Becoming Valedictorian

<p>At my school they have a wall of all the previous valedictorian's and I really want to become one so i can back whenever and know that i had a impact on my school and be remembered for my academic achievement. How do i become valedictorian? Right now my GPA is in the 3.7-3.9 ball park. I'm signed up for hard AP classes by the time i graduate i'll have 8 under my belt. I know I have a lot of work to do any former Vals have advice?</p>

<p>Don’t bother sleeping.</p>

<p>In my school the previous valedictorain had a over a 5.3 GPA. This year the valedictorian will have taken 15 AP’s and will have a 5.4 GPA by the time he graduates. If your school isnt that competitive then I would say go for it. Work hard and take AP’s that you know you can succeed in.</p>

<p>Talk to your counselor. Take the hardest classes. Get all A’s( no A-).</p>

<p>Unless your school assigns several students valedictorian status, chances are it’s too late and there’s nothing you can do about it (usually there’s a person (or a few people) with a perfect GPA or very close to it).</p>

<p>don’t take any electives, ever. don’t take gym. take ap sciences instead. grade-grub.</p>

<p>what grade are you in?</p>

<p>Enjoy going to a school not full of idiots. I’m 2/275, and I don’t even have a 4.0.</p>

<p>Sent from my SPH-D710 using CC</p>

<p>What @silencefell said, don’t take gym or chorus even if you really want to. My electives next year comprise of 3 science courses and Honors Psychology online. Ask around see what other smart kids in your class are doing. See how you stack up to them.</p>

<p>If all goes well and I make all A’s next year then I will be by myself at first in the class (currently in a 7-way tie).</p>

<p>Every time I read the title. Of This post, I think of “becoming popular (the pony everybody should know)” from mlp:fim</p>

<p>My son chose to do band as an EC rather than for credit, which means it doesn’t get calculated into the GPA at a lower weight than AP or honors, plus it fills out the overall resume.</p>

<p>SNEAKsneakSNEAKsneak. That’s how i’m valedictorian right now. Take as many online AP classes as you can, and don’t let anyone know it. Also, do not even let them know that you are the valedictorian if it can be avoided.</p>

<p>is being Valedictorian really beneficial - I mean, in terms of college admission and stuff? just wondering. I’m only a freshman thinking about these things ahead of time. does it purely depend on the GPA?</p>

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<p>No. There is only a negligible difference between being say, in the top 5% of your class and being val. No school is going to take someone with a 4.5 over someone with a 4.4 purely because of their GPA difference.</p>

<p>^^^It is beneficial. At least to an extent. </p>

<p>For example, if you went to a school with 500 kids in your grade, being #1 (val) is a lot different than being number 25 (top 5%). </p>

<p>And the difference is no longer “negligible” when two kids with similar applicantions are being reviewed by a college admissions board (especially at top institutions, where great EC’s, grades, and SAT scores are the norm. To place your GPA in the context of your school, they do look at rank). </p>

<p>If you can maintain top 1%, though, you should be fine.</p>

<p>If you go to a competitive high school, everyone in the top 5% (and probably up to top 10%) would be capable of doing well at a top tier school. I don’t have the quote for you, but a Yale admissions representative said that something like 80% of their applicants would be able to handle the classes/work at Yale based on their objective stats. Thus, college admissions becomes a very subjective process. Yale knows that many applicants from a good high school would be able to succeed at Yale, but they can only take a few (if any) of the applicants. If you go to a non-competitive high school, then a college would probably have less leniency with your rank. At a non-competitive high school, only the top 3 kids might be able to handle Yale’s work load, so their top ranks are crucial.</p>

<p>Your point about a small GPA difference making a big difference is completely wrong. Subjectives are what makes the difference, there is no such thing as a similar application. Test scores and GPA are the only things that can be similar. Subjectives are what separates the admits from the rejects.</p>

<p>I would argue that standardized test scores are the only objective part of the entire college admissions process.</p>

<p>Yes, subjectives are what separates the admits from the rejects.</p>

<p>GPA is subjective. Rank is subjective. </p>

<p>Some schools have ridiculously hard grading scales (where making a “B” would put you on the high honor roll, for example). Some schools have over-inflated grading scales, with kids getting 5.0’s, etc. Some schools give out 10 “Valedictorian” titles. Some schools don’t even rank. Regardless of how your school doles out grades, getting that coveted #1 spot means you got the highest grade out of your peers, even if it was just by a fraction of a point. And that still means something to admissions people. </p>

<p>Strictly speaking, though, it is possible to have “similar applications.” (We can count. Number of varsity sports. Number of EC’s. Number of leadership positions. Number of state awards…national awards…international awards. Top colleges have seen it all.)
It is ludicrous to suggest that it’s impossible to compare applicants, or that it’s entirely subjective.</p>

<p>Sorry for not being clear, I was saying that GPA/rank within the same school is completely objective. I know that there is a huge difference from school to school, etc.</p>

<p>You can’t simply count ECs, or sports, or leadership positions, that’s not how applications work. How can someone have similar recs and essays? There is no way, short of plagiarism, that two applications can be exactly the same. And when did I say it’s impossible to compare applicants??? That makes no sense! How would anyone justifiably be rejected/admitted if it was impossible to compare applicants? Nor did I say it’s entirely subjective: if you have a 1300 SAT you will never get into Harvard. How do you explain students with lower SATs/GPAs getting in over students with higher stats from the same school, other than the fact that subjective factors are highly valued? </p>

<p>Take a look at these: <a href=“http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/CDS2010_2011_Final.pdf[/url]”>http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/CDS2010_2011_Final.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>[Common</a> Data Set (CDS) | Office of Institutional Research](<a href=“http://oir.yale.edu/common-data-set]Common”>Common Data Set | Office of Institutional Research)</p>

<p><a href=“http://registrar.princeton.edu/university_enrollment_sta/common_cds2011.pdf[/url]”>http://registrar.princeton.edu/university_enrollment_sta/common_cds2011.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Scroll down to C7 and you will see the same thing: Subjectives are weighted just as important as academic factors.</p>

<p>My school doesn’t rank because parents complained it made students too competitive…maybe it’s better that way</p>

<p>I was valedictorian because the two kids ahead of me in rank graduated early. I was surprised when I went back for a HS reunion, 30 years later, and quite a few people commented on it. A couple of guys who teased me unmercifully in school even came up to me to tell me how much they’d admired me in HS! Really bizarre. I almost felt popular, lol.</p>