Hi All,
I recently found out I will be the salutatorian for my class. Does anyone with prior experience know if colleges find this out from our high schools or not? I don’t want to send the admissions office a generic email telling them if they already know. Thanks for the help.
Did you have a class rank when you submitted your application, or does your school only publicly rank the valedictorian and salutatorian?
I would notify them. It is not something GC would automatically notify adcoms. It is a pretty big deal to be a Val or Sal. This is also a good reason to reach out to adcoms again.
@halcyonheather @oldfort Thanks for the responses. My school does not do class rankings because it is one of the most competitive schools in the state and they feel it would hurt the students to report rankings. I am hesitant to email the schools I’m applying to, however, because I was informally told by my counsellor and nothing has been announced nor will be for a couple months. I’m worried the colleges will reach out to confirm it with my school, only to find out they haven’t announced Sal and Val yet.
Surely the counselor noted in your rec that you were at the very top of top the percentile for your school. It will be apparent from your grades that you are a very strong student. There is no reason for a college admissions officer to doubt the info, because no doubt there will be soemthing in your transcript to support it. I would just tell them. If you have been told in confidence by a person in authority, surely your couselor knows and can verify if ever asked. After all, it’s too easy to verify, so what student is going to lie about it?
I don’t think it’s common for Val and Sal to be decided or announced before college admissions decisions are made. One of my kids was salutatorian. It was decided and announced in early May. We did not notify colleges. I’d say if you want colleges to know, have your counselor notify them rather than doing it yourself before it’s been announced officially.
Yes, that’s a point too. Perhaps have the counselor email. At our school, the Val and Sal get their photo in the yearbook and are notified at around this time for that reason.
@Lindagaf @Parentof2014grad Thank you both. I’ve emailed my counselor asking if he would tell the school or if they usually don’t notify colleges. Even if colleges see from my grades that I’m doing well, I think that letting places like Harvard/Stanford know could give me an extra edge needed to get in.
Well, I wouldnt say it will give you an edge,but it might give you the edge of an edge.
There are many Vals and Sals in the country, something like 30,000 a year. They can’t all get in. but it certainly doesn’t hurt either. Good luck!
I agree it would be best to have your GC notify the adcoms.