<p>the top 20 schools will tell you that rank is not very important. they say it is "considered" while gpa is considered very important along with academic rigor. While it is a major accomplishment to be a val at any school not all val are considered equal. some vals take basic courses while other take all ap and honors. some vals have good ecs other might not. that is why top schools dont always take every val.</p>
<p>there's no law against it</p>
<p>the valedictorian at my school the other year always wanted to go to Stanford, and was already taking math classes there his senior year. however, he got rejected (although many claim it was because Stanford already accepted too many of our athletes, i guess that would make sense, there were more than just a handful..) but he ended up at UC Berkeley - but i heard he was given a nice scholarship, nice housing, etc.</p>
<p>I think if a strong student applies to a larger number of schools, then they won't usually wind up attending something low on the preference list. The only time I hear of a valedictorian ending up at a safety or something not preferable is when they either</p>
<ol>
<li>Want a full ride and are burdened by finances otherwise</li>
<li>Applied to mostly elite schools and not enough matches</li>
<li>Applied to too few schools</li>
</ol>
<p>Unless your school is very lenient on determining who is rank 1 (ie. the kind where like 50 people are valedictorian), the valedictorian is usually someone intelligent with good scores and activities and will be accepted by a decent school. Apply to enough schools and at least one will most likely take you. The valedictorians who don't wind up with decent luck in the admissions game are few and far between.</p>
<p>The answer is an obvious yes. 4.0GPA and 2400 SAT does not guarantee an IVY. But the majority of the answer is a resounding no. If you are a Valedictorian, you are usually highly motivated to go above and beyond in both academics and ECs. If you were motivated, why would you work so hard to get the good grades. In reality, most valedictorian have an excellent chance of getting into a top ivy. While schools do reject them, I would think that their qualifications are definitely higher than the rest of the applicant pool. That is of course we're talking about someone who will have good ECS, 4.0 GPA, 2400 SAT, and good Community Service Record. Most valedictorians in my town have always follow this formula. While some don't, I would think the majority have these good to excellent ECs plus outstanding grades.</p>
<p>"""My son's school gives everyone with over 100 average the rank of #1. Due to the high grade weights this year there are around 125 seniors ranked #1.""" Jeez, I hope your valedictorians don't get that unique weighing for college. Ranks means nothing if your school gives top 100 rank 1 lol. At my school it's GPA highest as rank 1/550+. Seems the fairest and most legitimate way.</p>
<p>"Val at my school last year applied to MIT, Cal Tech, and I think Yale and possibly Stanford. With great standardized test scores and incredible EC's in his desired field of study, he ended up going to our state school (University of Colorado)."</p>
<p>What's great test scores and incredible ECs. Great test scores means 2300+, Incredible ECs= We're talking about Intel Finalist, Super Community Service, etc. He should have gone to an Ivy at the least if he had these stats.</p>
<p>My school valedictorians and Salutorians during my
8th Grade: Harvard and MIT
Freshman: Harvard and Harvard
Sophomore: Harvard and Stanford
Junior:Harvard and Yale
Senior: (Waiting for RD: Yale Non-Athletic Likely Letter for RD) and Stanford</p>
<p>I'll be the first to admit that none of the valedictorians or salutorians were the smartest students in the school, smartest in the sense that they were the best in every field. But they were by far the most well rounded and most motivated and determined students in the school. They usually took the most rigorous courses, IB and AP, and still score 98+ UW in those classes. Not exactly slackers who took remedial classes to boost their GPA. ;)</p>
<p>I've been skimming this thread. I always thought that people with great stats and extracurriculars who got rejected from top schools were geographical undesirables - Caucasian or Asian kids from New York or New Jersey. You mean there are valedictorians from Colorado and Washington State that get rejected too? We're in the weird position of living overseas and trying to figure out where we want to return to in the US for son's last few years of high school. I thought if we moved to say Colorado he'd get in where he deserved to get in.</p>
<p>Our val from 2007 went to Baylor....they give a free ride to NMS and her parents were alums. A school that gives little aid may be the student's first choice, but mom and dad may stongly encourage them to go for the free ride.</p>
<p>"I always thought that people with great stats and extracurriculars who got rejected from top schools were geographical undesirables - Caucasian or Asian kids from New York or New Jersey."</p>
<p>Gotta love it....Just add female to the mix; maybe plumbing school looks good.......</p>
<p>OP</p>
