<p>Vals and sals in high school are determined by their weighted GPAs. These students have usually taken an obscene amount of APs, rather than honors classes, and have most likely gotten A+s in all of them, thus improving their ranking among fellow classmates.
Do colleges apply a similar ranking system? I am striving (hopefully) to be at the top of my class and make that 4.0, but are rankings determined by level of course difficulty or credits? For example, would getting an A in a 401 class be any different than getting an A in a 101 class if BOTH are worth 3 credits? Is the 401 weighted more?
Please answer, this is really important to me because I wasn’t aware of the whole “weighted ranking” thing in hs and ended up taking many difficult classes at my local university at 1/3 the speed APs were going and screwed up my ranking since I only took 7 APs =/</p>
<p>Everybody over a certain GPA gets named a certain term. That’s it. There is no ranking in legit colleges. Please don’t be that dude/chick who takes everything to seriously in college. Please.</p>
<p>Okay that’s what I thought. So, if I take a few easy electives at 3 or 4 credits each to keep that (fingers-crossed) 4.0 I should be fine?
Everything has to be taken seriously in accelerated med programs b/c I need to be matched to a good med school.</p>
<p>Yea. Every semester so far, I had one easy class just to balance things out. And I take college very seriously. But if I don’t make a 4.0 one semester, it’s no big deal. I’m sitting at a happy 3.8. That night I spent tossing water balloons with slingshots at cars driving and hitting on random girls in the library with my friends instead of studying for my exam that was 2 days away? Totally worth it. :)</p>
<p>Besides, in most colleges, you don’t need a 4.0 to make the honor list or whatever they call it. I think it’s like a 3.7 or something where I go. And you don’t need a 4.0 for med school… Shoot for the 4.0, but understand that it most likely won’t happen.</p>
<p>Haha that sounds like a good time! Yeah thanks for the advice, I think a few “easy” classes will help out gpa-wise. My life won’t end if I don’t get the 4.0 I’m just trying to get as close as I can to it.</p>
<p>The highest honor you can receive at most college graduations is the title of “summa cum laude.” At my school, a 3.8 GPA is required for that, a 3.65 for “magna cum laude,” and a 3.45 for “cum laude.”</p>
<p>Any of those titles will put you at the very top of your class and will be certain to give you an edge in med school admissions. There are no class ranks in college. Make sure to focus on networking and just simply enjoying yourself for once.</p>