<p>I read somewhere that Harvard admits half of the valedictorians that apply there. Can anyone verify this assertion?</p>
<p>"By standard measures of academic talent, including test scores and academic performance in school, this year's applicant pool (and admitted group) remained quite similar to last year's impressive Class of 2008. For example, once again 56 percent of the candidates scored 1400 or higher on SATs; almost 2,150 scored a perfect 800 on their SAT verbal test; more than 3,200 scored an 800 on the SAT math; and nearly 3,200 were valedictorians of their high school classes."</p>
<p>this is the closest that can be found. for other colleges' data sets, search the forums for the thread entitled "common data sets." there they have links to this kind of info for just about every other college.</p>
<p>I think it's lower than 50% unfortunately :( </p>
<p>"nearly 3,200 [applicants] were valedictorians of their high school classes"</p>
<p>"this year there were 1,047 men and 1,027 women admitted."</p>
<p>Only 2,074 applicants were admitted from the entire pool, and if 50% of the 3200 vals were accepted that would mean 78% of Harvard's total freshman class was #1 in HS. I couldnt find the val acceptance percentage but I'm sure I've seen it somewhere before. I think it's somewhere around 30%.</p>
<p>i wouldn't stress too much about val or sal standing.. i wasn't val or sal, and i was admitted.</p>
<p>of course being val or sal of your school could help you, but the point i'm trying to make is that it is far more important to pursue opportunities+take classes that YOU are interested in rather than to boost your GPA. my GPA was brought down by a class that wasn't weighted, even though i received a high grade in the class, but i took it anyway because i was interested in the subject itself and not in preserving my GPA. i think that shows more about the kind of student you are than whether you are val/sal. but that's just my opinion.. who knows what really goes on in byerly hall haha :)</p>