<p>I go to a public boarding school in Alabama. and my school does not rank students or have valedictorians. I just finished my sophomore year there and I have a 4.0 GPA unweighted but most of the classes are honors classes (like 21 out of 28 of my classes this year were honors). I’m an inducted member of the Key club and I’m a member of DECA club. I was an Athletic Manager for the Cross Country team, but I was unable to participate in sports due to an injury from dancing a year ago. I’m hoping to be on the soccer team my senior year. I’m in 4 bands and started my own String ensemble and I’m also in art. So I was wondering how much would not being ranked hurt and also how much would not be in sports for 3 out of 4 years hurt my chances?</p>
<p>The academy will know/find out. Quite a number of schools do this. Don’t worry about it.</p>
<p>Your school may not rank publicly, but somewhere in the GC dept, they know the rank, otherwise how do they determine the Valedictorian? </p>
<p>In your packet that you submit, the GC will be required to submit your transcripts and a school profile. Don’t worry about the rank, just make sure you are taking the most rigorous course load that is available to you. For example, 4.0 uw with only honors can hurt you if you had the ability to take AP over honors. </p>
<p>How in God’s green earth did you take 28 classes, do you mean 28 credits?</p>
<p>Please take no offense to this statement, but it seems you enjoy the liberal arts, and the AFA is still the Little Engineering School in the Rockies, so I find it unique that the AFA appeals to you. </p>
<p>I think too many candidates live in the fallacy that the AFA is like a traditional college just with required clothing and do not understand that regardless of your major, you will be mandated to take A LOT of Math and Science courses. This is the time to take a long hard look at what you want, and why.</p>
<p>First, my school doesn’t have valedictorians! They literally in no way rank the students. Its a public school but you have to apply and be accepted to go to school there. It is a boarding school. second of all our school has 3 semesters a year and a mandatory class load of 5 per term plus 1 P.E. every year. I took alot more than the mandatory. Also, I love Math and Science, the school I’m at is called AL school of Math and Science. they have a program where if you take 3 classes over the required amount you get a concentration and 6 you get a distinction. and I’m getting distinctions in both Math and Chemistry. The past year I took a Junior Chemistry class (by teachers approval) so this year (my junior year) I will be taking AP Chem, Organic CHem, and AP Physics B! the arts programs are mostly after school and since my middle school was an arts school I have quite a few interest and I love the opportunities. If I get into AFA I want my major either to be in CHem or Math!</p>
<p>Don’t worry about not being ranked. Many, many high schools don’t rank any longer. Our son attended a large public high school in Virginia which does not rank, does not compute rank, and does not (and will not) provide an estimation of rank. (Valedictorians are determined based solely on GPA–if the GPA is 4.0 or higher, you’re a valedictorian, even if this results in dozens of them as was the case this year.) We posed the rank question to West Point and the response was that they will compute a rank based on the candidate’s standardized test scores (i.e., SAT and/or ACT). For example, if your SAT/ACT score places you in the upper one percent, the rank used for your application will be upper one percent of your high school class, no matter your GPA.</p>
<p>Have to ask…dozens of valedictorians? Sorry, but as a parent I am now wondering if this PC gone too far! The definition for valedictorian is: Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution…notice the word student not students.</p>
<p>I do understand the theory that if you are the 99% on your SAT, than logically you should be that in school. HOWEVER, there are poor test takers AND students that are for no better terms lazy. I love our son, he took every AP class offered, but honestly, his SAT placed him in the top 2%, his gpa, even weighted put him at 7%. He was smart enough to know what he needed to pull out that A, in other words he was the smart lazy student, even though he graduated magna cum laude. If the school did not rank or weight, he would have been better off. Our DD on the other hand graduated top 2% with an IB/AICE degree, summa cum laude, but was a poor test taker. She scored in the top 85%, she’d be boffed.</p>
<p>And yes, we are in Virginia.</p>
<p>Back on topic, brookhaus is correct the AFA will re-weight to their protocol. Even if you have a gpa that is assigned to you by the school does not mean that for admission purposes the AFA will not re-weight them. DS’s gpa on his online went up considerably because their system was different in scoring then the hs. They are very diligent in this process, as I stated before they will look at your school profile and curriculum offered and then compare it to yours. In this profile submitted by the gc, it will also state how many kids go IVY, 4 yr Public/Private, OOS/iS, 2 yr, trade, and no post education. If your school states that 95% go 4 yr, and 50% go IVY, the school is going to be seen as academically challenging. </p>
<p>I know this for a fact because our gc explained to us what she was required to report to the AFA and why they were asking for this info. In other words they wanted to make sure you pushed yourself as hard as you could and even if you were ranked the top 15%, there may be a reason why to overlook the rank…i.e. 50% of the class goes IVY. COnversely, top 15% and only 60% go to 4 yr., with one or two going IVY than this will hurt.</p>
<p>My school had multiple valedictorians as well because there was no weighting of GPAs</p>
<p>I never meant to imply that I didn’t believe there were schools with multiple valedictorians, I just personally feel that this is Goals 2000 overboard. It reminds me of how Fairfax county back in 04 wanted teachers to only grade in purple because red was seen as a negative color and was creating anxiety for the kids…C’mon, purple or red a big old F on your paper is still going to feel like a big old F. Also in the end now kids will being feeling the same about 2 colors, purple and red.</p>
<p>I think schools should weight and rank. This is life and it is much better to get them accustomed to the harsh realities when the folks are still there to prop them back up then to defer it until they are at college. Also, having these recognitions allow kids to strive for something very unique. Yes, they may not get it, but at least they find out that they have the inner strength to fight for their goals.</p>
<p>Back on topic, I would also assume that ranking is not that big of an issue because they also accept home schooled students, and to me that is probably more difficult to score than a student who comes from a non-ranking school.</p>
<p>You name and I bet the AFA has somewhere on file how to score the special circumstance.</p>