<p>In my son's school, honors sections of Latin and French are not offered. However, honors Spanish is available. Therefore, kids who opt to take Latin or French have a built-in disadvantage as far as ranking is concerned. </p>
<p>However, consider those students who will lose out on the scholarships offered to only vals/sals, if they come from schools that choose vals/sals based soley on GPA. I have read on CC that University of Texas has a 10% rule. If you are in the top 10% of your high school and a Texas resident, you are an auto-admit to U of T. Think of the students who might have lost out on that deal because they were victims of the honors/nonhonors system. </p>
<p>As far as the OP is concerned, he/she did the correct thing by contacting Stanford. Many posters have said that the GC should have written the letter. Well, sometimes, over-worked GCs don't send out those letters in a timely manner. The OP was right in taking matters in his/her own hands.</p>