<p>I'm a junior, rank 5 in my class right now and I'm aiming for val/sal next year in a fairly competitive and moderately large public school. I'm pretty involved in school, can probably get 2 presidential positions in 2 large organizations, have placed in a few competitions of my interest, and I can probably rise one or two ranks given that I get straight As semester 2.</p>
<p>I know it won't be of any help to colleges but being val/sal is one of the titles I've longed for for my entire life.</p>
<p>I feel as if there are barely any opportunities to get to know school admin, as there are 2~3k students at my school. What are the qualities your administration looks at in your school? Any suggestions to make myself more known?</p>
<p>My school just does Val/Sal by Class rankings… which a lot of students are starting to protest because there are some underhanded tricks some people use to raise their GPAs.</p>
<p>What kind of tricks?</p>
<p>If you want to be a Val, you should transfer to my daughter’s high school, they will probably have a 100 or so this year.</p>
<p>You are in a similar position as I (though, I’m ranked fourth but don’t care about val/sal). It’s probably not going to happen unless you ‘game the system’ as well. Even then, it’s unlikely unless 3 of the people get Bs-- which probably won’t happen.</p>
<p>At my school, the ‘trick’ is to take your electives/non-honor classes pass/fail, so that your weighted GPA gets inflated. There are people who have taken a less rigorous course-load than me but still are ranked ahead of because of this.</p>
<p>Our school does VAL/SAL by class rank/Weighted GPA… Tricks to improve W GPA include: taking summer gym, not taking electives, taking courses you find difficult over the summer at a CC or online so you get the credit without having the potential to get a “B” during the normal school year, and taking only the min amount of credits, all AP courses.</p>
<p>That’s what I’ve been doing. 6 AP’s this year and all As. I worked my ASS off. I don’t think I have ever worked that hard. </p>
<p>Lucky you guys. While Weighted GPA/ class rank are super crucial, other things are taken into account as well (excs)</p>
<p>How does taking summer gym increase your GPA? jesskidding, wow!! It’s amazing how you’re taking 6 AP’s in one year!!! Which ones are you taking?</p>
<p>calc bc, spanish 4, history, bio, compsci, composition</p>
<p>Going from 5 to 2/1 is not a long shot. As long as your competition doesn’t get perfect grades, it should be possible. Good luck!</p>
<p>Our school does Val/Sal by GPA. I was number 5 at the start of junior year, number 4 by the middle of junior year, number 3 by the end of junior year. After this semester, I raised up to number 2 just after the first semester and now I’m Sal. Your administrators pick the Val/Sal? I’ve never heard of a school doing that before. I only tried my best to get the highest grades because our school uses the weighted gpa in determining class rank. We get an extra GPA point for AP classes and a half point for honors classes. I took mostly APs junior and senior year and got A+‘s for all of them, which raised my GPA immensely. It’s not impossible to rise from 5 to 2/1 because I did it too! :’) Just work hard.</p>
<p>at my school the val/sals literally have near perfect gpas. the only way to get ahead is taking more aps than they do.</p>
<p>Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss! This gives me so much hope; you have no idea. Thank you all 
Now for Straight A’s round 2.</p>