High School Schedule: Help!

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm a junior in a small Christian high school. I'm second in my class but I've taken more honors/AP classes than anyone else and I've gotten all A's. The problem is that our school does not count "study halls" (Free periods) into the GPA. Therefore, it is better to take a study hall then a class like Spanish I (which carries a 4.0 A). In freshman year, i took Spanish I, the current first in class took study hall. This year, he took study hall and I took Public speaking, but i was also able to take an extra honors class that didn't fit his schedule.
So he is only slightly ahead of me in the GPA-race. I can make up this difference if i drop my public speaking now and get no credit for it (it will not appear on HS transcript.) </p>

<p>My question is which is better for a college?</p>

<p>My GPA is currently 4.88 (4.00 unweighted) and it will be 5.0 for junior year if i drop public speaking.</p>

<p>If I drop: Valedictorian, Slightly Higher GPA, No Public Speaking Credit, One "Study Hall"
If I don't: Salutatorian, Slightly Lower GPA, Public Speaking Credit, No "Study Halls"</p>

<p>The more "academically rigorous" choice would be not to drop public speaking, but the choice that would be better on paper is to drop it. </p>

<p>By the way, I'm not looking at applying to the top-notch schools (HPYS), but i am looking at UNC-CH, Duke and schools of comparable selectivity. I'm also looking to get a lot of financial aid (aiming for full ride, of course)</p>

<p>Also, would I/should I explain this dilemma on a college application (in less detail)?</p>

2

<p>Don’t explain it, but why would your GPA drop, are you making a B in Public Speaking? Keep in mind some colleges view study halls as “lazy courses”, and if Public Speaking is a required course, I’d say Salutatorian is fine.</p>

3

<p>this is how my school works too, many ppl stop taking classes like band and art just so they can have a higher rank. IMO, it is not worth it to drop something you really want to take. Being val does not give u a huge boost for college, colleges are not dumb they will see that ur gpa is, im guessing, like .001 away from the top person. I faced the smae question and I decided to still take music a throughout hs, I still had many other challenging classes, but i didnt take two periods of study halls just to be #1. I’m going to Harvard and our #1 is going to some state school, not to brag but colleges didnt like to c that he sat in SH while he could have explored other interests and developed himself.</p>

4

<p>Borb,
My GPA is close to a 5. A 4.0 brings a 5 down.</p>

<p>Collegebound,
Congrats on Harvard! Thanks for the advice</p>