<p>I find it sad that today many schools are doing co-valedictorians ( multiple valedictorians) so they won't hurt some students feelings. What a bunch of crap. During my HS graduated in 2003 rank 1 person had a 4.489 GPA, rank 2 had a 4.486 GPA, rank 3 had a 4.482 GPA, and finally rank 4 had a 4.479 GPA. During the ceremony rank 1 was valedictorian and rank 2 was salutatorian. Rank 3 and 4 got no recognition and that was the right way to do it. I was rank 3 and I respected the fact that my GPA was lower than rank 1 albeit less than 0.01 lower but still lower, because if they gave the valedictorian to rank 1-4 during my ceremony then it would have lost its meaning of being the top student and no one at my school wanted that. So it is high time that schools stop giving away multiple valedictorians in 1 year, unless the people have completely identical GPAs in which case there would be no salutatorian.</p>
<p>i agree totally...why would you have co valedictorians anyways..that sorta makes the valedictorian's celebration seem less great after they've worked soo hard to beat all the rest</p>
<p>lol. I'd hate to go to the same schools as you guys. You're all so competitive that you only see things in terms of numbers and ranks. I mean, whatever happened to learning for learning sake. </p>
<p>Does become valedictorian really validate four years of high school?</p>
<p>It doesn't validate 4 years of high school, but it surely does feel good. At graduation, it was like receiving a nice prize for working your ass off for 4 years. Plus, it looks great when it comes to applying to colleges.</p>
<p>...and yes, co-valedictorians is a stupid idea.</p>
<p>I support unweighted rank and gpa, so I'm for co-valedvictorians when rank is unweighted, however, when it's based on weighted grades it is stupid</p>
<p>How about the people who work just as hard as the other top students in their class, but have a lower GPA because they take 1 more class than the number 1 student? Lets say for example, that the number 1 is only taking 5 classes senior year, and another student is taking the same 5 plus an additional class such as theater or orchestra or journalism that isn't an AP class that will boost the GPA? Is it fair that the harder working student doesn't get valedictorian simply because they took an extra non-AP class?</p>
<p>unwieghted doesnt work either, i could take all regents classes and have a 4.0 rather than taking all the AP classes i do</p>
<p>Bri, I don't know how your school determines class rank, but if both students are taking the same classes, but one is taking an extra one that happens to be a non-AP class, I don't see how that extra class affects his rank. If s/he does well in that extra class, s/he would still get a 4.0 for that class plus the weighted points for the AP/IB/honors classes s/he also took. (That's how my school worked.) </p>
<p>You know, in the grand scheme of things, being valedictorian doesn't really mean anything. It's great when it comes to applying to colleges, but after that, its importance fades. Now, that I'm working in the real world, no one cares about my high school rank. (Actually, back in college no one cared either. Partly because there were a lot of other valedictorians there too.) Honestly, what matters is what you learned from your classes and what you do with your life after high school & college. I'm sure there are plenty of valedictorians doing nothing w/ their lives while people who graduated #6 in their class are winning Pulitzers, Nobels and the like.</p>
<p>mattistotle -don't you think colleges are going to look at the #5 student who took the hardest classes and the #1 student who took the easiest classes differently? Unweighted is the best solution I believe</p>
<p>best solution is to only use the 5 major subjects weighted when doing class rank, and exclude electives, gym, etc</p>
<p>if both people are taking 4-5 ap classes, and one person does an elective of journalism, it shouldnt hurt them, but if i person takes journalism ahead of ap english it should hurt them,</p>
<p>I agree totally with VTBoy, I wish there were more people like you. </p>
<p>As for taking more classes and losing GPA, good.</p>
<p>It's all about beating the system and dominating.</p>
<p>"It's all about beating the system and dominating."</p>
<p>So... I personally think that the student who takes more classes and loses GPA deserves more recognition than the student who takes slacker courses. So, you can take your slacker courses and "beat the system"... and be proud of yourself. Because, in a couple of years, the recognition will not matter, all that will matter will be knowledge that you gained.</p>
<p>to be fair thats what i did jr sophmore year, i beat the system, i took study halls instead of electives, but now i have a full schedule and no lunch becuz i have to do electives necessary for graduation, helps my transcript gpa/classrank though.</p>
<p>that's right davidrune, but it wouldn't be slacker classes, they would be AP.</p>
<p>Honestly, the whole system sucks. Its good that schools are acknowledging that students taking AP classes are facing more of a challenge than students not taking them by weighing grades, but that has created a whole group of superficial people just striving for the best GPA. Its no longer about taking classes that interest you, or trying to get the highest GPA by ACTUALLY getting good grades (who does that anymore?). Its about only taking classes that boost your GPA. In my school, for example, we got a mandatory health class during junior year. Most kids also take driver ed at this time - both unweighted classes. Guess why our #1 ranked person is #1 - he didnt take driver ed nor any other non-weighted electives - and he managed to push health back to senior yr (when GPA doesnt count). Meanwhile, i got better grades but im gettin screwed cuz i did take these. So hows that fair? Doesnt matter tho cuz colleges look at ur transcript anyway. Good luck to those kids actually learning and not being gay.</p>
<p>Globalist, my school does rank by weighted GPA. For example, if someone takes 5 AP classes in a year, their GPA is obviously 5 (my school counts AP and honors as 5 points instead of 4) . However, if someone takes those same 5 AP classes, plus another non-AP class such as band, their GPA will be less: (5x5 + 4)/6= 4.83. So the person who took the lesser amount of classes gets a higher GPA because of that. Thats the case in my school, and I think it is a bit unfair.</p>
<p>I agree with mattistotle's idea if schools would only use the 5 major subjects weighted when doing class rank, and exclude electives, gym, etc.</p>
<p>Ah, I see. My school graded everyone on a 4.0 scale and determined a base GPA from all your AP and non-AP classes alike. Then they added extra points in accordance to the grades that you got in your AP/Honors classes.</p>
<p>This reminds me of Blair Hornstine. </p>
<p>I agree that rank is really stupid.... I know that the top five kids have within .001 point of eachother- me being one of them. For junior year I was one because I had two extra weighted "electives" (extra core classes) but then I dropped because I ended up with a B as a final grade for the year. I know alot of kids who take their classes based on what will make their GPA the highest.... it's extremely ignorant but I'll admit that I have done it. As for using unweighted grades- that is dumb! I know kids who have gotten straight A's in Alevel(lowest level) classes... if you can get straight A's in all of your courses then you aren't challenging yourself and you don't deserve to be #1 next to a kid who has taken all AP and gotten all A's and one B. </p>
<p>Last year we had a three way tie for #2 and they normally go to SAT then but two of them had the same SAT and were for the most part equally involved in ECs. They ended up each getting recognition.
I am curious how other schools do it though.</p>
<p>bigjake587</p>
<p>what you said wouldn't be possible at my schools for the following reasons. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Everyone at my school must take atleast 6 classes a day, if you take more it would be a CC and it would be weighted like an AP or Honours class. </p></li>
<li><p>You can't push health back to your senior year. You must pass health by your senior year it is a requirment. </p></li>
<li><p>If you take Drivers Ed at school then you don't take health. </p></li>
<li><p>Summer school If you want to go to summer school then take it at a CC where it will boost your GPA rather than lower it.</p></li>
</ol>