<p>I'm first in my class, but my numbers wouldn't compare to all these people's stats with the crazy SAT scores. I just go to an underperforming school...I do love to learn, though...does that count?</p>
<p>murky: No, I don't look down on them, I just know it's different. Two points of information: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>I have one "brilliant overachieving academic" child, but I also have a child who is incredibly gifted artistically, but has to put in <em>hours</em> of work every night to even manage a 3.0 GPA. Every assignment, every paper, every math problem takes her 10 times more time than my son. Ideas and concepts that he can grasp and link together synergystically have to be explained to her over and over, and she <em>still</em> doesn't get it. She's a bright kid, but traditional academic work is not her forte. Do I look down on her? Not in the least. I do, however, appreciate that there are people like my son, and people like my daughter, and lots in between. </p></li>
<li><p>When I was a senior in high school, a school dispatched an admissions counselor to my school two hours away, to beg me to please just sign the admissions form so they admit me and give me a big scholarship. Just about that time, one of my best friends in high school had a complete meltdown at me. She was someone with very high GPA, lots of leadership EC's, a great character -- a really bright person who had a lot going for her. On the other hand, she had to work hard for all of those things. Concepts never came easy to her, and for every test I aced because of my near-eiditic memory, she had probably put in days of study time. My SAT's were the highest in the school, but hers weren't, because testing was always a struggle for her. Anyway, on this one day, she took me into a teacher's office alone, and began yelling and crying at me about how it was unfair that I didn't work hard like she did, and yet I got scholarships, and she didn't. She sounded like, well, a lot of CC folks, who work very hard for years only to not get admitted into schools. When she did this, I felt embarrassed and ashamed, but there wasn't anything I could <em>do</em> about it. I mean, I spent much of the time I was in middle school and high school "failing" tests every now and then to make my classmates hate me less, because otherwise I was constantly berated for "blowing the curve" or "ruining it for everyone else" when I got A's. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>So what does this mean? Well, the original poster asked about "that one genius" kid. And I bet if you asked any of my son's classmates, they'd tell you that describes my son. He just thinks and comprends at a different level than they do, and since he was a little kid, classmates and teachers have commented on it. The difference between he and I is that when I was his age, I let people make me feel ashamed of being a "genius", to the point that I stopped pushing myself so that they wouldn't hate me or yell at me like my close friend did. </p>
<p>My son is an affable, friendly kid, completely non-competitive and not the least bit "snobby" about his intelligence and ability, in part because I brought him up to be okay with his gifts, but not obnoxious about them. You won't see him on CC, because he doesn't obsess about this stuff -GPA's, class rank, Ivies -- the way many CCers do. That said, while I don't think that whatever you call that -- genius, brilliance, "good at test taking" -- is better than being a hard working valedictorian, I do think it's <em>different</em>, which is what I commented on.</p>
<p>A girl in my class will have taken and done extremely well in at least 11 (I'm pretty sure) AP courses by the time she graduates, is the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, got a very high score on SATs (don't know her exact score), has a very high rank, and is in various other extracurricular activities such as Academic Decathlon. She has a great personality to boot.</p>
<p>Oh, and she is a piano prodigy. She went on The Oprah Winfrey Show in Fall 2006, the episode about kid geniuses, on which she was given a set of notes by Oprah and then improvised a piece on the spot.</p>
<p>Whats up with all these stupidly inflated GPA's? At my school an A is a 4.0 and you get .5 extra for an AP class which is how it should be. The highest overall GPA anyone can get is probably around 4.25. I know of a super smart guy in my school. I don't think his GPA is that high but he got a 1560 old score SAT and is insanely good at math and physics.</p>
<p>my school (less than 100 in my class):</p>
<h1>1-8.3/8, 2310</h1>
<h1>2-8.1/8 2310</h1>
<h1>3-7.99/8 2360</h1>
<h1>4-7.8/8 2300</h1>
<p>skipds to about a 7.4 i think...number 10 has a 7.1 or 7.2</p>
