Schools that rank (via GPA)

Prep School Admissions
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<p>I know that many (most? all?) of the “top” school do not, and sometimes even refuse to, rank their students. I’m trying to get a feel for which schools actually rank their students. Which ones have a “valedictorian” etc and how it effects the competition among students at those schools. And in those schools that do not rank, do they have a student speaker on prize day and who decides who it is?</p>

<p>I don’t have anything against competition, per se. It just seems like ranking students might lead to unnecessary pressure. I want my son be more proud of what he’s learned and how hard he worked than of what his grades are, (not that the two are mutually exclusive).</p>

<p>I’d love to hear the thoughts of BS students and parents who attend ranking schools on this.</p>

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<p>Andover doesn’t have a “prize day,” but the school president speaks at graduation…</p>

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<p>Uroogla, how quickly you forget. There is a Prize Assembly every year, one of the last All School Meetings of the spring term. There several awards are given out, mainly to seniors but there are a handful given to the younger students. At graduation, the school president speaks and the five most prestigious awards are given out (Yale Bowl, Madame Sarah Abbot Award, Non Sibi Award, etc.).</p>

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<p>NMH does not release rankings but they do have a Valedictorian.</p>

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<p>Here’s another angle to look at the ranking/not-ranking divide: if a school decides not to rank, they’re trying to control the degree of unhealthy competition in the student body–and, probably, trying to protect the students from competitive parental pressure. Not ranking may be a successful tactic, but it may also be a sign that some kids feel that they’re in a pressure cooker.</p>

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<p>Saint Mark’s School do not rank and do not calculate GPA, either. But there is a prize day.</p>

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<p>It’s more the norm in independent schools not to rank. Some competitive suburban public schools do not rank.</p>

<p>Blair does not rank, does not weigh grades, has gpa’s available and has a 6 point grading scale. They do have prize assemblies, an honor society, privileges for certain gpa’s, and a Valedictorian.</p>

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<p>It’s worth mentioning that Andover is a member of the Cum Laude Society - the top 20% of students (in 2 installments of 10%) are inducted based on grades for a short period of time. This is not a ranking and the GPAs are never calculated, but one could compare it to a top 10% and top 20% cutoff; with that said, few students will have heard about it before induction, and the time in question contains the trimesters thought to be most important to college admissions, so students are going to be competitive then anyways.</p>

<p>In addition, each term, a GPA is calculated and used to determine honor roll. The colleges see the GPA for each term, but nothing more. In this sense, it seems to be caught between not adding to pressure of students and still providing colleges with enough meaningful data to ensure many students get into top colleges.</p>

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<p>Saint Mark’s School do not rank and do not calculate GPA, either. But there is a prize day. However, each term, a GPA is calculated and used to determine honor amd high honor roll.</p>

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<p>NMH also is a member of the Cum Laude Society as well as an Honor Roll, Dean’s List, and Head of School List. </p>

<p>Thanks for that description of how Cum Laude works; I had no idea. I thought it was based on the cumulative GPA.</p>

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<p>Groton doesn’t rank, and grades are given out of 100. They don’t weigh GPAs, I don’t think. Yes, there’s a prize day with three speakers: a student one, the headmaster, and the invited (keynote) speaker. The student speaker is decided by vote a month or so before Prize Day. Numerous prizes are given out to all grades, although somewhat obviously the seniors get the most.</p>

<p>And I think it makes sense not to rank at boarding schools–and not just because of competition. Kids at boarding schools end up taking vastly different courses, often “specializing” in different areas with numerous electives and tutorials. Also, some students choose to challenge themselves, while others don’t. </p>

<p>For example, let’s say we have two juniors A and B at Groton.</p>

<p>A takes:
Applied Math 2 (BC Calc + Comp. Programming + some probability stuff)
AP Bio
English
US History
AP Latin: Vergil
Spanish 4
Chamber Orchestra
(Total 6.5 Credits)</p>

<p>B takes:
AP French Lang.
English
US History
Elective: Court & Constitution
Art: Photo
(Total 5 Credits)</p>

<p>Say A has a GPA of 3.5 and B that of 3.7; however, A’s courseload is definitely higher than B’s. (AP Latin and AP Bio are the toughest classes at Groton along with AP Chem.) And A focuses more on math/sciences while B on history/humanities. So it becomes tricky to rank B above A. Maybe this situation comes up at public schools, too–I don’t know. But it certainly makes sense to me not to rank.</p>

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<p>Thank you, everyone, for your thoughtful comments.</p>

<p>Spark, your example is a great illustration of why my son doesn’t like ranking. And I’m very pleased that I don’t have to cancel any appointments! </p>

<p>These schools lay a feast for their students. Let them feast, I say.</p>