<p>100% unweighted GPA over all four years of high school.</p>
<p>This is awful when someone who takes all of the “easy” classes gets a 4.0 and is valedictorian, but luckily for me, this year, they were all weeded out by their own laziness. So this year, there are three valedictorians (me and two guys). Last year, there were eight.</p>
<p>ETA: class size of 350.</p>
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<p>There’s a line on the Common App counselor supplement that asks your rank and then “how many share this rank?” I wonder if top-20 colleges distinguish between lone valedictorians and “group” valedictorians?</p>
<p>Thanks, beatlesdisturbed! (referring to post #17)</p>
<p>And I’d be interested to know that, too, LoremIpsum. I might be biased, but I’d think having only one valedictorian makes the label more valuable. Hmmm…</p>
<p>Hmm…
Quote: “I’d think having only one valedictorian makes the label more valuable.”</p>
<p>I disagree. Just because others worked hard doesn’t mean you worked less hard. You know what I mean? Just because there are two As in a class doesn’t mean the A was less hard to get.</p>
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<p>At my son’s school, the AP teachers are very stingy with giving out A’s. In many classes, only 2 or 3 students out of 29-30 get A’s. It’s pretty hard to do a 7+ class AP run in multiple subjects and be one of the top 2 or 3 every single time – top 5 or 6 is much, much easier because it’s rare to be the very best at everything in a competitive environment.</p>
<p>Any school that has 5 or 10 or even 40 (I’ve heard) valedictorians has a serious problem with grade inflation that fails to distinguish between the industrious students and the truly brilliant ones.</p>
<p>In our HS, a 4.0 = any type of A, be it A-, A, or A+. Valedictorian then equals “anyone with an UW 4.0”, and every valedictorian gives a speech at graduation. Dreary, I know. For my graduating class, there seems to be more valedictorians than I have fingers. Really takes away from the whole prestige, eh?</p>
<p>@kaitm7- While it’s true that two people can achieve exactly equal grades in a single class, I think it’s unlikely that two (or more) people will achieve exactly the same grades in classes of equal difficulty for all four years or high school, as would be required for their GPAs to be exactly equivalent. Or, I’ll qualify that statement and say that it would be unlikely in a high school as small as mine. Either way, I guess I just take issue with the use of an unweighted GPA to determine class rank in high schools that offer more than one level of courses.</p>
<p>100% weighted GPA of all 4years, up to 1st semester of senior year. Actually, idk if its weighted because im ranked 4th and I’ve taken more honors/AP classes than the person ranked 3rd. </p>
<p>wow beatlesdisturbed. That’s the craziest Val process I’ve ever heard of. University prestige shouldn’t be a deciding factor. What if the kid can’t afford going to an ivy? Or simply sees himself elsewhere? The valedictorian process should be an objective process.</p>
<p>That is a bizarre system, beatlesdisturbed. I thought the system at my son’s school was somewhat standard and universal, but maybe not. In his school, they use weighted GPA on a 100 point scale (multiplying pre-AP class grades by 1.15 and AP class grades by 1.17), with non-academic classes not counting, and they calculate to as many as six decimal places to minimize the chance of ties, using the grades through the fifth 6-weeks term of senior year.</p>
<p>So what’s the valedictorian perk at other people’s schools? At my school, it’s that medal you get at graduation and that’s it. No speeches.</p>
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Well, it does work because everyone where I live is pretty darn wealthy, and they can afford the cost (not to take away from their accomplishments, no one is Kennedy/Bush wealthy, just high upper middle class). As for seeing himself somewhere else, that’s a good question. I can’t really answer.
I think it’s better this way, because pure weighted GPA or unweighted GPA can make errors. Just to give you a sample of how my school ranks colleges.
<p>OP, that’s crazy. You must go to an ultra expensive private school then, bc thats the only way people can pay. Even people making 250k a year someone’s can’t/wont pay 55k a year for college.</p>
<p>Highest weighted GPA from the first 7 semesters of high school</p>
<p>The students are qualified enough to qualify for scholarships. Throw in our well paid internships, competition money, and job money, and we can easily pay along with our parents.</p>
<p>Do you go to one of the famous prep schools? Curious…</p>
<p>Don’t think it’s famous…or a prep school.</p>
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<p>To be fair, these colleges do have some of the best financial aid programs in the country. But it does seem a bit silly to assume that those schools are the best for everyone, especially when there are so many other good options: full rides (I’m thinking the Morehead to UNC kind of a thing); lesser-known schools with really fantastic programs in an area of interest; LACs, the best of which I think provide a better education than some schools on that list in some ways; etc.</p>