<p>Yes, do the research, some colleges choose a val from the top performers based on leadership, character and charitable involvement, rather than purely GPA.</p>
<p>It’s admirable that you want to motivate yourself to excel, what the other posters are trying to say (I think) is that you are still thinking in a high school mindset. Most colleges and universities would never be able to choose just one student as “the best” because no two students will have taken courseloads that are completely comparable.</p>
<p>A more realistic goal would be for you to strive to receive your major department’s prize for the best student at graduation. Most schools and departments do this. The prize is often awarded based upon a combination of departmental gpa/professors’ nominations, and the quality of a senior honors thesis/capstone project. etc.</p>
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<p>I know someone who took 22 credits a semester, never studied in advance (always crammed for the exam a day before) and currently has a 4.0 with 82 credits. (This is at UVA.)</p>
<p>even an A- or a B here and there will stop you from having the highest GPA. I’m just shooting to get mine up the highest it will go, right now it’s 3.82, but i’m not trying to compete with the other 3,000 students in my class for the exact 4.0. Honestly GPA doesnt mean much once it’s above a certain point, say 3.5. It’s all about balance and having the time of your life while doing good. Do you think a job/grad school is gunna want the 4.0 UG with nothing else to show for?not at all.</p>
<p>Wait, aren’t like the average undergrad GPAs for good med schools and law schools like 3.8? And that’s the average, so you’ll need a 3.95 to stand out.</p>
<p>Trying to be “valedictorian” of college isn’t worth it.</p>
<p>If you’re at West Point you want to be the valedictorian. Then you get first choice of your assignment. Of course at WP, GPA is only part of the equation for choosing the valedictorian. If you’re valedictorian there, you can choose an assignment in some place like Germany, Hawaii, or Japan. While the people in the middle of the class are probably going to Iraq, and the people at the bottom to Afghanistan.</p>
<p>dont let these negative posts dissuade, but make sure you know what you are getting yourself into. i had that same goal freshman year (i even remember telling my friend at orientiation that i’m going to be valedictorean). well i just graduated this year and i came pretty darn close. much closer than I would have had i probably not set that goal for myself. and reagardless of not being val i’m still pretty proud on how i finished. </p>
<p>but a lot of what these people are saying is true. i had to take a few easy classes, but i certianly didn’t coast through college since my major is pretty rigorous. since i had a hard major, i had to make sure i got A’s in all my electives. </p>
<p>however, i don’t think you have to sacrifice extracurriclurs or a job though. i worked throughout college, and never studied friday night or saturday night. (although weeknights i rarely went out). its all about time management. start studying early and don’t save anything for the last minute. </p>
<p>and i wouldn’t even say i came into my college in the top percentile. my SAT scores were just slightly below my college medians, but i ended up in the top 2-3% of my class. if you really want it, you can defintely do it.</p>
<p>also be aware that you cannot aim for A-s since a 3.7 would be way too low, and the amount of work between an A- and A can be vastly different. for an A- you can usually not understand everything perfectly but still manage to pull get a decent grade. to get a 95+ on an exam you really have to know EVERTHING that was taught that semester and cannot make one careless mistake on an exam. most of my exams i would work though twice (or until time ran out) because i knew that even if i felt confident i knew the material, just getting one or two extra questions wrong could pull me down to an A-. so just be prepared. you can’t aim for knowing 90% of the material if you want an A in every class.</p>
<p>Many schools give 4.0 for A- though.</p>
<p>its still the same story, then OP must aim for 4.33 or A+</p>
<p>No, at quite a few schools there’s no - or + system, D is 1, C is 2, B is 3, A is 4.</p>
<p>“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”</p>
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<p>The difference between a 3.8 and a 3.95 is negligible, at best. Obviously one is higher than the other, but they are both [more than] sufficient for whatever you are trying to do after college.</p>