<p>Does anybody else's school have this broken system? Valedictorian at my school is determined directly from class rank. Whoever is ranked 1 in the class according to weighted GPA is valedictorian, and whoever is ranked 2 will be saledictorian. </p>
<p>But in many ways, this is a broken system. I have taken just as many AP classes as all of the other advanced students in my class, and will continue this through senior year. But I am still ranked number 6 and not number 1. Why? Because I have taken more credits than them. That's right, I am being put at a disadvantage for taking summer school every summer just so I can take as many AP classes as all the others. I take music classes that are given a regular weighting that lower my GPA and also contribute to adding credits to my total (since instead of taking a lunch period that receives no credit, I take a second music class), even though it enriches me more academically than some of the other classes that students ahead of me take. In other words, because of the fact that I advance my education more by taking more credits than everyone else, I cannot be valedictorian. Does anybody agree that this is a flawed system? </p>
<p>Who else's school does valedictorian this way?</p>
<p>The valedictorian is the person with the highest class rank pretty much by definition. Some schools do calculate it differently, but in most places it refers to the person with the highest class rank, and no one should assume it means anything more than that. (Class rank is calculated differently at different high schools. For example, my school ranks on unweighted GPA, and when there’s a tie the person with more credits gets ranked higher.)</p>
<p>Calculating it any other way would be difficult and highly subjective at many schools. Many people don’t have the opportunity to spend their summers taking extra classes (even if it’s free, a lot of kids have to work), so people shouldn’t be ranked higher because they did this. No one’s saying that the valedictorian is the best student or the smartest or anything. You’re not being put at a disadvantage because being ranked sixth rather than first has no effect on anything. </p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t see the flaw. It’s pretty clearly defined.</p>
<p>I originally thought the same thing as you, but I soon realized that it would be far too easy to exploit a credit-based system. </p>
<p>I think the way halcyonheather mentioned is probably the best way to determine rank (using unweighted GPA, then breaking ties with the number of credits). That makes the most sense to me… My school does it this way, although ties aren’t broken. If there are 5 people with a 4.0 (as there currently is in my class), then all of those people will be #1/xxx, then the person(s) with the next highest GPA will be #6, and so on. </p>
<p>Our IB/Aca Deca leader changes students’ grades. So the highest GPA always come from people in Aca deca and/or IB. </p>
<p>I don’t think the system is flawed… I understand what you are saying, but you chose to take those classes and you knew it would lower your GPA. I am the valedictorian at my school, and we figure it out the same way described above. You have to also remember that the valedictorian takes lower weighted classes too! I have a ton of CP weighted classes (PE, 2 bands, 2 Spanishes, 3 Engineerings, and a Freshman Focus class). But so does everyone else, so it all goes down to who has the highest grades in each class. Yes, one student might have 1 or 2 more lower weighted classes, but after taking 30+ courses it barely changes your GPA.</p>
<p>@halcyonheather I agree with that system much more. I’m not saying that students with more credits should have an advantage, I just feel that taking extra classes shouldn’t HINDER your class rank. Because of how weighted GPA is mathematically calculated, more credits results in a lower weighted GPA (assuming it is higher than 4.0).</p>
<p>By no means am I complaining about where I am in my class rank, because being in the top 10 is very meaningful. I just think it’s unfair since I would normally be in the running for the honor of valedictorian if it weren’t for the way out system works.</p>
<p>I’m currently trying to ways to beat the system though. I thought of auditing a regularly weighted elective, since that should mathematically raise my weighted GPA, if only by a few hundredths of a point.</p>
<p>You’re system seems more fair than mine (UW Grade on a 100 pt. Scale) because people with CP classes sometimes find themselves in the top 25, and people in AP sometimes find themselves out of it.</p>
<p>I agree with the notion that you had an opportunity others may not have by taking other classes, but it’d of course be better if they just didn’t count in your rank over hindering you.</p>
<p>But every system has its flaws</p>
