<p>I go to a pretty small catholic school and it's still pretty competitive for valedictorian. Anyways, a friend (schoolmate) told me that at public school it is so competitive for valedictorian that people take AP classes over the summer secretly without telling anyone and then just burst out ahead of everyone. I was thinking of doing the same, but I realized the AP tests are only offered in May and my school only gives GPA boost if you take the AP test. I think it's still possible to take some over the summer then take the test in May and still do okay if your review and stuff right? Also does anyone know of super competitiveness for valedictorian like that because I'd like to hear more about it.</p>
<p>Why do you care about this?</p>
<p>My school wasn’t competitive at all and you had to have all A’s and at least twelve APs between junior and senior year for valedictorian. If your school is like this or even more competitive I don’t really see how one or two APs would make a difference if people are already taking something in the neighborhood of 14-15 AP courses and you’re already behind them in the GPA race.</p>
<p>The answer to your question though is yes it is doable and you could easily get a five with 2-4 weeks of review time.</p>
<p>Your time can be better spent doing things other than cramming APs for the sake of a title that people really won’t care about (you may not believe this, but they won’t), and you will be much happier if you stop regarding friends as competitors.</p>
<p>I think valedictorian is a waste a time since ( correct if i’m wrong), but you’re not chosen as valedictorian until the spring of your senior year? By that time you’ve already applied to college. If you want to do it for honor and satisfaction fine, but don’t stress too much about it.</p>
<p>My school doesn’t even do valedictorian/salutation/ranking, and I go to a very competitive, small college prep school…</p>
<p>Oh we are all really competitive friends, it’s friendly, good competition and obviously I care because If i had a chance to be valedictorian, why would I not go for it? </p>
<p>I go to a public school with about 3600 students and I’d say that it’s pretty competitive. A lot of people try to pack their schedules with as many weighted classes as possible and take classes over the summer to get ahead. For example some sophomores that I know took Spanish 2 over the summer so they could be in SL Spanish, a weighted class, this year. And others did extra training over the summer so they could take AP Calc AB instead of Acc.Pre-Calc this year. I don’t think they are doing it necessarily to become valedictorian, they just want as high of a class rank as they can possibly get.</p>
<p>Sneaking around taking classes secretly to get ahead of your “friends” doesn’t sound all that friendly to me. Evidently your relationships are different. You going to lie to them when they ask what you’re doing this summer?</p>
<p>As I said above, I think your time would be better spent on other things than cramming APs in order to try to win this title.</p>
<p>I am pretty much out of the race for these titles, and I am really glad that I am. Not killing myself over getting straight
A’s took a huge weight off of my shoulder. It allows me to want to take an elective that caters to my interest. I still have 4.0+ weighted, but I look forward to going to school every day because I have classes that I know will challenge me but still allow me to improve upon myself outside of the classroom. Just don’t stress it though. If you think you can handle all of those classes and tests go for it, but make sure your mind and body can handle the rigors.</p>
<p>My public school was very large (2100+) students, but it was never really competitive for those titles. The valedictiorian would usually lead the other students by a far margin because he/she would be academically gifted. The salutatorian was usually a hard worker but also someone highly involved in the school.</p>
<p>Our school didn’t let people take summer courses unless you failed a course. And in hindsight, I am glad they did. You should spend your summer doing other things than just studying and people shouldn’t feel the need to take extra courses over the summer just to “get ahead” of their peers in terms of colleges.</p>
<p>In the end, weighted GPA does not matter as much as how well you do in those courses as most colleges look at unweighted GPA in terms of admissions anyway. Cramming a few more APs in makes very little difference in the long run. In my senior year and summer preceding it, I was glad I had the free time to explore some of my other interests: novelwriting, internships, volunteering, extracurriculars, and simply spending time with friends. In my opinion, these things were more valuable to me than a few more points added to my GPA.</p>
<p>Life is more than about some short-term competition. Do things that make you happy, but most importantly allow yourself to grow.</p>
