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University of Washington (the one in Seattle) doesn't rank their students until the end of their second year, after Spring quarter grades have been submitted. When they do rank, at the end of the 2nd and 3rd years, they do it in bands: 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, and 33%. Top 5 students are notified of their individual rank.

To not have a 1st year rank, this is unusual?

I agree with all the advice about not going to a school with the expectation of transferring, I'd be happy at UW.

Really I'm just curious, would not having a rank make transferring after 1L virtually impossible?

dawei wrote:To not have a 1st year rank, this is unusual?

Not sure that this system is unusual, but it's definetely a bit TTTish. The way the system is set up at you schools, it seems like they are intentionally trying to hinder people who are trying to transfer.

dawei wrote:would not having a rank make transferring after 1L virtually impossible?

No. Depending on the school, it might get a number of applications from students at your school, where the potential transfer school has an decent idea of where you sit in your class. A lot of TTTs intentionally wait to rank students until after all the application deadlines to make transfering more difficult (i.e. an exact class rank is still better than an educated guess by the potential transfer school). Mine did just that (they literally released class ranks about a week after all the t14 application deadlines). But people from my old school, as well as people from other schools that engage in similar practices, managed to transfer out. So it's definetely not "virtually impossible" to transfer out of your school, despite not having an official class rank.

The above post is credited. My school did not release ranks until late summer - after I had already been accepted to my transfer school. Try to find the grade distribution table from last year and send that with your app (if my experience is any indication, your school will not provide this and you will need to get it off of a 2L/3L). It's frustrating, but adcomms know which schools play these games and they will estimate your rank from old data.

concurrent fork wrote: Try to find the grade distribution table from last year and send that with your app (if my experience is any indication, your school will not provide this and you will need to get it off of a 2L/3L). It's frustrating, but adcomms know which schools play these games and they will estimate your rank from old data.

Yep, I'm sure adcomms are aware of this and have some sort of system to evaluate you. It would be ridiculous for an adcomm to automatically place you in a disadvantage over something you really had no control over. The grade distribution chart is a great idea, you should give UW a call and see if you could send them charts from the past 3 years or so. Try the registrar's office or office of career planning to see if they are willing to provide you the charts. It would also help to send in UW's info about its curve and letter grade allocations.

I think it's going to depend on how aware the target transfer school is of the grading system at your old school (chances are, if it's a T2-4, they're probably not very). I lateral-ish transferred and my school, a T10, doesn't rank until graduation (and I didn't really consider this TTTish). Didn't seem to hurt my transfer chances (and from what I've heard from others who transferred to HYSCCN from here, it didn't hurt them).

Yeah, I don't think it matters either, especially coming from a T1 school like you are, and even more so if you are applying with your same region. My school (T2) doesn't rank at all, and people transfer out to top schools every year. I'm sure some of the top people from UWash each year apply to SLS, Boalt, and even the national T14s, so they will have some idea of what is a top GPA and what they consider marginal.

Sweet, helpful responses.

UWash is the best school is the PNW and when I start a career I'd like to be in the PNW. If I have the chance, I can only see transferring to HYS. Boalt is certainly a better (higher ranked school), but my understanding is if one wants to work in Seattle, Boalt and UW are equal.


I'll add that I'd like to think that UWash doesn't rank until 2L for reasons beyond preventing students from transferring. Current students have described the student body as dedicated but laid back. Maybe less people freaking out around finals time than at other schools.

As a laid back person myself, I see this a bonus.

concurrent fork wrote:The above post is credited. My school did not release ranks until late summer - after I had already been accepted to my transfer school. Try to find the grade distribution table from last year and send that with your app (if my experience is any indication, your school will not provide this and you will need to get it off of a 2L/3L). It's frustrating, but adcomms know which schools play these games and they will estimate your rank from old data.

My school did the same thing where they wouldn't give me the grade distribution chart (even though it was clear that they kept records of that information).

dawei wrote:Sweet, helpful responses.

UWash is the best school is the PNW and when I start a career I'd like to be in the PNW. If I have the chance, I can only see transferring to HYS. Boalt is certainly a better (higher ranked school), but my understanding is if one wants to work in Seattle, Boalt and UW are equal.


I'll add that I'd like to think that UWash doesn't rank until 2L for reasons beyond preventing students from transferring. Current students have described the student body as dedicated but laid back. Maybe less people freaking out around finals time than at other schools.

As a laid back person myself, I see this a bonus.

It's true. The students here are FAR more laid back than the students at my old school around finals time. UW doesn't like competition b/w its students. The intent has nothing to do with preventing transfers from what I've gathered.

Also, you WILL NOT get a distribution table. It is kept secret....very secret. That part is extremely annoying.