do valedictorians really fizzle out after high school & wind up in more lowly jobs

Parent Cafe
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<p>My H was val until the last marking period, when he missed a chem quiz because of a band thing, and the chem teacher wouldn’t let him make it up–but the new val acknowledged H really had been, so I’ll go with H anyway (LOL). Went to med school while helping raise two kids, was a pediatrician in a pretty well known national program of mobile health units, was featured on television several times, won some big awards, and then chucked it all to be a teacher. I’d call him a big success (but then I’m biased).</p>

<p>The val of my class went to Yale, don’t know much more about how he did.</p>

<p>The val of my D’s class (2000) went to a decent engineering school and makes a good six figure salary now. The val of my S’s class is about to graduate in the top ten of West Point.</p>

<p>No fizzling here.</p>

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<p>The valedictorian of my HS class is now married to the richest man in the world! :)</p>

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<p>^And from all I’ve read about her, a pretty cool and smart person in her own right!</p>

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<p>I was valedictorian 30 years ago. Graduated magna cum laude from college and went to law school where I met my husband. Passed that pesky bar exam and have gone on to have a mostly happy life and striving to balance family and work. D was valediction of her class in 2006; she is a second-year college student majoring in economics/journalism (emphasis advertising). Makes the Dean’s List every semester and is a happy kid.</p>

<p>Being “successful” after being named valedictorian, or not being named valedictorian, is largely a crap shoot. Some of it is effort, some of it is luck, a lot of it seems to be to be what twists and turns you take along your path - influenced by your character and personality.</p>

<p>I also think that some people discover what makes them happy (or what career path stimulates them the most) easier than others. Some people take longer to get there. Some, unfortunately, never reach that destination.</p>

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<p>Gosh I hope not! My son was val and so far is doing well and seems motivated, but only time will tell!</p>

<p>One of the other vals at his school has burned out though </p>

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<p>This seems to be true in her case. Her parents rode her like crazy to succeed in everything. She went off last fall and got off track somehow. Now she has decided not to return to school for the spring. I think she is going to go to the local college and transfer to a state school next fall. From what I understand, her grades were good, she was just very unhappy, don’t know if it was fallout from leaving home or what. It’s just really sad, she’s a great kid…</p>

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<p>Well, I’m a bit biased on this because it looks as if my D1 will finish with the highest gpa in her unranked class. It’s a small school and everyone knows everyone’s gpa near the top. </p>

<p>I honestly can’t recall the name of the val in my graduating class. As I recall, he wasn’t considered particularly smart. My H says the val in his class dropped out of state U and went to work somewhere in Kentucky in mining. </p>

<p>I really think becoming a val today is a different achievement than a generation ago, at least in many schools that are highly competitive. I find the research indicating that vals are not risk takers very interesting. Today the top students must be risk takers! They must take as aggressive as possible a set of classes just because of grade weighting. Beyond that, I think for many of the most challenging AP and IB courses, it’s just impossible to pull through with an A without taking some intellectual risks. So I would think there is a strong cohort effect on val outcomes.</p>

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<p>I wrote,

</p>

<p>And Garland replied,

</p>

<p>Absolutely! She would have achieved greatness no matter whom she had married.</p>

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<p>^^ so brilliantly jaw-dropping who can post after it?</p>

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<p>My daughter’s high school val was accepted to HP, decided to go to Harvard. She came down with a mysterious illness after her college decision. She was so tired that barely made it to the graduation. She was examined by all kind of doctors with no diagnosis. A week before Harvard started, she decided to defer her enrollment. We think it may just be exhaustion, and we hope by now she is well enough to start next fall.</p>

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<p>“The valedictorian of my HS class is now married to the richest man in the world!”</p>

<p>Really, she married Slim Carlos?</p>

<p>[Carlos</a> Slim, the richest man in the world - Aug. 6, 2007](<a href=“http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/03/news/international/carlosslim.fortune/index.htm]Carlos”>Carlos Slim, the richest man in the world - Aug. 6, 2007)</p>

<p>I think you meant the second richest man in the world…but who’s counting. Any more than a billion just becomes such a chore to manage.</p>

<p>Let’s not forget that Bill dropped out of Harvard, as did Mark Zuckerman, the guy who started Facebook and was featured on 60 Minutes last night. I’m beginning to see an inverse correlation between entrepreneurial behavior and finishing up academic coursework. Don’t know if Bill or Mark were vals, but somehow I doubt it.</p>

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<p>Sorry, I meant Carlos Slim. ( I just call him Slim when we shoot pool).</p>

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<p>Although not the Val (I forget who that was) at my HS, the one who has had the most financial success missed this year’s Forbes 400 list. A lousy billion isn’t what it used to be.</p>

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<p>“I’m beginning to see an inverse correlation between entrepreneurial behavior and finishing up academic coursework.”</p>

