Not really. The Merits airdropped to each account were in accordance to the amount they needed to maintain their rank at the time the Merit System kicked-in (with some Hero exceptions that where airdropped 1K Merits instead of 500 Merits). A Newbie would have remained a Newbie.

I'm not familiar with the old ranking system so don't mind if I ask this.

Based on trant's history thread, the Jr Member would only be minimum requirement to be eligible? That's starting from 30 Activity, right?