<p>Does one have to be val or sal to get in? I'm not either, but I'm in the top 3% of my class....</p>
<p>I know there are other factors, but how bad is it for us non-vals?</p>
<p>Thanks,
yalegirl681</p>
<p>You don't HAVE to be val or sal...</p>
<p>I am rank 6 and my brother was rank 2.</p>
<p>I was 7/300ish when I applied.</p>
<p>And no, I haven't done anything even close to spectacular.</p>
<p>A lot of it depends on the school you go to. If you are a member of Podunk High School Class of 2008, Yale will probably expect you to be the valedictorian.</p>
<p>^what does that mean?</p>
<p>My school is a bad poor public high school yet I was ranked 6 and still got in.</p>
<p>Well my school is mildly competitive.....probably one of the best publics in the state(Neb)...</p>
<p>I just hope I'm not too low for Yale (my dream school)</p>
<p>How big is your school?</p>
<p>About 2200 kids, give or take a couple....
There are 560 kids in my class</p>
<p>Val or Sal is nice but the heart of whether you'll be admitted or not will come from the rigor of your schedule and your performance therein. My competitive public HS had four IVY admits. I don't think any of us were in the top ten of school ranking! I think I was 15 or 16 -- really didn't know nor really cared. I just cranked on a very hard schedule and was duly rewarded. Like you said, there are MANY items that ultra competitive schools like Yale look at. They know there is grade inflation, rankings hounds, etc. They'll be able to discern what they need to from your transcript, GC and teacher recommendations. </p>
<p>Good luck to you</p>
<p>"Ranking hounds" is absolutely the perfect term for the kids who are at the top of my class right now. It's ridiculous. I asked our current val to join Student Council because he seemed like a great candidate but he refused because he said it would "mess up" his GPA since it's a standard class and not honors.</p>
<p>But yeah, I'm pretty much in the same boat. I take the hardest classes, I try my best, and unlike our val and sal I actually enjoy learning, yet I'm probably going to end up only in the top 15 out of 350. I'm glad that being val or sal doesn't really count for much in admissions... I'm just going to focus on what I actually like to do instead of being fixated upon my GPA.</p>
<p>our valedictorian did get in, but so did rank 4 and 5.</p>
<p>Don't worry about that. I'm #3. Lots of people aren't 1 or 2, although plenty are as well.</p>
<p>It just seems that you really only have a shot being val or sal. I mean I've seen the chances threads--if you're ranked like 17th in a class of 500, people tell you that your rank is too low. But then I hear that it's the grades in your classes that matter, not your rank. I'm not sure what to think...</p>
<p>I don't think that's really fair to judge apps by seeing if you're val or sal. My class is so full of "rank-mongerers" who pile AP class after AP class on their schedule just to boost their GPA. I, on the other hand, make sacrifices and take the classes I actually enjoy.</p>
<p>"* make sacrifices and take the classes I actually enjoy"</p>
<p>That sounds a little ironic now doesn't it? haha.</p>
<p>Haha well I meant sacrifices GPA-wise...I have a few standard electives when I could just take honors or AP.</p>
<p>I see that most think a rigorous schedule > a high class rank. My question would be that is it necessarily detrimental if my schedule is not as rigorous as possible when compared to the rest of my classmates? How would one define rigorous? What if I haven't taken any real science classes and am a rising senior?</p>
<p>Well you're pretty much screwed if you want to go to Yale or a similarly competitive school. Most top colleges require two to three years of lab science.</p>
<p>Senior middle school student?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Well you're pretty much screwed if you want to go to Yale or a similarly competitive school. Most top colleges require two to three years of lab science.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Uh, where does it say that?</p>