Becoming valedictorian

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>I don't know if this really belongs in HSL but I couldn't figure out where else to put it... anyway, I just have a question I'd like to throw out there to see what everyone thinks. Right now, I am currently ranked 8/558 in my class and am a rising junior. My school updates our ranks every semester, and after the first semester of this year (my soph year), I moved from 9th to 8th. The positions in my class's top ten have moved around a little over the past year (only the top 3 have kept the same ranking from freshman year), but that's to be expected in the first year or so of rankings anyway. My question is this- do you think it's possible to move up from 8th to 1st by senior year?</p>

<p>In terms of how difficult our schedules are amongst the entire top ten, my schedule is the most rigorous possible. Only two other people in the top ten have the same rigor of schedule that I do (the only difference between us is foreign language- the two of them take French while I take Latin... I'd argue that Latin is in fact harder, but the course level of both is CP so that's just my opinion that is otherwise a non-factor :D ), and they are ranked 4th and 10th. The current student that is ranked number one will have one less (two at the most depending on schedule changes for me, not for her) AP class than me next year. At my school, we are ranked by weighted GPA... honors classes are worth 5 extra points on our final average, and AP classes are worth 10 extra points. In place of my extra AP next year (AP Bio), the current #1 will have an honors course (Honors Chem, which I took this year). Next year, I will have 5 APs (possibly 6, still deciding), while the majority of the rest of the top ten will have 4 at the most (with the exception of the two already mentioned). Our GPAs are on the 100 point scale, and I'd call the difference between my GPA and the GPAs of the top 3 students about a max of 2-3 points. </p>

<p>(Sorry if all of that information is a little unorganized or hard to follow, I'm getting ready to leave the house so I just wanted to post before I left...)</p>

<p>If anyone's wondering why I'm asking this... based on some recent changes in my school district that will strongly (and negatively) affect my education over the next two years, I am now motivated to become valedictorian. My logic for doing this is based primarily on the principles and conditions of these changes and how they affect me personally, but I didn't explain them because 1) they probably only make sense to me 2) they don't contribute to whether the answer of my question is yes or no and 3) it's a long story. But anyway, thanks in advance to anyone who can give me their opinion on this :)</p>

2

<p>^ He has two years, he’s a rising junior.</p>

3

<p>Just give it a shot. Take as many AP classes as possible (assuming you can handle them all). That’s how it worked at my school, anyway – the valedictorian was determined by who had taken the most AP classes.</p>

<p>And even if you aren’t ranked 1 by the time for college apps, it couldn’t hurt to move up. The higher your rank, the higher your chances.</p>

4

<p>You can easily become valedictorian if you cripple the top 7 students. :stuck_out_tongue: You want to try something like… a crowbar? :slight_smile: (Just joking, don’t get into trouble.)</p>

<p>Honestly, going from 8th to 1st is pretty hard, don’t depend on it.</p>

5

<p>I was under the impression OP was trying to be valedictorian just for the honor, not college admission. Maybe I’m wrong though :P</p>

6

<p>Call my uncle tony. I’ll hook you up.</p>

7

<p>Well, I took a harder schedule than the two individuals ranked higher above me (I’m third). Because they took no electives and skimped out on the harder courses that were not required for graduations, the salutatorian and valedictorian now have a GPA that is 0.01% and 0.02% higher than mine, respectively. And yet, I am the one who will be going on to a much better school than either one of them. I understand that you may want to become valedictorian - Lord knows I was crushed when I didn’t get the honor - but if you don’t get it, strive to earn the unofficial rank of smartest in your class. It’ll be worth more in the end.</p>

<p>However, 2-3 points are rather difficult to make up. My school grades on a 100-point scale, and the difference from the 1st to the 10th ranked individuals is a grand total of 2 points. Aim for whatever seems reasonable to you, but don’t set yourself up for failure.</p>

8

<p>mckyle9423: I’m a girl :slight_smile:
gyrfalk: I understand what you mean… my school freezes ranks after the first semester of senior year though.</p>

