<p>I’ve graduated from high school as our valedictorian, will be attending a school ranked in the top ten, etc. and I have begun looking for some internship opportunities this summer. When emailing directors and such, I have left out mentioning my valedictorian status in high school in favor of stressing my strong organizational skills, quantitative abilities, and other desirable attributes. I have this odd feeling that, even though class rank was important in high school, my employers will not care to be familiar with this. Am I making the right decision?</p>
<p>See other threads. Valedictorian or no, Top 10 or no, you’re not nearly as valuable as an intern, taking up supervisory resources, as a rising college sophomore, junior, or senior or, even better, grad student.</p>
<p>My D’s organization just plowed through more than 500 apps for 10 spots. You wouldn’t have made the first cut.</p>
<p>Your best chances are orgs where you have some personal connections…but don’t expect to be loved if you get an internship that way.</p>
<p>I agree with TheDad. Also if your school is like the high schools in my area “valedictorian” means anyone who got a 4.0 or higher. So, schools can have (like in the case when my sister graduated in '07) WAY more than 1 valedictorian. It hardly means anything, your GPA I assume is already on your resume or whatever.</p>
<p>Also, going of TheDad you’re most likely better off seeing if your parents have any connections that you can use to get an internship, highly unlikely that you will get on for this summer since most applications happen weeks earlier and are comprised of mostly college/grad kids</p>
<p>Information interviews and networking is your best bet. I emphasize with you that your valedictorian status should be something to be very proud of. But, in the “real” world that’s doesn’t matter much. </p>
<p>If this is your last summer before university I would just do some networking and relax. Maybe if you’re really keen then buy your books and start preparing.</p>
<p>People can say what they want, but my valedictorian status helped me get my first internship after sophomore year. The guy picking through resumes saw my college GPA, high school background since I didn’t have much experience, set up an interview and hired me into a Fortune 500 company.</p>
<p>Once you have enough experience, you can drop the high school stuff off the resume. I’m a college “4th year junior” now, have a full year of engineering intern/co-op experience, so I’ll be able to slide my high school accomplishments off my resume.</p>
<p>just because of the fact that I went to hotchkiss for high school got me an interview at an asset management firm. Turned out the fund manager went to phillips exeter</p>
<p>It’s worthless. I see no point in valedictorian and wonder why HS even bother with such a thing. If you feel your HS graduation is the most important day of your life that you want to relish in it by placing your class rank on your resume I would be hard press to take anything you say seriously. You are an over achiever if you are valedictorian so you should have much more to brag about than just finishing at the top of your HS class. If not, that’s really sad.</p>
<p>I think the OP has the right idea. Get involved in your early years with clubs and local organizations.</p>
<p>I disagree with some of the opinions here. I would say its something you’re perfectly fine mentioning, especially if this is a first job/internship. As long as you don’t make it sound like your crowning achievement and dwell on it, employers aren’t going to think of you negatively for it. And no Japher, you are NOT necessarily an overachiever if you are valedictorian; I was first in my class and yes, I worked hard, but I didn’t kill myself or anything-- I just did the work that needed to be done. I also had an equal or more active social life than most at my HS. It also helped me get my first internship, consulting after frosh year, in a crap economy.</p>
<p>Maybe this depends on your major - in my daughter’s her soph year, her HS started offering a series of engineering classes (called Project Lead The Way), which she signed up for each year without hesitation. Then Sr. year, we finally realized that 3 years of PLTW classes really hurt her class rank/GPA because they come with no extra “honors” or AP points (her art classes didn’t help either!). So it’s ironic that showing sincere interest in her major as far back as HS Soph. year caused her class rank to go down. She had no regrets tho, as she was far more interested in her major than in class rank. As college Jr this year, she has had two great internships at well-known companies.</p>
<p>Hey, guys! Thanks to all of the students and parents who offered me advice. I just returned from an interview with a non-profit (nationally known). The internship focuses on business and management, and I got the internship! Surprisingly, my interviewer wanted to know my high school class rank, so I didn’t even have to mention it myself. I’m starting next Monday. I’m very excited to have a solid internship lined up for the summer!</p>
I’m very excited to have a solid internship lined up for the summer!</p>