How should I note that I am potential valedictorian on my application? My guidance counselor told me this information.
By having your counselor state it in their evaluation. You, for your part, need to keep your application entirely factual. Admissions value context and data over speculation.
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High class rank is important and will be on the information sent in your transcript but we learned that being valedictorian does not really matter that much. It’s not going to come down to the difference between #1 and #3.
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Our son ended up being number three. But he could care less about a label. He didn’t want to have to create another essay/speech. He was ready to go out into the world.
He ended up at Caltech with every other valedictorian and salutatorian.
FYI, every year there are about 45,000 valedictorians in the US.
It’ll look tacky and boastful if you note “potential valedictorian”. Just my opinion.
My husband was valedictorian in high school and in college. Never once did he put it anywhere on paper.
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My son was “cheated” out of being valedictorian in that they didn’t give honors credit for an honors class because of a mess up in the course catalog and that was the deciding factor. There were other glaring mistakes in the calculation, but in the end, we really didn’t care. I told S23 that the only person that cares if you are Val vs Sal is your mom, and it’s only on that day because it will never come up again. ( ok , it still pisses me off, but it’s the absurdity of it rather than the result). And, truthfully, his elementary and middle school speeches were such a disaster that I was relieved to not have to cringe through the high school one.
Colleges will see what decile you are in. They know there is a hair difference between the first handful of students and that it could have been a result of a cold or a teacher having a bad day. And, that none of it is final until well after decisions are out.
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