<p>I completely understand how difficult it is to actually do this, so by no means am I expecting it to actually happen. Like some of you guys said, even if I don’t reach #1, any improvement will help in the college application aspect of this. In truth, I know that in the long run being valedictorian isn’t a true indication of how successful someone’s going to be in life… but I’m still going to try anyway. I’m actually not just trying to achieve the honor that comes with being valedictorian, but I’m not necessarily doing it for college purposes either. </p>

<p>I guess now I have to explain myself at least a little… even if it doesn’t make much sense to anyone but me. In short, I just found out on the last day of school (yesterday) that my favorite class (subject-wise, teacher-wise, atmosphere-wise… everything) was cut from the curriculum as a result of the budget crisis going on in NJ right now. I knew months in advance that this was a possibility- after layoff slips were handed out to teachers (one of them being the teacher of my class) in April, the whole future of the class was in a kind of limbo for quite a while. The school board had to revise the budget for next year after it didn’t pass the first time, so my hopes for the program being saved were not very high. However, I did deliver a speech to the school board attempting to persuade them to keep the program. At the time, the speech seemed to have made a slight impact on them… but unfortunately, it didn’t end up working out. The reasons for them cutting the program, though, were quite frankly not justified in any way. I understand that things had to be cut in order to meet the budget, but my school district seems to have a problem with prioritizing considering that the class is a strictly academic course, not an elective or anything like that (this is not the only program that has been cut without serious consideration… in addition to a number of useless programs that were kept instead) . Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that this class made such an impact on me that for the past two years, it has truly been the highlight of my education. It has influenced the course I want to take in my college education, and without two more years of the class, my chances of pursuing that are considerably damaged unless I choose to self-study. I guess that for me, I feel obligated to become valedictorian in order to prove to myself that I didn’t let the decrease in my education’s quality get to me enough to make me not want to be thoroughly engaged in it anymore. In a roundabout way, I’d also like to prove to the school board (whether they realize it or not) that despite their actions affecting me so strongly, I still managed to not subject myself to their carelessness in regards to the quality of the education of their students. I guess you guys are going to wonder how becoming valedictorian will prove this, but like I said… it makes sense in my head. None of this probably makes any tangible sense whatsoever, but it’s hard for me to explain it to someone that’s not in the same situation as me and hasn’t been affected by the problem or the class like I have. Kudos to anyone who actually understood any part of that… :D</p>

<p>Alright, so maybe that wasn’t in short… but I guess attempting to explain my entire situation (which I still didn’t manage to do at all) without working myself up over the fact that my class is done wasn’t the best idea. :stuck_out_tongue: But I really do appreciate all of the input you all were able to give :)</p>

<p>Oh, one more side note- regarding how easy it is to move from 8th to 1st, my top ten seems to have a bit of wiggle room. I know I said the top 3 haven’t changed, but one person did mov from 10th to 4th, and another from 8th (when I was 9th) to 5th.</p>

9

<p>Sorry 'bout that, I tend to look at posts and not usernames xD</p>

10

<p>So… you’re going for valedictorian as a way of vengeance against your school board, saying “Because you cut my program, I’ll going to be val.” Ok, good luck.</p>

<p>Better work your ass off.</p>

11

<p>mckyle9423: Not a problem!</p>

<p>MIT: I did say that it’s to prove something to myself, and I put that above anything else… so not specifically to avenge my program. I don’t want to spite them (although it’d be fun to do so :smiley: ), but to be honest, they really do not mean well with their decisions. Like I said, I don’t really know how to fully explain it without coming off as being a bitter student who wants to kill the competition and rub it in the school board’s face that what they did didn’t have any real impact on my motivation for schoolwork…</p>

12

<p>If it’s to prove to yourself, more power to you. My advice is to keep your head out of the hype though. Remember your goals and your path, don’t lose your focus and vision.</p>

13

<p>I keep misreading the title of this thread as “Becoming a vegetarian.”</p>

<p>Anyway, NJgirl, you seem to be an intelligent person who will get into good colleges. Should you not be valedictorian, don’t sweat it. It will not be the end of the world.</p>

14

<p>MIT- Thanks for the advice! I will try my hardest to do so :)</p>

<p>hi<em>im</em>leila- hahaha, I didn’t notice that! But thank you… I really appreciate it :)</p>