<p>My daughter is a junior at a public high school. When she was freshman, the new criteria for val was something like this: have to take 4 APs (minimum) and receive all A's in every class. This year they graduated 8 vals. My daughter received her first B, but will take 7 APs by the time she graduates. The val is selected on weighted grades, but not the highest GPA. They just have to meet the above criteria. So this year there was 2 students who had GPAs higher than the vals, but were not vals because they had received a B. My daughter will have a higher GPA than many of the vals, but will not be considered because she got a B. Conceivably, she could have the highest GPA in the school, but not be the val! The administration told me that they don't know of any schools that don't require straight A's. I think they are wrong. Obviously this system is discouraging kids from taking a more rigorous schedule. Does your school "require" straight As to be the val? Thanks,
10justcurious</p>
<p>At my school, the val is chosen solely on weighted GPA.</p>
<p>at mine it's based soley on GPA. my school doesn't weigh the grades.</p>
<p>Well, I don't know since they removed val and sal for the class of 2008 which sucks for me, but anywho...</p>
<p>We have (well we HAD) <em>1</em> valedictorian and <em>1</em> salutatorian...Those are the people with the highest WEIGHTED GPA and the second highest.</p>
<p>Seems unfair for your daughter, but I don't think you can change your school's specific rules. :(</p>
<p>that's a very depressingly unfair rule to require all A's without consideration of GPA. that is so much against hte spirit of meritocracy our education system espouses (or claims to, at least). i should thank god my school isnt like that. like everyone else said before, my school chooses val and sal basing on weighted gpa solely.</p>
<p>At my school as well val/sal is based solely on weighted GPAs so as to give the kids who've taken all honors and APs more of a chance to get it. It seems to have worked well... over the past four years, all of the students who've been recognized as vals/sals have definitely been the deserving ones who "everyone expected" would get it.</p>
<p>based only on weighted gpa here. some kids tried to change it (you know, to get "well-rounded" football players as val).</p>
<p>my school's not particularly competitive, so it's kinda easy to manipulate the system. there were times in the past i think there were "brighter" kids, but VAL should only be based on numbers...most objective thing.</p>
<p>That's so weird. Ours is solely on weighted GPA, and nothing else. It's pretty drama and gaming the system free.</p>
<p>Ours is based on UNWEIGHTED GPA</p>
<p>Which means my rank is screwed.</p>
<p>well...lets say you have taken several APs, as well as honors, and classes at a local state college-gotten ALL A's...but those college classes are not weighted...then if you worked strictly on weighted GPAs, they would have a lower GPA than say someone who has a B in an AP class transcript scenario. Now...which student has earned the right to be the valedictorian?
Students who take AP classes are typically ahead of their peers academically-when you earn an A in that class-then you are the top of the peer group--a B would not be at the top of that peer group-even though it is weighted as an A in a honors/or regular class. In the scheme of things-do you as a student/or parent want to be at the top of the heap academically? Then make that the focal point-it will translate to greater success in college.My two cents.</p>
<p>At my school, it's based on unweighted GPA. We don't weigh GPA. I don't like it since that puts me in the 20th rank, just barely out of 10% (19) and about half of those are people who are taking regular classes and sometimes a year or two behind in math. Some of the people ahead of me are taking Geometry this year (Junior year) and have not yet taken Algebra 2, much less Precalc or Calc.</p>
<p>ours is based just on weighted gpa. to get valedictorian, it's the equivalent of about 12 APs and 40 honors classes...yeah im talking full load, summers, nights, etc you name it. yeah it's insane.</p>
<p>Grades above A average. And popularity is a HUGE factor for our school, because we insist on voting the vals every year rather than choosing them on a set criteria.</p>
<p>Why does it matter? I've never understood why people get all worked up about not being selected val. At my school, the rightful val got screwed over too. Instead of taking study halls, he always took fun classes that were unweighted. Another student only took the same classes as the rightful val but because she had study halls instead of unweighted classes her unweighted gpa is higher. So the kid with literally all A+'s will not be val. Again, who cares? Everybody knows he is smarter than the school chosen val. He could care less, and I think he will be fine when he heads off to Harvard this fall.</p>
<p>"at mine it's based soley on GPA. my school doesn't weigh the grades."</p>
<p>same here! it's wierd, because a person who takes no honors/ib classes can become valedictorian.</p>
<p>lol@post 13</p>
<p>My school ranks in tiers. The 3rd tier are those taking all regular, and 2nd is for those taking certain honors classes. The 1st tier has to take 2 APs and certain honors classes. It's quite complicated. I wish it was based only on wGPA, otherwise those shlubs who do the minimum for first tier get ranked highly while I work my tail off in 4 APs to be highly ranked. Sheesh.</p>
<p>jeez .</p>
<p>my school system kinda sucks</p>
<p>i go to the guidance office curious for my class rank.</p>
<p>the response "we dont rank people"
i say "why not?"
they say "we cannot answer that question"</p>
<p>me: "can i get my transcript?"
"yes"
me:"do you have a computer with the transcripts in an electronic copy?"
"yes"
me: "all of the gpas and wgpas are on there"
"yes it is just like the paper copy"
me: "just sort the list in descending order and plz tell me where i stand"
"no"
me: "why not? i do not want to know others' ranks. just mine."
"i am sorry but we must ask you to leave"</p>
<p>that is my school system. each year there are vals but no one knows how they become one.</p>