@fidoprincess, make sure you or your daughter clarifies with the school that the profile you saw actually applies to her class. Is it possible they are phasing it in for new classes?
As frustrating as this is for her and for you, rest assured that she will have wonderful choices and she will have the internal resources she needs to soar in college.
Seems like high schools in Texas should rank by default, because Texas public universities have automatic admission criteria that are at least partially rank based (not just top 10% (7% at Austin), but also things like “top 25% with sufficiently high SAT or ACT scores”, etc.). However, basing the rank on a GPA or grade points calculation that does not penalize taking extra courses or rigorous academic electives (e.g. foreign language, art, music) would be better than what is commonly done.
On the other hand, California is almost the opposite, since the CSULB President’s Scholarship is the only place where I have seen a California public university consider class rank as determined by the high school (the “top 9%” for UC ELC is based on meeting a threshold GPA calculated from the high school’s previous classes, and the GPAs are recalculated by the UC/CSU method, not by the high schools).
The problem with the whole class ranking system is, as shown by the OP, that it causes students to game the system in non-productive ways. However, @sax is right. The rules were set in place, and they should not be changed mid-stream. I our kids wanted to play that game and it was taken away, we would complain.
Our HS does not rank, but the top ten students still know who they are and that is also communicated to colleges. We still have a Val and a Sal. So before you panic, check in with the school and see if her top rank is still communicated even if not generally published.
The jumping through hoops to game the GPA system is the exact reason schools decide to stop ranking.
“This is why college admissions is broken”
I disagree with this statement. No one has to play the Val/Sal games to get into a top college. What so few parents and students realize is that most top colleges want students with a genuine interest in the world – they want interested and interesting people. Yes, they want to make sure you can succeed in their classroom, so strong grades, a rigorous schedule, and strong test scores are needed. But perfection or the very top is not needed, or even desirable. I think it is a good thing when schools stop ranking, it stops unproductive behavior. Sorry, OP, I know you and your kid invested a lot in this. But don’t mistake it for some magic ticket in college admissions, because it isn’t.
There is no such thing as gaming the system. The rules are the rules
She is following the rules THE SYSTEM put in place…
Your daughter might ask the GC if she would be willing to put a statement like this in her letter.
“Fidoprincess D was ranked number one in her class until we eliminated ranking in 2016.” or “Our school no longer ranks, but if we did Fidoprincess daughter would be ranked top in her class.”
I agree with others if she no longer has to game the ranking system, maybe she should use the opportunity to take something she’d really enjoy for once. That after all is presumably the point of doing away with the ranking system.
I feel for the OP as the change has seemingly come out of nowhere. It is definitely a communication problem for the school and I understand the frustration. It also highlights why college admissions are so messed up and foreign to those of us who were playing under the “old” assumptions about HS and college from when we went through.
I do applaud the school’s decision to drop rank. The school that my kids go to still has the rankings. They also have some questionable weighting practices. As a result, the high achieving, “top” students are in fact NOT #1 or #2 and many are not in the top 10%. Kids with many APs (although not necessarily rigorous) and 4 years of study halls (some have 2 study halls a day) but no courses to dilute the APs are ranking in the top spots. Each school, each district, and each state has different policies, and VERY different students, so it is nearly impossible for colleges to get too much useful information from class rankings.
I have been a “hands off” parent until very recently and never realized that my daughter was at a serious disadvantage for taking music and language over a studyhall and lunch. These classes were her choice - to use high school where the education is free to explore her interests. We were worried about the “no” lunch but learned it is a common practice at her school for advanced kids to skip lunch and many nonlab teachers allow the kids to “graze” during their classes. The extra language (latin) does not become a weighted course until AP level - which she will never reach since she didn’t begin until 9th grade. She does have French 5 (this year) and AP French (next year) which will help her weighted GPA and rank but the latin (1,2,3 - next year 4) will not help her weighting – and the Latin 1 HURT her weighting/rank as it counted as “less” than 4.0 for the A+ (the first 1 and/or 2 levels of languages are usually completed in the middle school so students who take them in HS are penalized in weighted GPA). We discovered the same thing happens with music classes - in 9th grade it hurt her GPA to have the A in music instead of a studyhall that was GPA neutral. Even with the sectionals, extra concerts,vocal evaluations - music will never have any added weight - so it is a drag on GPAs.
We did not play the game well - we didn’t even know there was a game.- although I am not sure what I would change. She is happy and she is getting a lot out of her HS experience. She will not get any scholarships at schools that need top 10 % ranking (Clemson was on her list but has been dropped b/c of this ) but she learned a lot. I have child #2 choosing courses for HS this month and I am not sure what to advise – go for the GPA/rank or the learning experiences.
