<p>Does the smartest person in the class always get the title at your school? Or does the kid who cheated his/her way through high school win? </p>
<p>Are the hardest classes weighted the most? Or are some easy classes GPA boosters? </p>
<p>Just want to know if you have a fair shot at being valedictorian or if you won't get it because of the way you school works? </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I don’t.
I got B’s before I came to the US, so my GPA is not even 3.9 :(</p>
<p>Some schools allow students to vote for their class valedictorian.</p>
<p>1) Nope, smart kids often get poor grades because they feel school is below them.
2) Our number 6 never does his work and cheats on everything. It’s possible
3) Our school’s weighting system is kind of stupid. They add 2 points to your grade in the class if it’s honors and 4 if it’s AP. Regular classes are so easy you could sleep the whole year and end with a 100 whereas the honors and AP require a lot of work. The Valedictorian at the other high school in my district took all regular classes all through high school.
4) I’m a junior and number 3 currently. 1 is a full point and some ahead of me and 2 is about 4 tenths of a point ahead. I probably will graduate as 2 or 3. It isn’t likely for me to bring up my average that much, but it could happen.</p>
<p>How is there so much parity between GPAs in your school already? I’m a junior, and in a 3 or 4 way tie for 3rd (two other people are tied at 1), and everyone else in the top 15 aren’t far behind.</p>
<p>I guess I do have a shot if I were to apply myself academically at all, but I’m at a serious disadvantage because I spend the vast majority of my time with music rather than always studying.</p>
<p>At my school, the smartest kid who doesn’t do anything outside of school always gets valedictorian. The smartest kid who is also involved in sports, music, art, etc. usually doesn’t. AP’s give you a 5 on the 4.0 scale and non-freshman honors classes gives you a 4.5.</p>
<p>@Bankgeek:
I completely disagree with #1 on your list. I don’t even wanna get too into it, but that’s completely false. Sure, there are smart students who are lazy, but I think most smart students know how important school is and therefore try their best. </p>
<p>Anyway, no I don’t. The guy who’s ranked #1 in our school has been since Freshman year, and he’s taken way more AP classes than anybody else. It’s crazy, but he’s smart, so he deserves it.</p>
<p>They add up every grade for every marking period and add it in and then divide by the number of marking periods it’s been. They don’t round decimal places either, on the page it only shows out to the 5th or so but for class ranks they go out as far as they have to. There are also a ton of classes to choose from, they can effect your gpa a bunch.</p>
<p>Einstein was labeled an idiot and failed in school. I would say he’s a pretty smart guy. It’s very common with very smart students.
There is a huge difference between smart and hardworking and motivated. One can be all, but not always.</p>
<p>no one knows who the current val is, because he/she is too humble to tell anyone, so we’ll have to wait until March</p>
<p>AP classes are weighted by 6%</p>
<p>I have no chance whatsoever (two C’s in 9th grade). If I had discovered CC before high school I would be #1 for sure lol</p>
<p>1) It depends. If the person cheats, they might get lucky on tests and skill end up with an A, but you never know (tests are pretty widely weighted 50%).</p>
<p>2) AP Classes are boosted in GPA by 25%, while Pre-AP Classes are boosted by ~12.5%… though Pre-AP Chem and Pre-AP Bio are typically jokes.</p>
<p>3) Well, I was ranked #1 at the middle of sophomore year… so we’ll see.</p>
<p>We don’t have a valedictorian. Every student with over a 4.1 or something is ranked #1 to avoid argument and kids getting upset. I’m not even close because I have a 3.86 weighted and I’m 25/571. Meh. I could care less.</p>
<p>The smart, hard-working kids almost always occupy the top ten spots at my school. Weighting is, in my opinion, very fair; 0.5 boost for honors courses, 1.0 boost for APs. For this reason, the smartest person is almost always the valedictorian. So far, I have a very good shot, because I was ranked 1st by a good margin at the end of freshmen year. However, I will need to keep up the grades for three years in order to retain my spot; no easy task.</p>
<p>I got hit with some Bs freshman year but I have the most rigorous schedule of anyone in my class this and probably next year. I probably can’t be Valedictorian but I wouldn’t be too surprised to end up at 4 or 5 out of about 450.</p>
<p>Nope. I got two B’s due to laziness and, although my school’s sole requirement for valedictorian is a 4.8 weighted GPA (the max), I don’t load up with enough AP courses.</p>
<p>I will be valedictorian with a 4.0 this semester (it seems as though they give awards before senior year ends). Will I do it? I hope so. I suppose getting into colleges is slightly more important to me. Hopefully, I don’t slack off once I start getting my admission results back.</p>
<p>We potential valedictorians gotta support each other, man. We’re all we’ve got in a world filled with regular people and, ugh, salutatorians (gross!). Lol</p>
<p>“kids getting upset” really?? That sounds like kindergarten sports. This is high school and I think kids need to learn you don’t always win in life. I don’t think I have a decent chance. The top 2 in my class is out of everyones league. Might have a chance at top 5 though.</p>
<p>I should be valedictorian >: (</p>
<p>I’m not even close, but I’m def not the smartest kid in my class either. In fact, it’s kind of hard to tell who is. But the smartest kid definitely doesn’t always get valedictorian. Someone who always takes the easiest classes could end up with a higher GPA than someone much smarter.</p>
<p>At my school people can dual enroll at the community college. The classes are weighted like AP classes even though they are much easier. So the current number one doesn’t even attend our school she completely dual enrolls. However, she will graduate early so it won’t affect my class. But an ambitious girl is using these classes to boost her GPA. Do you think that is fair?</p>
<p>^ At my school, we can only take an introductory college course at a community college (doesn’t go towards your gpa) which enables you to take another free class at the community college (of your choice). Options are pretty limited. And I don’t think either class goes toward your gpa, so only the students who want to try something new will do it.</p>