level.

Fuggedaboudit.

+1 to GoCubbies.... and I certainly wouldn't do it without knowing my current class rank and how far off I was from the next few folks. Spend yor time doing sprint intervals, improving your run, doing push-ups and sit-ups. Recharge your brain cells. Swimming is nice!

A couple of Bs in high level courses are not the kiss of death. If you told me you had earned a D, or even a C, repeating might make sense (depending on other facts). Definitely not for a B.

If you want to do summer school, take a course you have not taken before (if permitted) to get ahead.

Just to give everyone a better picture. My school ranks off weighted GPA. I currently have a weighted GPA of 4.15 off a 5.0 scale. I come from a large school with about 550 kids in my graduating class. My school is ranked a top 10 public school in my state with an average ACT of 27. There’s an intensive IB program of about 50 or so kids in my class. These 50 or so kids usually take the top 50 spots as the IB program is very rigorous. I opted for honors courses and currently have 9 APs under my belt: AP calc BC, AP chem, etc. The only thing I have to go with is that the class of 2018 valedictorian at my school had a 4.5 GPA. With that being said, from year to year different classes can be more competitive than others.

What’s your latest class rank? I take it was from the end of your sophomore year or the end of first semester junior year.

Forgive me if I didn’t see your current rank in previous posts. In addition to hitting my head too much while landing after jumping out of perfectly good planes, my cataracts (even at a young age) have affected my vision.

GoCubbies said:

What’s your latest class rank? I take it was from the end of your sophomore year or the end of first semester junior year.

Forgive me if I didn’t see your current rank in previous posts. In addition to hitting my head too much while landing after jumping out of perfectly good planes, my cataracts (even at a young age) have affected my vision.

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My school ranks the first month of senior year. They do not rank after each completed year. Therefore I am not sure of where I stand. My registrar told me I’m looking to be in the top 20% if not higher. The thing about me is that I always strive for more. If there’s an opportunity to improve my current self by working hard, I’m all for it.

Just curious, you are very knowledgable with this topic. Do you work within a school or school district?

I would not retake the course for a b with that gpa. I would focus on improving other parts like CFA.

usna1234 said:

If there’s an opportunity to improve my current self by working hard, I’m all for it.

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Improved academics is not the only way to improve yourself. Man does not live by bread alone....

Class rank is not as important as one would think. ACT or standardized test scores hold more weight. Lastly enjoy high school it only happens once. Put together the best package you can for a WCS and let the chips fall wherte they may. DD was not in top 10% yet received 3 Appointments. Again there is no magic formula or magic pill. Good luck!

Folks here have given our best advice. If you still want to retake the course, do so.

usna1985 said:

Folks here have given our best advice. If you still want to retake the course, do so.

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From the wise advice given, I feel as though the time spent doing summer school would be better spent on other things.

From a different perspective, yea retaking an honors course for a hopeful A would possibly raise my GPA and class ranking. But I also figured it would show perseverance and determination to achieve greatness in my academics. I know it is very uncommon for a person to retake an honors course B, but I just thought there was a bigger picture than just the perceived GPA boost. Regardless I have already put emphasis on the other parts of my application this summer!