<p>Yes, I’m sure there is. Entrepreneurs want to do things their way, and are risk takers, consequently less likely to go to and finish college than, for instance, people headed for careers that depend less on their own initiative.</p>

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<p>It depends on what sort of HS you were Val of. Being top dog at a small rural HS may indicate supersmarts, or it might just indicate harder work & slightly more brains than the other pups. To stretch a metaphor.</p>

<p>And what the Val does after that depends on a lot of things–ambition, opportunity, luck, and of course, brains & hard work.</p>

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<p>I recently mentioned in conversation that Carlos Slim is now the richest man in the world and was told that Bill Gates is back on top…So who knows? (I don’t) :)</p>

<p>From the article:</p>

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<p>What’s a mere billion? Or maybe the value of Slim’s public holdings has gone down since then.</p>

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<p>HAHA!</p>

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<p>The majority of vals are risk takers who embrace challenge and seize opportunity. The few who get there by playing it safe (this sometimes happens in schools that go by UW GPA) may account for the small population of vals who don’t ‘make it’, if they carry that trait with them after high school.</p>

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<p>There’s a guy in India, Mukesh Ambani, who last fall was placed above Gates & Slim. Guess it all depends on whose stocks surge at any given time.</p>

<p>Anyway, not the point of this thread. Do we need a new thread for marrying into money? :D</p>

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<p>It depends on the person (a few more data points):</p>

<p>My generation:</p>

<p>Large public high school in LA suburbs. #1 in her class at Yale and Yale Law School. Supreme Court clerk. Fabulous career in law, government, and third-world development until she contracted a serious illness that disabled her for five years. Now in-house counsel to a hedge fund.</p>

<p>Small private in New England. Yale summa, Harvard MD. Well-known public health researcher and in administration at a famous hospital.</p>

<p>Small private in upstate NY. MIT, Brown PhD. Reasonably successful computer engineer, many publications, long career at Bell Labs until recently.</p>

<p>Small private in upstate NY. Harvard summa, PhD in history, then went to law school. Law professor at a third-tier law school.</p>

<p>Small private in upstate NY. Yale summa, Stanford JD, Supreme Court clerk. Reasonably successful, but undistinguished legal career.</p>

<p>Small private in upstate NY. Dartmouth. Lifelong struggle with alchoholism, scrapes by in sales jobs.</p>

<p>Small private in upstate NY. Dartmouth, Harvard MBA. SOM in Silicon Valley.</p>

<p>Different, less competitive small private in upstate NY. Did well at Swarthmore. In and out of grad programs for many years, ultimately ordained as a rabbi without an advanced degree. Variety of rabbinical jobs, most part-time, some publications. Now in law school at age 50.</p>

<p>Large urban public magnet. Harvard magna, Princeton PhD. English department chair at second-tier midwestern state university.</p>

<p>Small rural midwestern public. Duke summa, MD from state u. Professor and Associate Dean at a public university medical school.</p>

<p>Small rural southwestern public. Haverford, Penn Law. Successful lawyer specializing in disability claims, past president of national association in his field.</p>

<p>Large urban southwestern public. Harvard, Stanford JD. Ex-judge, successful litigation practice in city near where he grew up.</p>

<p>I think Larry Summers was the valedictorian at his large suburban public high school, but I’m not sure. I’ll leave it to others to decide whether he fizzled out, but on the whole I think he belongs in the “successful” category.</p>

<p>My kids generation:</p>

<p>Large suburban public in western PA. Harvard. Freelance journalist, now star investigative reporter for small weekly. Looking to jump to the big time.</p>

<p>Small urban private. Harvard. Having reasonable success in arts journalism (not a lucrative field) as a freelancer and editor at a well-known publication.</p>

<p>Large urban public magnet. Harvard pre-med. Keeping head down, somewhat distracted by stuff in personal life.</p>

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<p>I would ask myself: if you reached your peak in High School, then what’s to look for in college?Valedictorian is just a title earned by the good students who worked hard, but the B student should not underestimate him or herself, for he or she might thrive in college, when the valedictorian may burn out.</p>

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<p>My girlfriend was valedictorian at her high school…she’s now on a full ride at Maryland (we first met at scholarship interviews our senior year of high school lol), and has gotten a 4.0 two out of three semesters (3.8 the other semester–pesky Orgo II lab…she then went on to TA that lab the next semester). She was a chemical engineering major, but now she’s a BioChem major with a Spanish Minor. She also had this snazzy lab internship with NIH last summer. Wants her PhD. </p>

<p>Long story short, she didn’t fizzle.</p>

<p>I joke sometimes that she makes me feel inferior. I was top 5% in my class (of 450 boys, her class was more like 950), started out in engineering, and went on probation for my full-ride after 1 semester (3.176 < required 3.2). I’ve been back on on track since though. I’m also an now English major looking to pursue a masters secondary education…and I might pick up a Religious Studies and Spanish minor on the way.</p>