My school overemphasizes grades and only focuses on certain individuals. Sucks no?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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<p>Ok so I'm an achiever, but not an over-achiever. My grades are pretty great, but I'm still the 4th in my class (of 31). If you want skip to the very last paragraph for a summary if you don't feel like reading my outrageously long paragraphs.</p>

<p>Anyway, onto my school: First off, we have 2 students who really get great grades (the first and second out around 160 students in 11th grade) who barely register as students. They could probably light a fire in the school and get away with it - the administration loves them that much. They consistently place them higher than other students, allow them whatever they want, and as if their grades weren't enough, they're on just about every extracurricular available. </p>

<p>Now, I'm not saying I have a problem with a person being a high-achiever, but one problem I do have: the school allowing them everything at the cost of other, lower-profile students who deserve it over them. They're on the yearbook team, (as am I), and frankly, they know nothing about anything. Not creative, no article writing experience, don't know how to handle a camera, and barely even a PC. When I first proposed a team for the yearbook, I had a couple of non-achievers who were absolutely brilliant in terms of creativity, photography, and experience. The school rejected them on the basis that their grades were too low.</p>

<p>I'm close friends with both of them, and they're both great people and really intelligent, so I don't have a problem with them. The administration, I hate, though. They're really hypocritical too, and always say "no student is better than the other" when EVERY single action they take on behalf of the students suggests they think otherwise.</p>

<p>Anyway, my main point here: A few weeks ago, the school offered the first 3 (in rank) in each class of grades 10 and 11 the opportunity to travel to MA (to Harvard) as a sort of experience-gaining trip, should they want to go there in the future. As rank fourth, I wasn't told. The top 3 in my class did not want to go. I only heard about this yesterday, and I'm pretty ****ed off at the administration - more than before, even - for only taking grades into consideration.
No offence to the top rankers, whom I'm great friends with, but they have no EC activities, nor SAT grades (~1250 each), nor the interest to go with them. And quite frankly, there are others, not in the least myself, who deserve the opportunity as much as or more than they do. I for one have been aiming for MIT for around a year. While I could just about dedicate my life to studying and get the same grades they do, I choose not to, because honestly I'm just too lazy (when it comes to certain subjects - don't think that if I enter MIT I'd regard it as simple and not put in an effort, that's way different.) I'm quite intelligent (that may seem a bit pretentious but to hell with it) and very ambitious, and have as many EC activities as the school offers (which aren't many, but that's not my fault) and a few side projects, and SAT scores - well, I'm aiming for a 1500 and definitely think I can do it - and next year, as soon as the French coefficient goes down and I drop Biology, I'll probably reach rank 2 of 160. And note, at our school, I have around 15+ subjects, and we enter colleges as sophomores. 12th grade is like freshman year in college. </p>

<p>At any rate, I feel like hitting the principal of the school. I hate hypocrisy. I hate dimwitted-ness even more, seeing as my school thinks that you can get into Harvard with grades alone, and screw SAT and ECA. Just, any pointers on how I can do that without getting expelled? :D
Okay so I'm joking but seriously, this is no way for a school to be. I'm thinking that on Monday I give the Principal a little visit and make my points. Aside from their student preferences though. I'd just tell her that some students deserve better even though they're not top ranking, and some deserve just as much as the top rankers to visit the college they want in the US. </p>

<p>In short, my school reveres top ranking students who only work on grades and not extracurricular activities, and offered them a chance to go to the US to Harvard and such to visit the colleges they could apply to. And I think that's just horrid because they could never get in without SAT grades, a good essay, and extracurriculars, and my school not only fails to see that, but ignores those in the school who are better suited for such colleges, and better yet, who really want to go. Opinions on how to handle this? I'm planning on going to the principal and telling her off in a nice, sweet way, and asking to go with them, even if they didn't ask me, to hell with it, it's a bit of a requirement for me to see the colleges I want to apply to.</p>

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<p>I don’t think your school is alone in thinking that its highest-ranking students will have a really good shot at HYPSMCCCB. It’s stupid and unfortunate, but the best thing to do is to shove it in the administration’s faces after you get into somewhere good and finish 12th grade.</p>

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<p>Do what Steve Jobs did - get rich, get famous, don’t give a **** about your high school.</p>

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<p>I also suggest that you work hard and rub it in the administration’s face if you get into better colleges than the top 3 (but don’t rub it in the top 3s’ faces).</p>

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<p>What do CB have to do with HYPSMC? If they stand for Cornell and Brown, those schools are not competitive to the degree that HYPSMC are.</p>

