<p>I tend to find that getting into schools like Harvard and Princeton ultimately boils down to something outside of academics - what is it, you ask? Mysterious, and nobody can give you a very clear answer, I think. Sure, valedictorians and sal's are too numerous to be automatically accepted, but some students are far more academic than others, even after having similar grades -- maybe go out of their way to study more than is necessary. Unfortunately, I think more often than not, the extent of academic prowess will get thrown aside in favor of other factors in the admissions game -- i.e., after a threshold is crossed. </p>
<p>So I mean, not only will it not make a difference if you're either a v or an s, it'll also not likely matter if you're one of the most academically inclined v's or s's out there. Part of the reason for this may be that it is assumed academically inclined people tend to decide how much so they are only <em>once</em> they get into college, so it may be hard to use as an admissions factor. </p>
<p>The one exception is if, for instance, you do math or writing competitions and do well or something...though it's pretty clear that not every academic student likes those types of things.</p>
<p>According to the academic index being val/sal is extremely important. Also, students whose high schools do not rank put their top students at a slight disadvantage. For HYP et al of course you need even "more" too.</p>
<p>I don't know about the above -- perhaps I have seen only an isolated number of cases, but neither myself nor our school salutatorian was accepted to either Harvard or Princeton or Stanford. And there were plenty below us in rank who were. I mean, that just goes to say that as a rule, it's not the most important thing, though it can't hurt. Those who got into Harvard were close behind in rank for the most part, though.</p>
<p>I go to a pretty competitive private school in South Florida too. Especially because of its status as one of the best schools in the area, class rank really doesn't matter much anymore; for example, in the class of 2008, arguably the most successful college applicant (accepted by H, Y, M) wasn't even a val or sal. In 2007, there were two vals, one went to Yale, and one went to Rice; while another kid who wasn't in the top 5 got into Columbia. The class of 2009 is significantly less competitive, and I was accepted to Yale EA while ranked #1, but even if I was #2 or #3, I don't think it would have played much difference.</p>
<p>I heard that Harvard admits 40% of valedictorian applicants, and a similar number of people with at least one 800 on their SATs. I'm not sure if this is correct, but if so it would help a lot. </p>
<p>Also, if you type things into the Academic Index, being #1 automatically bumps you up seven bajillion points.</p>
<p>The titles of Val and Sal are granted to the students with the highest GPA in the graduating class- these titles are mere icing on the whole cake, because it's your GPA that the colleges look at. Take away the Val coating, and you're still ranked at the top 1% in your school. So regardless of whether colleges see that you're val sal, it would make no difference because your academic record will always be compared to that of your classmates, which demotes the title of Val/Sal into nothing but a fancy way of saying "Yo, my grades be OD sick".</p>
<p>I don't know if val/sal help by virtue of the titles themselves...the ranks represent good GPAs and usually rigorous schedules, two things that are important inherently. If I am valedictorian of my 30-person high school when my transcript is riddled with C's and classes like "Basic Art" or whatever, it obviously won't look as good as the person who's 5th in his class at a competitive high school with a 3.99 GPA. Ya know?</p>