Class Rank Estimator Forum
- dailygrind
- Posts: 19907
- Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:08 am
Class Rank Estimator
This is a method of estimating your class rank based off of various data points. Linked below is an online calculator that should be fairly intuitive to use, and I have also left formulas behind which can be plugged into Excel (in case the calculator goes down).
Estimator mechanics:
This is an estimate based off the assumption that your school's GPA distribution is roughly "normal" ("normal" distributions being a specific, common type of distribution whose characteristics are likely to match your school's grade distribution). The estimator utilizes two data points to figure out what your school's grade distribution looks like, and then uses that estimate of your school's grade distribution to tell you where you rank, based upon your GPA.
The first data point the estimator needs can be any ranked data point except for the median (e.g. 3.5 is top 25%, or 3.1 is bottom 25%). The second data point the estimator needs is the median GPA (if you don't have the median GPA, the mean should be pretty much the same number, assuming your school has a normal distribution).
I should stress that this will yield only an estimate, though I think it should be fairly accurate (unless you're an outlier of sorts, either high or low. It is likely to be less accurate for outliers).
Online Calculator, graciously made by LSATSCORES2012
http://mylsn.info/class_rank.php
Excel code:
Open excel and follow these directions:
Cell A1: enter your GPA
Cell A2: enter the median gpa at your school.
Cell A3: enter the GPA of a certain ranked data point (e.g. 3.7 is ~ top 6.8% at UVA, so someone from UVA would enter 3.7)
Cell A4: enter the rank of that GPA (e.g. enter 6.8 if you're at UVA).
Cell A5: copy and paste this formula:
=(1 - NORMDIST(A1, A2, (A3 - A2)/NORMSINV(1-(A4/100)), TRUE))*100
Press enter. Whatever comes up in A5, you're in the top that percentile. You can save the sheet and use it later, as well.
The majority of the replies below are people I estimated for using the manual workaround, until we figured out a way to just put the calculator online. After that there's a little discussion about the calculator and various requests for estimation.
Estimator mechanics:
This is an estimate based off the assumption that your school's GPA distribution is roughly "normal" ("normal" distributions being a specific, common type of distribution whose characteristics are likely to match your school's grade distribution). The estimator utilizes two data points to figure out what your school's grade distribution looks like, and then uses that estimate of your school's grade distribution to tell you where you rank, based upon your GPA.
The first data point the estimator needs can be any ranked data point except for the median (e.g. 3.5 is top 25%, or 3.1 is bottom 25%). The second data point the estimator needs is the median GPA (if you don't have the median GPA, the mean should be pretty much the same number, assuming your school has a normal distribution).
I should stress that this will yield only an estimate, though I think it should be fairly accurate (unless you're an outlier of sorts, either high or low. It is likely to be less accurate for outliers).
Online Calculator, graciously made by LSATSCORES2012
http://mylsn.info/class_rank.php
Excel code:
Open excel and follow these directions:
Cell A1: enter your GPA
Cell A2: enter the median gpa at your school.
Cell A3: enter the GPA of a certain ranked data point (e.g. 3.7 is ~ top 6.8% at UVA, so someone from UVA would enter 3.7)
Cell A4: enter the rank of that GPA (e.g. enter 6.8 if you're at UVA).
Cell A5: copy and paste this formula:
=(1 - NORMDIST(A1, A2, (A3 - A2)/NORMSINV(1-(A4/100)), TRUE))*100
Press enter. Whatever comes up in A5, you're in the top that percentile. You can save the sheet and use it later, as well.
The majority of the replies below are people I estimated for using the manual workaround, until we figured out a way to just put the calculator online. After that there's a little discussion about the calculator and various requests for estimation.
-
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2011 4:02 pm
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
I'll give it a go.
Mean: 2.91
Top 33%: 3.06
Estimate: 3.35, 3.21, and 3.56
Let's see what you got, you math magicians, you!
Mean: 2.91
Top 33%: 3.06
Estimate: 3.35, 3.21, and 3.56
Let's see what you got, you math magicians, you!
- traehekat
- Posts: 3188
- Joined: Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:00 pm
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
Median: 3.3
37.5%: 3.42
12.5%: 3.68
Estimate the following GPAs: 3.49, 3.73, 3.81.
37.5%: 3.42
12.5%: 3.68
Estimate the following GPAs: 3.49, 3.73, 3.81.
- MC Southstar
- Posts: 1191
- Joined: Sat Sep 26, 2009 3:27 pm
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
I wish I could partake in this.