<p>so we are pretty scattered (not like .01 away). 3 in the top 4 made straight A's...it was just the A+s that make us look scattered. val works VERY hard and no social life. 2, 3, 4 are very social. none of them stands out above one another as actually being smarter, we help each other out and have our own strenghts (yes i am on of them.)</p>
<p>i have no idea about gpas, but theres one insanely smart kid (2390 SAT) who actually has a social life, and then 2-10, a few 100 points lower on the SAT with hugely varying social lives and gpa's.</p>
<p>At my school, I am probably the top. My grades weren't the best during (I had a the same A grade but wasn't best in the individual classes) the second term of junior year but given my insane workload, I beat everyone by leaps and bounds. Here is what I am taking:</p>
<p>7 IB Classes+ToK (8 total), 4HL and 3SL. HL=Phy, Math, Chem, Eco. Also taking IB Further Maths SL.</p>
<p>7 APs this year: AP chem, AP Phy, AP CalcBC, AP French, AP Eng, AP Macro, AP Micro. </p>
<p>Also I am taking AS-Level Economics (and I have already taken AS-Level Mathematics).</p>
<p>Too bad I suck at standardized test scores. I'm aiming for 2250 on the next SAT (writing kills me...I always get 8s on the essay)</p>
<p>My goodness, what is it with some of you people -- it's not like I'm not going to try to get straight As... and I will. I'm determined, and, frankly, that's all that matters!</p>
<p>My school was funny. We had three kids who were head and shoulders above anyone else, but after that it was very close. Two were math and science kids, the other music and english. I say it was funny because they were the ones who were trying to organize the Top 10 Beer Pong Tournament. It never panned out though unfortunately, #8 and #5 wouldn't comply.</p>
<p>
[quote]
My goodness, what is it with some of you people -- it's not like I'm not going to try to get straight As... and I will. I'm determined, and, frankly, that's all that matters!
[/quote]
Well for me at least, it started that way and you become less enthusiastic as the workload increases. Ez to say, hard to do. It's just the way it is. You could do really awesome, and I'm not doubting that. Just don't assume you will. Hard work doesn't <em>always</em> guarantee all As, just as having a great app doesn't guarantee an Ivy acceptance. Stuff happens.</p>
<p>we have 5.</p>
<p>they rank in order:
scary german kid: 3.99
nerdchick: 3.98
the good natured booksmart: 3.98
the prodigy (varsity soccer captain, yearbook editor, and multi-club president who is probably on speed and is going to harvard): 3.97
the kid in all the sped classes who should be taking all APs: 3.96</p>
<p>to expand on my previous post, there are 2 kids who are in tight competition for val. then there's another that's a few tenths a point below those too, and then a teeny bit below that, there's the rest of the smart kids. </p>
<p>All of the top 3 are girls</p>
<p>The girl who is currently #1:
Extremely hard working....grade whore. Good EC's, but only for college: Tri-M, Troubadours (singing group), involved in Music Department, CenterStage (theatre club), in the musicals, JV Soccer (only does it for the EC, chances of her making varsity next year are just about the same as me acing my chem test....not happening), summer theatre group, Science Research (the only thing she really likes), interested in biology.<br>
She is a COMPLETE grade whore. She had a 95 in Spanish Honors and was complaining to me nonstop. Of course she did some last minute sucking up and managed to persuade an A+. Only once got below an A+. It was an A. VERY annoying in this way. Thinks teachers like her while they actually hate her. Never thinks she's wrong and very competitive. Studies like crazy. </p>
<p>girl that is #2:
Also studies like crazy. Not much of a social life...people get frustrated with her introverted personality. Overall, pretty nice person otherwise....not as much of a grade whore, but still never got below an except for once. Good at art, but hates it. Skipped 1 year of math. ECs include the literary magazine, academic league, math league, math magazine, science research, and science league. Plays no sports. Doesn't recognize a passion, but I could totally tell she LOVES earth science. </p>
<p>girl who is #3:
