The Future of class rank

By Andrea Ybarra, Andrea Alvarado, & Michael Villeda

Staff Writers

Is class rank a thing of the past? SOAR High School starts to say goodbye—but do the students agree?

SOAR High School is implementing a new change in the coming years. Class ranks will no longer be a part of transcripts as of the 2025-2026 school year. This has left both students and staff on conflicting sides. Students are unsure how college admission chances are going to be now that class ranks will be gone; meanwhile, others are happy to not have the stress of having the highest rank.

Class rank was seen to have been a huge stressor for students. The worry of not taking enough classes to have a higher rank than others in their grade. When asked about her opinion on how class ranks affected students' mental health, Staci Jefferson, a teacher from SOAR who teaches multiple senior classes, mentioned, “I know other students who feel like a failure because their rank is lower than their peers.” Low-ranking students were at higher risk of having anxiety and more insecurities when comparing their ranks to their friends and other classmates. Students would feel the need to be extremely competitive to even get a high rank.

However, some students disagree and believe that class rank is necessary. Some students argue that class rank can give a heads-up when applying to top colleges. “From what I heard, colleges that are hard to get into actually care about class rank,” explained Janet Onwuka, a student at SOAR. Depending on the number of students applying to a college, admission officers need to be able to decipher which students belong in that school. Some students believe that admission officers will continue to use class rank to decide if a student gets admitted or not, even if it is not said explicitly.

“I do not believe class rank will affect their chances. Academics play just a small role in what colleges are looking for,” Jefferson mentioned. Colleges are not just focused on what a student’s rank is, but also take into account what the student actively does. While some students may feel disappointed by this change and wonder how their hard work would be recognized, others may see it as a step toward reducing unhealthy academic competition.