<p>At my school there are pretty much never ties because we do 100 point system and the GPA is calculated down to 3 decimals. Usually the val has like a 96.xxx average unweighted.</p>
<p>D’s school chooses val and sal based on weighted GPA in the classes required for graduation. I’m not sure this is more fair than other methods. Whatever method that is chosen to rank students is going to have pros and cons. This method does avoid penalizing kids who take more credits in unweighted classes like performing and visual arts. My daughter was able to take four years of music and three years of visual art, by shuffling other classes to summer school, A hour, and online, and still ended up salutatorian. She was ranked in the top five in overall weighted GPA. The requirements for Val and sal are clearly spelled out for her school. If taking so much music and art had meant she couldn’t be val/sal, she still would have taken those classes without thinking twice about it.</p>
<p>@Parentof2014grad I completely agree with you. I would never think about taking out these music classes (of course, I did drop my jazz band class for this coming school year, but that was for reasons not related to this thread). I just find the current system to be a set back for those of us who take music/fine arts courses.</p>
<p>I feel the struggle on this too. I’m taking more elective periods than I need to, but I like them, so I take them even if it lowers my class rank. </p>
<p>I agree that it doesn’t seem fair to essentially penalize you for taking more classes. Have you presented this information in this way to the school administration? While it might not help you, perhaps they would consider a different type of calculation in the future. Many years ago I was a co-valedictorian with two other students. They looked at grades without weighting and each of us had gotten one B over the four years ( at the time it irked me a bit that one of the others dropped a class in which she was getting a second B her senior year), but after graduation it doesn’t really matter. After having so many valedictorians, they changed the way that they made those decisions and my sister ended up being salutatorian instead because her GPA was slightly lower with taking more classes, as you described. Congratulations on your wonderful record and transition to college. My sister said it didn’t matter to her because she knew that she’d chosen to take the classes that were important to her, not the classes that would make her valedictorian.</p>
<p>Not to sound rude but you’re coming off a bit whiny? This system is used at most schools and is the easiest due to it simply just being a system compiling a list of GPA’s from highest to lowest. Top 6 is great anyway, and it won’t look different to colleges. They sort of chunk the top 10% in with each other. And I know you acknowledged that and it also doesn’t make them better than you, just having a higher GPA… and it’s not going to matter anything within 3 months of graduation. How many high schools are in the country? That’s how many valedictorian’s there are. </p>
<p>Although I think my school’s tiebreaker system is really stupid. They go to the fourth (maybe fifth?) decimal place and if it’s still a tie after that, they start pulling SAT grades. </p>
<p>If you want to see corrupt you should look at my school’s ranking system. It ranks by weighted gpa and so honors/ap/dual enrollment classes all give you extra weighted credit. The problem with this is the dual enrollment courses. All the kids in the top 10 take dual enrollment courses which cost hundreds of dollars per class. So basically if youre smart and not rich you have no chance of making it to the single digits aka moi</p>
<p>You aren’t being penalized for taking more classes tho. You’re being penalized for taking non-weighted classes. You didn’t have to take these and should very well have known that they won’t help an overall weighted GPA. You could have taken extra weighted classes instead and it would have helped you.</p>
<p>@HeisAidanD My apologies, I’m letting my feelings and opinions about the system get to me. </p>
<p>I basically just want to get an idea of how other schools determine valedictorian. I know there’s are other ways to do it, but I’m not sure how they determine it at other schools.</p>
<p>@teenbodybuilder It is true that I took unweighted classes, but I only have so many options. I have required classes to take that are unweighted. I also have passions just like any other person. It just so happens that mine involves an unweighted class instead of, say, a sport.</p>
<p>If you have required classes then wouldn’t they be required by every student? It would cancel out. You don’t think there’s a way to get better at music without taking a class? You can get lessons, self-teach, join a club…etc. Just telling you like it is. </p>