<p>Actually I hope that’s not true but I heard that Harvard values valedictorian ranking much more than other schools. Someone from Harvard even told me that if your school is not a feeder school and you are not a valedictorian, then you will probably not be accepted. Is that true??</p>
<p>thats not true at all. many schools dont have rankings and most dont have valedictorians lol. so who are they accepting from those schools? i bet most people arent valedictorians</p>
<p>Like any other honor or achievement, it probably helps to be a val, but it is by no means required. There are many students at Harvard who were not. But all of them were very high achievers..</p>
<p>Well, just keep this in mind: Harvard rejects most of its applicants. Anyway, Ive heard that, a few years ago, they rejected 4/5 valedictorians, so I don't know how much the title means to them. Sure, all colleges and universities view different High School student bodies and programs different, and obvious finds some superior to others. This is why some schools get multiple students accepted to top colleges, and others get none accepted to top college. Also, keep in mind that many schools do not rank. As to the schools that send multiple graduates to Harvard, unless the grads are co-valedictorians, how could such titles and rankings be the same for the students, and valued so highly, seeing that only one student tends to hold the title?</p>
<p>This probably has to do with the fact that at normal high schools, the valedictorian is the one with the most impressive credentials anyway. It usually is and has been the case at my school.</p>
<p>I think it is safe to say that elite schools are looking for much, much more than grades.</p>
<p>There were 3,100 valedictorians who applied to Harvard this year for the 1,600+ spots. Obviously only a minor fraction of them were admitted.</p>
<p>Likewise, there were twice as many SAT 800 scorers among the applicants as spots in the class, so that the median SAT score for entrants could have approached 1,600 if that was the goal.</p>
<p>But while academic achievements are of great importance, they are not the only factor by any means; predicted leadership, potential and achievment outside the classroom are seen as of equal importance.</p>
<p>I got into Harvard and my rank is 18 out of 288. Not exactly valedictorian.</p>
<p>Definitely not true. I know of someone who got in who is at best 4th in the Sr. Class, & not with super-stellar SAT scores, but has some pluses in her background & interests (not athletic!) that H would probably feel would be a great fit with their school.</p>
<p>I'm about 50/130, and I got in - I'm not a recruit or minority (well, International student) either (I do have strong ECs). Plus, my SATs aren't exactly Harvard material - 1390 (680M, 710V), plus 740M-B, 690Lit, and 620 Writing.</p>
<p>The only harvard acceptee at my school was the valie, but then again, maybe she was the only one who applied</p>
<p>nick04--where did you apply from?</p>
<p>"I'm about 50/130, and I got in - I'm not a recruit or minority (well, International student) either (I do have strong ECs). Plus, my SATs aren't exactly Harvard material - 1390 (680M, 710V), plus 740M-B, 690Lit, and 620 Writing."</p>
<p>nick04, I don't mean to be rude, but how did you get into Harvard with those stats? Did you do something special on your application?</p>
<p>Of course he does. "Strong ECs" is very broad, but no one with "below-average*" stats gets into Harvard unless they bring something unique to the table.</p>
<p>Anyhow, I'm ranked high in my class, but I'm definitely not #1. In addition, my school is ANYTHING BUT a Harvard-feeder. I got in.</p>
<p>*"below average" = for the Harvard pool of admits</p>
<p>Last year, the valedictorian at my school was WLed at Harvard, whereas another student was accepted through EA. This year, two students so far have been accepted; so, no, valedictorians aren't the only ones who get into Harvard.</p>
<p>I'm not the val. and was accepted while #1 and #2 at my school were rejected. Grades aren't everything...</p>
<p>The valedictorian at my school was rejected, while I was waitlisted (5/450).</p>
<p>Statistically, around 3200 valedictorians apply to Harvard (says their press release on the Class of 2009 anyway), so some are bound to be rejected anyway.</p>
<p>Alright guys, I've think we've made our point :) Let it dies....</p>
<p>Our school doesent weight grades so there are many valedictorians... especially the lazy 4.0 ppl...
Is there a special case where ranking is not so important for schools that dont weight grades?</p>