Ranks go out next week. I’ve been the highest ranking student of my class all throughout high school, but recently I noticed that all the stress and sleep depravation had taken a toll on my health. I decided to ease up on school in an attempt to balance out my life, but now I am afraid that I have lost my top spot. If that is the case, should I try to regain my spot or accept defeat? My goal was never to be valedictorian, but now that I realize that I may have lost the title, I want it back. I don’t feel comfortable being second place; I never have. I really don’t want to give a speech if I am salutatorian and I don’t know if my school can force me or not, but in an attempt to avoid any future confrontations, I am contemplating dropping down lower to third so I won’t have to deal with these issues. I know that I should be proud of my hard work but that’s not how I feel about it and getting the salutatorian title, smiling during graduation; acting hypocritical is not really my thing, so I’d prefer not to do it. Has anyone else encountered these situation?
To be honest, this is a very immature way to handle it. You may be best now, but more likely than not you will not be the smartest individual in college. These ranks are absolutely pointless and mean nothing after college. I attend one of the highest ranked public schools in the country, and people don’t seem to care about it one bit. If you get second, say the speech.
Because seriously, no one will care about your class rank once you graduate. People will care about your personality–you don’t want to be known as a sore loser who won’t give a speech because they aren’t number 1. Get over it.
^what CardioParty said. I was valedictorian at my HS - you get to write/deliver the closing speech, throw your caps in the air, party hard, have lots of fun, but now as a junior in college, the fact that I was valedictorian in HS means almost nothing.
And my guess is that once you graduate college, the “almost” will disappear, with the possible exception of future high school reunions. In the grand scheme of things, personally, I would not exert the extra energy to achieve this goal; there are more interesting things I could be doing.
@skieurope
What do you mean? As far as I know, Valedictorian is the only title that you can acquire that starts with the letter “V”. How can you be so insensitive to people who want to collect awards that start with each letter of the alphabet?
it varies…in our state, the 1st & 2nd ranked kid from each high school gets an auto admit to state university and a very nice financial boost.
and I have sympathy for this OP…being ranked first is sort of cool…nothing wrong with feeling bad about liking that…and nothing wrong with feeling a bit of sting if you lose it. BUT, don’t then refuse to be 2nd so you don’t have to give the runner-up speech. That’s taking it too serious. 
You don’t want to give a speech if you’re salutatorian? Seriously? Just work hard and become valedictorian if you don’t want to deal with your “issues.” I’d kill to have the same issues you do…
How would you “drop down to third”?
@z0e101
By dropping down to third. Is there something I’m missing?
I think you’re joking but it’s pretty risky to assume you know how to drop a single rank. If OP assume getting two Bs will drop you to third and end up 8th in the class there would probably be more disappointment. It wouldn’t really mean much though.
I think you should just try as hard as you can because what if you accidentally drop down more than one rank when you’re trying to drop down to third?
i don’t think theres a prize for being number 1 over 2…
Lol, I’ve been there back in MS. Believe me. I know how one’s pride constantly pushes a person to the ultimate. However, your health is far more important than grades, acceptances to colleges, etc. I have said this in another thread: valedictorian is just an academic title that does not portray one’s true character. Whether or not you become valedictorian, I believe that you can still succeed in life and follow your dreams.
If I’m not mistaken, OP doesn’t have to get 2 B’s or lower his GPA to drop down to third, in some schools you can just ask to drop down.
Oh really? That seems really odd. I guess it makes sense if a student is super afraid to give a speech. Still it seems odd to have a valedictorian who is actually second in his class. My class ranking is lame so I probably wouldn’t understand the high ranking life.
So if your rank is lower, it’s only because you eased up and not because #2 stepped up his or her game? Valedictorian isn’t YOUR spot; it belongs to the student who does the work to earn it. Maybe you should just do your best every day and ignore the rankings. If you end up #2, congratulate your classmate and give a nice speech.
I was the val many many years ago. It was nice then, but doesn’t matter now except that the qualities that led me to be val are qualities I still have: I like to work hard and challenge myself. My own kids are among the top few, but not the number one. And I don’t care. What I want is for them to learn as much as they can and to challenge themselves not just in the classroom but outside as well. Where we live, there is scholarship $ for the val btw.
OP, forget ranks. College apps are in, you are almost done with high school. I wouldn’t completely slack off, but switch to learning for the sake of learning and not for the grades. Yeah, dropping down will sting, but it won’t matter in the long run.
DO NOT GIVE UP. PLEASE.