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<p>In paragraph 2 didnt you say they are in every EC available, and then later say they aren’t in ECs?</p>

<p>The bottom line is that if your school is going to spend money like that, it MUST be based on grades. Its the only measure that isn’t based on opinion. If they just say “the top graded students are going” the students are chosen by merit and statistic. If they say “the kids with the best chance at Ivies are going” they’ve thrown their own opinions into choosing the students.</p>

<p>Its a bummer that you didn’t get to go on the trip, but the school is using the only statistical measure it can rely on.</p>

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<p>Don’t hit the principal now - but when you graduate from HYPSMC in years to come, go and throw eggs at his/her house screaming “I graduated from HYPSMC, you idiotic prick!”</p>

<p>And your school is obviously unintelligent if they think that the top three are the only people who deserve this trip to Harvard. And is it free or do they have to pay for it?</p>

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<p>That’s a pretty intense rant. I’m sorry. That’s gotta be annoying, especially how your yearbook team is rejected. Most of the creative & talented people I know don’t have a myopic focus on grades (and some of them don’t care at all), but grades shouldn’t matter (unless the person is failing classes or pulling a C- average, maybe) there. It’s all about skill and dedication.</p>

<p>There are a ton of school administrations, counselors, parents, and students that think good grades are all you need. They don’t know what the real world of college admissions is like.</p>

<p>I think you should talk to the principal/administration, but do it tactfully. Have several small conversations where you drop stuff like, “Hey, my friend told me you offered to send him on a visit to Harvard, but he didn’t want to go. That’s too bad, because I know another student who’s really interested in the school, and…”. And then the next week, “Hey, I just wanted to talk to you about college admissions. I heard that colleges take extracurriculars into account just as much as grades…”.</p>

<p>Play nice and play dumb, basically, but be persistent. There’s not much you can do, but maybe you can open their eyes a bit, or lobby for the people you really want on yearbook.</p>

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<p>“They could probably light a fire in the school and get away with it - the administration loves them that much.”</p>

<p>Been there.</p>

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<p>my entire school has caught the favoritism fever. everywhere you look, see the same people getting selected for things over and over. after awhile, its just sickening.</p>

<p>my gym teacher accidentally threw a basketball at my head today. does she apologize? no, instead she turns around and talks to this girl who fell on the floor like ten minutes ago and was laughing about the defence or something.</p>

<p>or the fact that my gym teacher NEVER notices me, can barely rmr my name, and ive been working super hard, 30 min ABOVE my heart rate zone, and yet she barely nods and says neexxxxtttt when i give her my data. but the girl who she loves behind me burns less than half the calories and is above for only 22 min gets a “GOOD JOB <em>CHARLIE</em> Everyone look at how hard she is working!” i cannot wait to leave my school plagued with favoritism and go to college where being invisible is the norm.</p>

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<p>haha yes. my school’s administration is just as biased as yours sound.</p>

<p>for example, the valedictorian (who’s really nice and a friend of mine btw) got accepted everywhere- every Ivy that she applied to, Rice, UChicago, MIT, Stanford, etc… </p>

<p>well one day she got a detention for being late… again (yeah she has an obsessive tendency to skip school/not care/be late, but I don’t blame her because we only have two or so weeks of school left :P). anyways, so she got a detention but then later on, the detention lady called her down and ripped up her detention because “it didn’t feel right” and that “she felt bad” for giving someone who had gotten accepted to so many wonderful institutions detention. </p>

<p>right yeah that basically caused uproar in our school over how idiotic and unfair the detention lady was (we didn’t blame the valedict. though; i mean it can’t be helped…) because everyone knows that she’d GLADLY assign detention to someone she didn’t like a.k.a. someone who isn’t going to a Top 20 school or whatever…
but yeah everyone, including me, has learned to deal with it, and when it comes my senior year I desperately want to rub in my acceptance to a top- tier school (hopefully ? =]) in the detention lady’s face. hah!</p>

<p>lol</p>

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<p>Ok first of all S T F U with the “Sucks no?” Did you really have to add the no? It just makes you sound like an idiot.</p>

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<p>Jimmy, from your rant, I conclude that you are an international - as am I. :slight_smile:
Most schools in Asia, including mine, are grade-oriented. That’s all they think about, which isn’t entirely their fault either.</p>

<p>Well, as stupid as this sounds, I’m usually a favorite of teachers, although I’m admittedly not the most diligent student in my class. But they never really care whether I submit my homework 3 months (yes, it’s 3 months) late - all they see are my test results etc. </p>

