<p>^ O.O You didn’t even study for AP Chemistry?! Was the test easy?</p>
<p>No I thought it was impossible, I don’t even know how I got a 4 lol</p>
<p>You guys have a lot of motivation to take more than four APs. In my school, taking more than two makes you look crazy. Right now I’m signed up for three APs junior year, but due to restructuring at my school that might go down to two, up to four, or just stay at three.</p>
<p>^ It’s the same at my school. I’m the only one there taking more than 3 AP’s next year, including the seniors (the class of '13 is a joke).</p>
<p>At my school there are like six rising juniors taking all AP classes for their schedule (me not being one of them).</p>
<p>^ Wow, that makes me feel like I have no competition. I might transfer to a different high school though for my senior year (much better course selection unlike mine). This one would require at least 6 AP’s in a year to be Valedictorian.</p>
<p>damn, I wish I could go to your school…my school is the worst. Its pretty much impossible to be valedictorian in my school. A kid took 8 AP classes his sophomore year and I only took 2. AND he plans on taking 9 his junior year.</p>
<p>Holy crap, I feel sorry for you. </p>
<p>You guys should find this humorous, this year’s Valedictorian at my school only took 6 AP’s throughout high school. And only had a 4.8 GPA… <em>LMAO</em></p>
<p>Only a 4.8 GPA? ■■■■■</p>
<p>Hey guys.</p>
<p>I’m feeling really down and exhausted lately 
Nothing has been working out lately in all aspects of life. I have a professional problem that I can only figure out on Monday…never have I ever hated Saturday and Sunday more than now. </p>
<p>This weekend will suck. Any tips on how to distract myself? I just feel really numb.</p>
<p>@followthereaper: I know right? </p>
<p>@ecouter: I always volunteer or read. They always work for getting my mind off of things.</p>
<p>ecouter, i read your parents forum thread. that was a nice idea to seek advice from them, even if it didn’t leave you feeling any better. sometimes there is no getting around conflicted feelings, disappoint, etc. these experiences can present amazing opportunities to learn from…</p>
<p>my sense is you are running into confused problems with the education system.</p>
<p>on one hand, you have the amazing drive to do real, valuable research, contribute, use your mind, test yourself, etc. the preciousness of those things can’t be understated.</p>
<p>but then you are also expected to produce something. contribute to a paper, get a certificate from the program, an award, whatever it is. Or you are if you hope to get any credit from colleges for pursuing your interests in science outside of school. Which is of course something you would like because going to a good school is helpful for many things in your future (or so you are led to believe), and having your extra curricular science validated somehow is very helpful for your admissions.</p>
<p>the unfortunate fact is that feeding your scientific curiosity at a high level will not coincide with the things that will get you validation for your scientific inquiry. maybe it worked out better in the past, when you weren’t doing ‘real’ science. but at a higher level it is more unlikely to.</p>
<p>So it would nice to be able to pick without feeling to awful. to weigh your options and choose what’s best. of course you know biotechnologies are very complicated, and if you want to be a good scientists you must master them. you must understand how we know what we know, not just know what we know (that alone won’t get one very far…). </p>
<p>also in whatever fields you are interested in there are likely amazing papers to read, to understand, annotate, years of work done by amazing people who shaped the field. especially important is having an idea of where things are going, what software is used, how it works, etc.</p>
<p>improving your chances of admission to great schools with scientific accomplishments probably will not mean learning in the way that is optimal for a young scientist, will not be as fun, which science should be, or feel as meaningful, but scientific accomplishments/awards at the hs level have their own reward. it is probably true that your scientific career will go more smoothly at a better school.</p>
<p>what’s giving you all this trouble is your expectations are at risk of not being met. and they were so simple. you just wanted to be a good scientific researcher and get recognition for it. but you had kind of misguided expectations i think that didn’t fit with reality (that getting scientific rewards would coincide with scientific invigoration, or whatever). now you can hopefully adjust them going forward, so you don’t get so disappointed, resolve what’s going on now however you want, and feel better about your options and how things work…</p>
<p>I know it sucks…The valedictorians are getting better and better. The current no.1 ranked kid has a 5.3 GPA (took 1 AP freshman year and 7 sophomore year)… Practically impossible for anyone to catch up. The worst part is, he took 5 of those AP’s online (only took calc AB and BC in school). This is pretty unfair since the school never tells students about online classes, making him the only student doing that.</p>
<p>We don’t have valedictorians and they don’t rank us</p>
<p>Right now I’m ranked number 1, but idk how things will change. Some people are taking more APs than me next year, but I am also taking some college courses that will be weighted so it all depends in how we do in those classes.</p>
<p>@superstarlala and @fantasyvesparia</p>
<p>This is completely random, but I live in Maryland too. Montgomery County. We don’t have class ratings or a valedictorian. I wonder if it’s better this way. Do those of you that have class rankings think it makes the atmosphere more competitive?</p>
<p>@ sungoose</p>
<p>I think it ultimately matters what kind of kids attend the school you go to. At my school, we have class ranks, but also numerous valedictorians (anyone with a 4.0 or higher). The numerous valedictorian part definitely puts less emphasis on the rank, and more on the GPA itself. Furthermore, at my school, almost no one cares about their class rank. (But that is because almost no one really cares about applying to any colleges that aren’t instate or in Utah – all of which are relatively easy to get into.) I know if I attended a more competitive or larger school, there would be more than ~3 kids who cared about class rank. </p>
<p>I believe that rankings definitely drive a class to become more competitive, provided that enough people care about their rank. Whether or not it’s better can be a toss-up. If the school has 1200 people per class, one might have to become an take excessive APs to have that spot. And that shouldn’t have to happen. Percentiles would probably be a better option for very large/competitive schools. Competition is good to some degree – but it shouldn’t drive people insane.</p>
<p>@sungoose I live in Frederick County lol. We didn’t have a valedictorian either, but we do have class rank. It can get competitive for those who take it seriously. For me, I don’t really mind so it doesn’t really affect me that much.</p>
<p>The competition for Valedictorian was pretty close at my school from freshman year to sophomore year. But that’s all about to change this year.</p>
<p>Today will most likely be my last day on CC for a while. I’m going to SVSM for a month and there’s no wifi… :(</p>