<p>I know a former val (now a microsurgeon) from my HS who's heart was set on Yale. HS typically sent about 20 students to the Ivies each year including several (5,6) to HYP. Ended up at safety - Wesleyan. Very,very disappointed at the time. </p>
<p>Looking back now, considers the result to have been the best possible and the 4 years spent at Wesleyan the most enjoyable in life.</p>
<p>In my 4 years at my school.. we've had:</p>
<p>3 UPenn Valedictorians
1 MIT Valedictorian</p>
<p>And in the top ten(s) of my freshman through junior year (this year, not many people are sure yet) -- we've had:</p>
<p>6 UPenn
1 UVa
1 Ringling School of Art & Design
1 UDel
1 Bucknell
1 Villanova
1 UMiami
2 Pharmacy @ Rutgers
2 Haverford
1 Columbia
2 TCNJ
2 Drexel
1 GW
4 Rutgers
1 Princeton
1 Georgetown
1 MIT</p>
<p>and the rest @ a local 4 year college</p>
<p>(so despite people not being #1, they've still gotten into impressive schools) And, I come from a high school that is mostly filled with inner city kids - although most of the people in the top 10 are not from the inner city.</p>
<p>My son is a freshman at Harvard.</p>
<p>He didn't really expect to get accepted there but applied at the last minute and never even submitted the optional essay or any supplemental information. He didn't have a perfect GPA or perfect SAT's (all mid-700's) and was only in the top 10 in class rank from a large suburban public high school. Kids with higher class rank that had their hearts set on HYorP were rejected by Harvard.</p>
<p>White male, public HS, no legacy, not an athelete, no wealthy or noteworthy parents.............but he got accepted.</p>
<p>He's adjusted well to Harvard, did well his first semester and has lots of friends.</p>
<p>The lesson to be learned is that admission is never guaranteed but neither is rejection.</p>
<p>Think about this: the top 3% of the 1,500,000 kids who take the SAT every year is still 45,000 kids (high 700's). The combined Ivies offer only about 16,000 seats and they have other needs beyond valedictorians and top SAT's---like diversity, geography, teams to fill, rich alums kids, etc. If even half of those 45,000 kids apply to any given Ivy, only 10% of them get in. My point is that there aren't enough seats at top schools to seat even the top 3% of kids.</p>
<p>My high school does not weight AP or honors classes
so often times the Valedictorian didn't take difficult classes
Tough schools care a lot about whether you challenge yourself
(or so my Academic Study Skills teacher says)
number 3 and 5 in my senior class aren't even taking math classes this year
(that makes me really angry)
So sometimes #1 and #2 in the class are NOT the smartest kid at school</p>
<p>Typically the top 35% at my school have great shots at all the Ivies. One of my best friends was outside of the top 40% and got into Columbia. Not only did he get in, but he has the highest grades in several of his classes. I speak, though, as a product of a wealthy suburban prep school.</p>
<p>every school is different. At mine, the rank 1 and 2 always take the most difficult courses, because it is an expectation that they will not only do well in those classes but that they will also apply to the best colleges who wants you to take AP and IB HLs. Of course AP and IB HL are weighted 10 points so is Honors but the UW grade of 1 and 2 is always between a 98-100, so weighing really makes no difference contrary to the popular belief that a 10 point weight inflates grades.</p>
<p>I got into a pretty "well known" school and I am not even in the top 10%. It is silly to think that just because one is a valedictorian, he or she is entitled to a seat in the nation's highly regarded institutions. Yes, good grades matter, test scores matter, essays matter, teacher recs matter, but so does everything else. The valedictorian at my school took the toughest courses possible and did well on them. It was an expectation for her to get into whatever school she applied to. Yet it was disappointment that permeated the school atmosphere when she was deferred. Top notch grades do not automatically guarantee you a seat at a college. I feel bad for those who allow themselves to be in this mindset. Everyone who applies has good grades.</p>
<p>In the application process, colleges are really searching for those who can truly diversify their campus. There is the average do-gooder in school who thinks he/she would not be accepted into a particular schools because he/she believes they do not have the credentials. That is ridiculous. They should not be let down from society's absurd standards and should know that they have just a good a chance of being accepted into a well respected school as the valedictorian who applies to nearly every reach school he/she possibly apply to. College is for those who want to seriously learn, and it is not limited to those who have had the guinness breaking record for the highest amount of As or A-pluses.</p>
<p>What happened when people really wanted to just learn?</p>
<p>haha...the valedictorian from my school never goes...anywhere! I mean, anywhere "impressive." No one from my school goes to any top schools, ever! </p>
<p>To be valedictorian here, you must have the highest GPA in your class and have taken specified honors courses. If there are ties, ACT scores are used to break them. Our GPA is unweighted, 4.0 being any "A".</p>