Hey guys I’m entering highschool as a freshman this year and I just wanted to know if y’all had any tips? I didn’t study a lot this year in 8th gade but I did rlly good, and I took some highschool credit classes, so I have a 3.83 gpa uw, and I was wondering if I still have a chance to become a valedictorian because it’s always been my dream to become one and to give a very inspirational speech at the end, so do I still have a chance? Another question… how long did you have to study freshman year compared to… let’s say 8th grade? Also, how many clubs is too much if I’m gonna take all honors classes?
Anyways thanks, and any other tips will be greatly appreciated :),
Lucca, I realize that this may be difficult, but you need to calm down. I was quite similar to you a year ago, but over freshman year I realized that it’s okay to not have everything planned down to the minute.
It’s okay to not have everything planned down to the minute.
It’s okay to not have everything planned down to the minute.
Valedictorian doesn’t really mean anything, and it’s practically unattainable without making decisions that will make you unhappy. And besides, it carries no weight in college admissions.
I was in 1 AP, 5 Honors, and 1 standard last year without a study hall. I did fine. I only stayed up past 10 once (once!) while doing homework. I was in a ton of clubs, too (I think 7 or 8 at my school, 1 at another school, and one at my climbing gym) and I still found time to climb recreationally and browse memes.
There isn’t really a set amount of time to study each night. In some freshman classes, you might not even need to study at all (looking at you, English) because the homework itself might be enough.
Don’t forget to sleep, eat healthy, make friends, and all of the other things that help you take care of yourself.
Calm down and everything will turn out fine.
My problem with this, and with asking “Do I still have a chance,” is that we CAN’T KNOW. Maybe it’ll be easy to stay #1 and you won’t be unhappy at all. Maybe you’re already not in the running. Impossible to know since it depends not just on YOU, but on every single one of your classmates, about whose lives, intelligence, and work ethic we simply do not know.
No crystal balls here. You won’t get an accurate prediction of that until, like, senior year – and even then you’d know better than random people on the internet.
Lucca, you have so many threads like this… chill, panda, chill.
Better yet, swear off of CC for a while. CC usually either makes kids super stressed or happy bc of the feeling of community. I think you definitely fall into the former category.
Visit CC when you become a HS junior. For now, just do the best you can, and be willing to take the risk of challenging classes.
Thanks I really appreciate it, it’s just that I like feeling part of this community like you said so… I’m not stressed, it’s just that I find it fun to finally be in high school and be able to discuss scores and things like that, and sometimes I’m just curious about some things so I ask questions. I agree that the threads I had created before this one were too much and maybe because I was just a little worried, but I’m not anymore so I’m gonna stay in CC but I’ll try to only post when I’m finally in high school, or till Sophomore year haha 
I did not need to study, but everyone is different. You should be fine.
I am an adult and realistically the thing you really really want to do is be in the upper 10% of your class. There are not many scholarships/whatever that need more than that. Trying to be a valedictorian usually means straight A’s plus gaming the system to avoid unweighted classes…but really you want to take some electives to explore different areas. Get the best grades you can and don’t obsess over Val/Sal.
If you want to make an inspirational speech…find other arenas to do that…Model UN? Debate? Drama?