By far the coolest. not in the traditional sense. Not exactly good-looking, not "popular" at all, but extremely well known around the school for being a "genius" and really down to earth. Skipped 2 years of math (took 10th grade math in 7th grade, 11th in 8th, 12th and AP Stats in 9th, and taking AP calc BC in 10th). Because of this she is in the same math classes as seniors, and everyone likes her because she is really really nice. A good friend of mine, she's really naturally smart. We were taking an in class chemistry quiz and she was on question 30 when everyone else was on #7...works verrrry quickly. Because she is naturally smart, she doesn't memorize things like the other two girls, but actually understands the concepts, and she is the only one that can help me when I am having trouble with something. Her weakness is English, where she gets Bs once in a while, but usually maintains the A range. Will have played Varsity Tennis for 4 years, looooves tennis, plays on weekends and plays with the boys team during off season. Does science research, science league, VERY involved in the math department...secretary of Mu Alpha Theta as a sophomore, math magazine, always places in math contests, etc. School newspaper, will be taking a Stanford online math course next year. She's doing something really important with science this summer, cant remember what. Loves science and math.</p>
<p>I don't believe that the Val. is the smartest kid. Our Val. works real hard, but I don't consider her naturally smart. She is smart, but she is no prodigy. We have one girl who is very smart, top 5, but has no social skills.</p>
<p>I, on the other hand, started high school at age 11. I am in the top 10% of my class. I don't get straight "A"s, but probably could if I studied harder. </p>
<p>I want to have a life, and have sacrificed the "braintrust" for that life. I am happy, and pretty social. I was voted for prom court, and have many other state leadership positions.</p>
<p>So, naturally, I don't by into the GPA or SAT score as a signifier of intelligence.</p>
<p>At my school, the top two would have over 100 averages if they were allowed, and the third is just barely below 100. I have classes with all three of these people!!</p>
<p>I have 3 kids at my school like that, but there aren't any huge gaps... They're GPAs were all pretty close.</p>
<p>We have the "two genius kids"</p>
<p>Rank 1 - 4.6ish (also - started HS at age 11, 2370 on SAT's at age 12, took calc as a sophomore, took senior physics as a sophomore, at least three years ahead in all foreign languages, etc.)</p>
<p>Rank 2 - 4.5ish (also took calc as a sophomore)</p>
<p>Rank 3 - 4.2ish (nothing special)</p>
<p>TrinSF, thanks for the great post</p>
<p>sishu...are you kidding about that #1 kid? that's insane...</p>
<p>My secondary school was the top school for girls in Mauritius. No one there was stupid, and most people were very smart. There was one girl though who never got below 190/200 in any subject. She was always coming first in Physics/Chemistry. But then, all she did was work - seriously, nothing else. So, I don't know if I would call that genius.</p>
<p>Let's just say that our school and its students were committed to academic achievement, and she was the most dedicated.</p>
<h2>sishu...are you kidding about that #1 kid? that's insane...</h2>
<p>Not kidding. We were looking for genius kids, right? Well she definitely is one. I could go no forever about how unfairly smart she is. She is also on varsity soccer and is somewhat popular - nominated to homecoming court a few times. How unfair can life be?</p>
<p>My friend that got into Harvard EA is a genius. He's not cocky or nerdy, he just understands things. He set the curve so high on our AP Chem final that the teacher had to lower it 20% so the whole class didn't fail. He didn't study at all for it. He's also 13-2 for the tennis season. His brother who goes to Harvard is also the same way. Then there is another kid at my school who is effectively a genius. He's president of the environmental club and put together a program that calculates: based on the square footage of a building and the number of people that occupy it, the purpose it was built for, and the age it was built for, what the expect greenhouse gas output will be. He's also figured out a way to counter that. Enviro-club president, lol. He got into HYPS, berk, la, jhu, and pretty much anywhere else you can think of. I think he's going to harvard.</p>
<p>I guess me though. I could've been that kid, but my classes bored me, they still do, I have always enjoyed learning for the sake of learning, but homework never was my thing, but there are other things too. I mean really, my english teacher shouldn't say, "that's a more clear and concise explanation for this theme than my college professors ever gave" I don't mean to say I'm smarter than PhD's in their respective fields, I just notice things and see the world differently than most people do. I shouldn't be able to point out flaws in constitutional arguements my history or gov teachers would make, and have evidence to back me up. I dunno I dunno, I just didn't care I guess, I didn't have to turn things in if i didn't want, because I could always make it up later, and was able to blow through high school with no effort. Either way im in a top 100 college, and ill be applying to the top 20's as a freshman transfer next year.</p>
<p>Introspection is fun.</p>