<p>My son is also giving up being val. his senior year for a year of study abroad. He still gets to keep his rank of no. 1 however. I think he will be sharing that rank with a few other students. He also will not be getting credit for his classes in Germany and this was his choice because he has a 4.0 and he knows the classes in Germany would bring that gpa down. So--he took a few summer school classes to get all of his core classes out of the way and the counselor set up a special program so that he gets 3.5 elective credits each semester for participating in the foreign exchange program, as long as he is passing his classes in Germany. I don't think he actually gets a grade--maybe pass/fail. But, several college counselors have said this will actually look better than AP classes anyway.</p>