Following suit with a host of schools districts across the St. Louis area like Clayton, Ladue and Francis Howell, the Rockwood School District has eliminated class rank beginning with the Class of 2013 after a 2011 School Board decision. Graduates will instead be recognized with the following weighted designations: cum laude (3.5), magna cum laude (3.75) and summa cum laude (4.0).

Shareen Yang, senior, will be the last student to be ranked “number 4” at MHS before the current Junior Class pioneers the new cum laude system.

“Class rank is something that I thought about even as a freshman entering high school,” Yang said. “It definitely shaped how I chose my classes.”

Yang said without class rank, she still would have chosen weighted grade classes, but much of the competition in her graduating class would have been reduced.

“Sometimes people get caught up in being a certain number and begin comparing themselves to others,” Yang said. “I think the new system will be better for students because there won’t be that jealousy with specific rankings.”

A push to lessen competition among the top ranked students was partially responsible for the transition into the cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude recognition designations. Don Coons, guidance counselor, said the new system will ideally encourage students to take a broader range of coursework with less focus on attaining a “top 10” class ranking.

“There can be some pretty unhealthy levels of competition in the frenzy for college admissions,” Yang said.

But Coons said ultimately, the school wants students to focus on the education value of class selection rather than the weight of the course as it impacts their class ranking.

According to the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), more than half of all high schools no longer report student rankings as colleges place more of an emphasis on individual GPAs and SAT/ACT scores to measure academic success.

“Two students across the country can have the same rank but have vastly different schedules and GPAs,” according to the Rockwood website. “With the new academic recognition standards, universities will consider students on a more individual basis. Research indicates that colleges work to consider students in comparison to all other incoming students, and not just students within one high school.”

Joan Lodes, college counselor, said the change should not hurt students applying to college because admission offices can still evaluate students through admissions essays, extracurricular activities, standardized test scores and GPA.

“We will still continue to show academic achievment through GPA distribution within classes,” Lodes said.

Colleges are also moving to a more holistic approach when looking at students.

“It isn’t all about the numbers anymore, and a particular ranking doesn’t guarantee a student’s acceptance into a university,” according to the NACAC.

Coons said reactions to the change have been mixed.

“Some students and parents believe it is a good and necessary change while others feel the change should not have occurred,” Coons said.

Karan Mathur, junior and currently ranked first in the class of 2013, said he doesn’t feel like the new system will diminish his accomplishments.

“I just think kids should motivate themselves to go as far as they want to go without needing a rank as an incentive,” Mathur said. “Colleges will still see my weighted and unweighted GPA so my particular ranking is irrelevant.”

Ultimately, Mathur said, high school is much more than simply class rank.

“Kids will go as far as they want to go, with or without a rank,” Mathur said.