<p>Is it better to:</p>
<p>a)be valedictorian and have an acceptable amount of EC's</p>
<p>b)be salutatorian and have a lot more EC's</p>
<p>(this is assuming that both have 4.0 GPAs and high SAT scores etc...)</p>
<p>In other words, does being valedictorian have an impressive impact on a college application?</p>
<p>B, be a salutatorian and have in-depth involvement in (not necessarily more) ECs.</p>
<p>Colleges want people who will bring something to the table. Considering everyone at the top schools will be smart, you’d need more than a valedictorian title to stand out. It definitely helps to be at the top of your class, but there’s more to it than that.</p>
<p>Plus, val and sal distinction happen at graduation – way past the time colleges are considering applicants.</p>
<p>But rankings are available to colleges before graduation.</p>
<p>So what advantages does a valedictorian have over a salutatorian? There has to be some hook…</p>
<p>The advantage is really minimal, and a difference as insignificant as that will never make or break you. If the valedictorian has a 3.99 GPA, and a salutatorian has a 3.98, would colleges really hold that over the salutatorian? I don’t think so.</p>
<p>According to some people, colleges will offer “full rides” in some instances of being a valedictorian. Is this true for salutatorians as well? Or does a full ride not relate to class rank?</p>
<p>I guess it would depend on the college, but I do know of many colleges offering full rides to non-valedictorians.</p>
<p>I don’t know of ANY colleges offering a full ride JUST because the student is a valedictorian. But then…I don’t deny there might be … one/some/a few? If so, rest assured it will probably NOT be the type college that a valedictorian would consider as a first choice school. Many schools have some minimal “goodies”. Our state Uni offers $1000 a year or something. And elite schools have all the valedictorians they can handle, if they want them. So no inducement is necessary.</p>
<p>Maybe there is an “advantage/hook” within your high school to be one versus the other. Maybe you get to wear a cord and be congratulated at the diploma ceremony. Maybe you get to make the speech. Maybe your school will select the valedictorian when they choose a student to recommend for scholarships that require recommendations. </p>
<p>But I think salutatorian and valedictorian = same thing in the eyes of most colleges. They KNOW that, but for some tiny blip in their entire 4 year high school career…the top 1-2% of kids could ALL have been valedictorian. At most (larger?) schools…the differences are nearly incalculable, some are even tied. Some schools offer valedictorian status to 1, 2, 3, 10-20 (yup!) kids. Because they know that one might have had a harder grading English teacher in 11th grade, another had to take a final with the flu, a third chose to be involved in elective/non-weighted courses, another brought their grades in with them when they transferred in as a senior from an easier grading school…etc. </p>
<p>Now a valedictorian will normally ALSO be one who excels in many other ways. So that person might well get a full ride offer many places (example…national merit finalists have a lot of choices for full rides…and a valedictorian will often have that accomplishment). And they’re typically “school leaders” with a lot to offer most colleges. </p>
<p>So my answer is C.) None of the above.
Do your best.
Congrats on whatever success you achieve.
Be actively involved in ECs about which you’re passionate.</p>
<p>Last year our high school gave 11 people valedictorian(class of 369), and all 11 had a 4.0. About half of these people took ridiculously easy classes just for the 4.0(obviously not deserving of the award) but they received it anyways. Maybe one or two of them deserved the title, as they took the hardest classes offered.</p>
<p>tl;dr - Valedictorian means nothing at some schools.</p>
<p>This is interesting, but there are so many ways to bypass certain classes in order to achieve the grade that it becomes virtually impossible to grant the title to only one person… but at my school, only one person is honored with the title so that why I was concerned and asked the “which one is better” question</p>
<p>So I’m guessing that this is why “b” would be a better choice (the valedictorian title has been demeaned)</p>