<p>I’m not proud of it. It is somehow embarrassing for me when a teacher greets you nicely but doesn’t even take notice of your classmate beside you.</p>

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<p>@estrat1 - Probably what will happen.
@yoursky - LMAO. Aside from his arrogance, Steve Jobs is like my idol.
@SaintSaens - wouldn’t do that, they’re really my friends. I’d take advantage of the administration too if I was in their position :slight_smile: They’re really good people. Mostly. Kind of arrogant and feel they deserve better than others but whatever. They don’t state it outright so it’s fine.
@MSauce - yeah, the top 2 students in the entire grade are like on every EC - BECAUSE they’re the top 2 students. It’s like no one deserves anything except them. The other top students, however (between rank 2 and 20 let’s say) have virtually no ECs or like 1-2 each.
And I completely disagree with you about grades. I am indeed an international, first off, and SAT grades are important to boot. I don’t mean to degrade my fellow students, but there are only 3 students who would survive the English in the US in my school, with one of them being me. Same 3 students are the only ones who have a shot at a 1500 SAT, without which you can’t get into any of the top universities. The others cap off at 1350. Want statistics and numbers? There you go. No SAT = no admission. Granted, SAT =/= admission, but you do need it. Not to mention that some of the students just want to get into a top college because they’re used to getting it all. That’s precisely the reason my yearbook team was not accepted - because the top 2 in our year just had to have the EC. If I weren’t on the team, and hadn’t brought on 2 others who know what they’re doing, this yearbook would just be horrid. It might not even “be” at all.
@ravenclaw - School doesn’t provide payment. More reason that they should’ve let in more people on the trip.
And I shall do that indeed. :)</p>

<p>Geekfire - couldn’t agree more! I can’t help but feel that no one cares about anything but grades anymore when applying to college. It’s become a habit of mine to point out ECs and SAT grades whenever someone thinks they’re getting into a college based on grades alone. Sometimes as a snide remark, if that person is pompous about it, and sometimes with empathy, if the person is just misinformed.</p>

<p>christiansoldier - no comment. </p>

<p>bumble - Next time, hit your teacher with the gym ball while he/she isn’t looking. Then point at Charlie when she asks who did it, or just play dumb and say it was a mistake :slight_smile: Tons of satisfaction, I’ve tried it :D</p>

<p>xxblair - I hate those people. Not the students, who are usually great (if they’re not arrogant about it all) but the favoritism. Just, wow. I wonder if a guy’s a prick, but has high grades, if he’d be regarded in the same way. Seriously, I have to experiment on that.</p>

<p>jkaufman - bite me.</p>

<p>monochromeaddict - I am indeed. Generally, our teachers are excellent. They do tend to favor the students with higher grades, but they don’t differentiate - much. For example, I’m a top earner in math, but talk a lot during the period (mostly math-related) - my teacher likes me, but does not favor me at all. Dude in front of me gets around the same grades I do, but is much more diligent and less talkative. Favors him loads more. Doesn’t differentiate on homework and stuff though.
As long as you’re not arrogant about it, take advantage xP Just don’t let other students know.</p>

<p>Small note: I might actually get to go on the trip. I called up the organization that does it (People to People) and they noted there was one spot left open in the position I want. Think I should feel bad about it? There were 2 other people who also wanted to go. I do really need this though, and I’m not going to let my school’s favoritism get in the way.</p>

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<p>If you get into HYPSM I bet they’re gonna question you and become suspicious. Wouldn’t be surprised.</p>

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<p>Jimmy, I understand where you’re coming from. I don’t know where you’re from, but there have been very similar scenarios in Asia (especially in schools that don’t typically send students to HYPMS, etc. and thus don’t know what you really need to go there). The good thing is that whether or not you get your point through to your high school, you can go to the college of your dreams without being the apple of your school administration’s eye (but hey, you’re already doing really, really well as it is… and you’re going to be ranked 2 next year). I’ve had friends in a similar situation. Sometimes it’s not worth your time trying to change things. My friend from another school was in a similar situation (ranked 4th in his school too!) and wasn’t given much attention from the school. He branched out and even though his school recs weren’t that great, he had a fantastic ECA record outside school, got his supplementary recs that way and is currently at Brown. The school still fails to acknowledge his accomplishments, but does that matter? Not really. Not everyone’s going to be your friend in life. All that matters is that you know you’re rocking things :)</p>

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<p>maybe it’s because you are “too lazy” to work hard</p>

<p>and I agree with jkaufman</p>