The whole ranking system seems abused and manipulated. Actually the same can be said for the entire college admissions process.
When people here talk about gaming the system, we usually mean focusing on the rules and using them to maximize some advantage for yourself instead of focusing on the larger picture (for example, whether you’re getting a good education, whether that education includes the subjects you want to study).
In this case, the OP’s daughter, who needs merit scholarship money, sacrificed things that she wanted in order to optimize her class rank according to the rules that prevailed when she entered high school. And then the school changed the rules in midstream!
No - the rules of the system are in place to calculate a weighted GPA. When you deliberately choose one class over another for the sole purpose of making sure that you have the highest GPA possible and not because you actually want to take that class, that is gaming the system. In my mind, the rules of the system and gaming the system are not mutually exclusive.
Of course, I don’t have a child who is ranked #1 and that may color my opinion.
Even though the school has an official policy of not ranking, most will rank for scholarship opportunities. The GC will
write a statement almost exactly like what @mathmom stated.
@ucbalumnus that CSULB requirement was misleading. Long Beach schools do not rank and many CSULB presidential scholars are from Long Beach Unified. The schools in the district honor those with unweighted 4.0s. They are all treated like valedictorians, and I know for a fact that those honored students are selected for that scholarship. There is a pipeline from LBUSD to CSULB.
The scholarship doed not need an invite. It is open on the website, but the stated requirements are the same.
I love the way our district deals with the val issue. No jockying for those extra few points. No forcing kid to drop non weighted classes like art and music. Students are honored with a different color robe at graduation, they are honored at award ceremonies, they are all treated like valedictorians during the graduation ceremony. In a graduating calls of about 1000 last year there were 16 “gold robes” presented as vals. There are treated as vals by CSULB as well.
Kudos to your school district for dropping rankings. It is too bad for your D it didn’t happen years ago. I am so glad so many other posters are against gaming the system for the rankings. My son’s school had class ranks but did NO weighting. It would be mildly interesting to see what his rank would have been. He took the courses he wanted to take (and got the grades he cared enough about could have had a 4.0 if he did all of the work et al, sigh). I hope your D moves on without regrets for the classes she didn’t take to play the game. Follow the suggestion for her to revise her final year’s schedule to take classes she most wants.
Fidoprincess, in your place I’d be livid. I hate to think of your daughter making so many sacrifices for 3 years in an effort to make it possible to afford college, only to have the rug pulled out from under her at this late date. I wish that the school had made this change years ago, as others have said. Then your daughter would have had a much more satisfying HS career.
I am more upset about the sacrifices this girl has made than about the late change in rules.
You have some good advice here. I hope that you will use this resource for guidance as you and your daughter navigate the application/scholarship maze. Your daughter will have some great choices, I am sure. And given the persistence and determination she has shown, and her academic talent, she will do very well in life.
Sorry… has someone actually identified a scholarship where being the val is a requirement, or even likely makes that much difference? I don’t see this as making it so the student can’t afford college. Does that mean that students who need scholarships at schools that do not rank aren’t able to get scholarships and afford college? That is an exaggeration, I think.
Start researching schools where your DD will receive large merit scholarships for her test scores and GPA (test scores are probably the most important aspect).
I’m not sure being valedictorian is all that important. I actually think you are overestimating its importance in college admissions. NMF is very helpful in obtaining merit scholarships. Is your DD’s PSAT score high? Also, you should ascertain whether or not your DD will qualify for aid at schools that meet full need.
Also find out what the actual rules are…our HS doesn’t rank,BUT The Board of Education did agree that parents and students can opt to include the unofficial rank on a student’s transcript if they feel it would be an advantage to do so.
So look on your Board of Education site and see what the actual rules are.
I agree that it not been established that being ranked number 1 would provide the OPs daughter with a “guaranteed full ride” Most of the scholarships that I’ve seen for students ranked number 1 only offer several thousand dollars more, not full rides. With her stats and other ECs she may very well be offered a full ride somewhere. It is possible. My son was ranked 4th in his class, took a rigorous courseload of AP classes he was interested in. He had good relevant ECs . He was not a NMF as he performed much better on the ACT than the PSAT. He was offered many substantial merit scholarships worth close to a full ride despite not being ranked #1. Of note, it’s important for the OP to realize even “full rides” may have fees attached and that portions of full rides are taxed.
Re: CSULB President’s Scholarship…
FWIW I know someone in the past that was NOT ranked #1 at our school (by weighted grades) but had a 4.0 unweighted and our GC considered him a Val for purposes of this award.
But that’s a moot point now based on the CSULB website:
One thing I would check if I were the OP:
On one page they state four years on another they state 2 years…(In the past it was definitely 4 years)