<p>I go to a school with roughly 1600 students (400 per class). We don’t have rankings, but sadly, it’s competitive–only between the top 5 students-ish, though. Like… I literally have friends that lie to me how so and so class is hard, even though they’ve never taken it. They say their “friends” say so, but haha, they’re horrible liars. To be honest, I hate my school :/… I’ve been really thinking about transferring, but I’ve gotten to know so many great teachers and TRUE friends that I can’t leave (there’s actually many more reasons for wanting to transfer). In the end, I feel better because I’m doing what I truly love, and not to sound mean or anything, but the other 4 kids around me are…I can’t find a word… Anyway, OP… Just chill :)!. Do what YOU want to do, whether it be taking a random astronomy class or going to khanacademy and whatnot :D!</p>
<p>I never said I wasn’t going to tell my friends. And some of the people I’m in competition with have hated me since day one of school for some reason. So don’t put words in my mouth that I never said. Thank you.</p>
<p>Probable future salutatorian and I are civil/act like we’re friends, but I’m pretty sure she hates me for being val. The same could be said for a few other top students. My school isn’t even cutthroat at all-- it’s just the few of us at the top who harbor passive-aggressive jealousies toward one another.</p>
<p>Sorry, but you were the one who mentioned taking AP classes over the summer “secretly without telling anyone” and asked “to hear more about” this sort of thing. </p>
<p>My school didn’t name a valedictorian. We didn’t have weighted grades. I’m not actually sure if there were official class ranks. I just knew that I was the only IB diploma student with a 4.0 and I had the highest ACT score in my grade. Good enough for me. I don’t think that level of cut-throat competition does anyone any good. Seriously, as soon as you graduate and go to college, no one is going to give a crap if you were valedictorian. No one.</p>
<p>My school doesn’t rank until senior year, but there’s usually one person in every grade that’s DEFINITELY going to be val and everyone else competes for sal/top 4. I go to a pretty crappy public school where everyone is generally mediocre, but once you get into the top 10, everything starts becoming chaotic.</p>
<p>I go to a pretty small school. Class sizes generally range from 90 to 150 (it’s a small Magnet School for technology) I like it because people generally know everyone in the class. You’d think that it wouldn’t be /too/ competitive, but at the end of each year at a school award ceremony, top ten students of each class get awarded a plaque, and their names are called in descending order of rank. Makes those people self-aware of where they stand in comparison to the other people in the class (I’m fifth, but one student is graduating a year early). For valedictorian, it’s usually a struggle primarily by the top two or three students. I know a few people in the top ten that don’t seem like they could care any less. I’m personally trying for Salutatorian.</p>
<p>My school is a small private. I am val and it’s not super competitive but I don’t know what standards to judge by.</p>
<p>Don’t listen to the people whining about how you don’t need to be VAL. Personally, I’ve enjoyed competing for it because I’m a competitive person. I find fulfillment in struggling to accomplish something and coming out on top. The others who are discouraging you are people who failed to become VAL and want to tell you that you can’t do it either.</p>
<p>Remember that quote from The Pursuit of Happyness - “Sometimes people wanna tell you you can’t do something because they couldn’t do it themselves”</p>
<p>Don’t listen to the haters. I wouldn’t necessarily take summer classes because that’s just a waste of your time but hit up those easy weighted classes and take online classes if you can. That should solidify you and honestly if you can just finish VAL or SAL you should be pretty happy. Currently in my senior year VAL and if the SAL catches up and beats me, she deserves it. That’s how it is. </p>
<p>Don’t stress too hard but keep your eyes on the prize. Stay young stay foolish. The people here are just mad they weren’t smarted enough or dedicated enough to get val. DM me if you want to know real VAL strategies.</p>
<p>Eh, it’s most likely true that many people on here are disappointed that they aren’t ranked #1, but for me, I just genuinely don’t care too much about worshiping AP classes in order to secure my spot as #1. I’m not competitive at all and my choice to take challenging yet fun classes that will engage me reflects this. My GPA is good; don’t get me wrong, but I’m not stressing about how it won’t be a 6.0. Being valedictorian is not for everyone and in my opinion, it really isn’t the end of the world if you don’t obtain that honor. Obviously, if it’s a priority for you, you should strive to attain it in any way you can. I know that I and many others aren’t willing to make the sacrifices (ie taking boring AP classes that don’t interest me just for the credit) to do this.</p>