I have seen some people talking about how being valedictorian boosted their application, but at least at my school you are not officially declared valedictorian until the end of senior year, past the due date of applications.
The GC might mention they are ranked number 1 in their rec.
The student should not.
& I wouldn’t expect too much of a boost from being valedictorian- the title has been massively demeaned by the number of schools who have multiple vals (a school in TN had 48 vals in a class of 198 students), and by the increasingly arcane ways that val is calculated (which lead to massive gaming of the system).
The people you mention may feel that they got a boost (and it is a boost for some scholarships) but irl it will not tip the balance between getting in and not getting in.
Our school district ranks the students after junior year. So, they can use it on their apps. If they waited until the end of senior year it would not be useful for apps. Although they don’t officially call them valedictorian, etc. The student only receives their ranking out of the entire class (i.e. 3/250)
Valedictorian is chosen after Fall semester of the Sr year at my son’s HS .
I know at some schools there’s a minimum GPA to have valedictorian and once you reach that point they probably say they are safely valedictorian
In my school it’s announced in early May-- so it would be far too late. But as others have mentioned, it doesn’t really mean all that much.