- dailygrind
- Posts: 19907
- Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:08 am
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
Top 9.8%, 18.9%, and 2.8%.PolemisLopez wrote:I'll give it a go.
Mean: 2.91
Top 33%: 3.06
Estimate: 3.35, 3.21, and 3.56
Let's see what you got, you math magicians, you!
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- Posts: 8
- Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2011 9:04 am
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
great thanks
Last edited by skrillo on Tue Jun 21, 2011 2:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- dailygrind
- Posts: 19907
- Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:08 am
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
Top 30.7 (28.3), 12.7 (9.7), and 8.8 (6.1).traehekat wrote:Median: 3.3
37.5%: 3.42
12.5%: 3.68
Estimate the following GPAs: 3.49, 3.73, 3.81.
The grade distribution at your school isn't perfectly normally distributed, so the number in parenthesis is the estimation based off the 12.5 percentile. I'd probably trust the 12.5% estimator for the grades near it, while I'd trust the 37.5 estimate for the grades near that.
-
- Posts: 144
- Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 4:13 pm
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
3.33 median
top 10% 3.71
estimate 3.727
thanks so much for this!
top 10% 3.71
estimate 3.727
thanks so much for this!
- dailygrind
- Posts: 19907
- Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:08 am
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
Top 9%. No problem.shadow. wrote:3.33 median
top 10% 3.71
estimate 3.727
thanks so much for this!
- squ1rtle
- Posts: 71
- Joined: Thu Dec 17, 2009 2:36 am
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
10% 3.612
25% 3.370
33% 3.212
50% 3.064
Where would 3.819 fall? Approx Class size: 240
25% 3.370
33% 3.212
50% 3.064
Where would 3.819 fall? Approx Class size: 240
- dailygrind
- Posts: 19907
- Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:08 am
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
Top 3.9% using the 10% as an estimator. Awesome job, congrats.squ1rtle wrote:10% 3.612
25% 3.370
33% 3.212
50% 3.064
Where would 3.819 fall? Approx Class size: 240
-
- Posts: 129
- Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2009 3:05 pm
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
Class Size = 250
Median = 3.09
Top 33% = 3.30
Top 25% = 3.37
Top 20% = 3.49
Top 10% = 3.71
Guess:
3.28
3.76
3.45
3.92
Median = 3.09
Top 33% = 3.30
Top 25% = 3.37
Top 20% = 3.49
Top 10% = 3.71
Guess:
3.28
3.76
3.45
3.92
-
- Posts: 59
- Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2011 3:01 am
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
Thanks for this public service.
Last year's #s at UC-Tenderloin:
top 15% 3.542
top 20% 3.458
top 25% 3.396
top 30% 3.335
top 35% 3.281
top 40% 3.223
top 45% 3.173
top 50% 3.131
top 75% 2.858
I don't know the mean. If it helps, that year's class had ~470 students. This year's has ~370.
How about 3.704?
Last year's #s at UC-Tenderloin:
top 15% 3.542
top 20% 3.458
top 25% 3.396
top 30% 3.335
top 35% 3.281
top 40% 3.223
top 45% 3.173
top 50% 3.131
top 75% 2.858
I don't know the mean. If it helps, that year's class had ~470 students. This year's has ~370.
How about 3.704?
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- dailygrind
- Posts: 19907
- Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:08 am
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
No problem. I'm just going to guess that your mean is the same as the median, which is a fairly sound assumption.FireNextTime wrote:Thanks for this public service.
Last year's #s at UC-Tenderloin:
top 15% 3.542
top 20% 3.458
top 25% 3.396
top 30% 3.335
top 35% 3.281
top 40% 3.223
top 45% 3.173
top 50% 3.131
top 75% 2.858
I don't know the mean. If it helps, that year's class had ~470 students. This year's has ~370.
How about 3.704?
Using the top 15% as the estimator, you are in the top 7.4%. Congrats!
- dailygrind
- Posts: 19907
- Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:08 am
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
34.5%mebeSajid wrote:Class Size = 250
Median = 3.09
Top 33% = 3.30
Top 25% = 3.37
Top 20% = 3.49
Top 10% = 3.71
Guess:
3.28
3.76
3.45
3.92
8.3%
22.4%
4.3%
- NYC Law
- Posts: 1561
- Joined: Thu May 26, 2011 3:33 pm
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
I started making an excel spreadsheet for kicks, but I hit a speed bump at the final step. Is there a way to calculate the p from the z score with a formula in excel? My stats memory is a little fuzzy...
Heres what I have so far
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreads ... n_US#gid=0
Heres what I have so far
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreads ... n_US#gid=0
- dailygrind
- Posts: 19907
- Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:08 am
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
Very nice. This is actually how I've been doing it, but I wasn't sure on how to put it in an online format. If you use the norminv function you'll be able to do everything else easily.NYC Law wrote:I started making an excel spreadsheet for kicks, but I hit a speed bump at the final step. Is there a way to calculate the p from the z score with a formula in excel? My stats memory is a little fuzzy...
Heres what I have so far
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreads ... n_US#gid=0
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- NYC Law
- Posts: 1561
- Joined: Thu May 26, 2011 3:33 pm
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
Thanks, the spreadsheet should be able to tell you your rank now.dailygrind wrote:Very nice. This is actually how I've been doing it, but I wasn't sure on how to put it in an online format. If you use the norminv function you'll be able to do everything else easily.NYC Law wrote:I started making an excel spreadsheet for kicks, but I hit a speed bump at the final step. Is there a way to calculate the p from the z score with a formula in excel? My stats memory is a little fuzzy...
Heres what I have so far
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreads ... n_US#gid=0
-
- Posts: 151
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 4:31 am
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
edit
Last edited by timertimer61 on Fri Jul 08, 2011 10:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- dailygrind
- Posts: 19907
- Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:08 am
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
You sure? I was messing around with random UVA numbers and it kinda died on me. The major problem occurred when I tried to use a top 6.8% cutoff rather than a whole number.NYC Law wrote:Thanks, the spreadsheet should be able to tell you your rank now.dailygrind wrote:Very nice. This is actually how I've been doing it, but I wasn't sure on how to put it in an online format. If you use the norminv function you'll be able to do everything else easily.NYC Law wrote:I started making an excel spreadsheet for kicks, but I hit a speed bump at the final step. Is there a way to calculate the p from the z score with a formula in excel? My stats memory is a little fuzzy...
Heres what I have so far
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreads ... n_US#gid=0
- NYC Law
- Posts: 1561
- Joined: Thu May 26, 2011 3:33 pm
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
dailygrind wrote:You sure? I was messing around with random UVA numbers and it kinda died on me. The major problem occurred when I tried to use a top 6.8% cutoff rather than a whole number.NYC Law wrote:Thanks, the spreadsheet should be able to tell you your rank now.dailygrind wrote:Very nice. This is actually how I've been doing it, but I wasn't sure on how to put it in an online format. If you use the norminv function you'll be able to do everything else easily.NYC Law wrote:I started making an excel spreadsheet for kicks, but I hit a speed bump at the final step. Is there a way to calculate the p from the z score with a formula in excel? My stats memory is a little fuzzy...
Heres what I have so far
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreads ... n_US#gid=0
I used a mini z table and 6.8 wasn't included. 6.8 has been added, so try it now.
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- dailygrind
- Posts: 19907
- Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:08 am
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
21.2%timertimer61 wrote:class size: about 450
median: 3.3
1/3: 3.41
25%: 3.46
10%: 3.61
3.49; 3.59; 3.69.
also would i be able to know what rank # i am?
11.5%
5.3%
and yeah. Take the class size and estimate from the percentage.
-
- Posts: 151
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 4:31 am
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
oh yea duh...i suck at math as you can see loldailygrind wrote:21.2%timertimer61 wrote:class size: about 450
median: 3.3
1/3: 3.41
25%: 3.46
10%: 3.61
3.49; 3.59; 3.69.
also would i be able to know what rank # i am?
11.5%
5.3%
and yeah. Take the class size and estimate from the percentage.
- dailygrind
- Posts: 19907
- Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:08 am
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
Oh, I think I see how you're doing it. Did you use normsinv? I forgot to include the "S" when I posted about it, so I'd understand if you didn't. The formula's straightforward:NYC Law wrote: I used a mini z table and 6.8 wasn't included. 6.8 has been added, so try it now.
=(data point gpa - mean gpa)/normsinv(1-(data point rank/100)
- mths
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- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2010 11:24 am
Re: ITT: Someone estimates your class rank.
haha coolNYC Law wrote:I started making an excel spreadsheet for kicks, but I hit a speed bump at the final step. Is there a way to calculate the p from the z score with a formula in excel? My stats memory is a little fuzzy...
Heres what I have so far
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreads ... n_US#gid=0
Seriously? What are you waiting for?
Now there's a charge.
Just kidding ... it's still FREE!
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