<p>What are the chances at harvard grad school for a valadectorian at berkeley?</p>
<p>Obviously a lot higher than somebody who barely graduated.</p>
<p>However, you have to tell us more. Like which graduate program, what your relevant standardized test scores (i.e. MCAT, LSAT, etc.) will be, how strong your rec’s are, what your work experience is (critical if you’re talking about business school), and so forth.</p>
<p>Some of Harvard’s graduate programs are highly numbers-oriented. Like Harvard Law. If you have top grades and top LSAT scores, you are probably good for HLS. Others treat grades as only a minor consideration. Such as Harvard Business School. If all you have are good grades, but you can’t demonstrate strong leadership/managerial potential, then you probably won’t get into HBS. The same is true of the doctoral programs. If all you have are good grades, but you don’t demonstrate any potential for doing independent research, you probably won’t get admitted to a Harvard doctoral program.</p>
<p>There is a major valedictorian, but no overall valedictorian to my knowledge. </p>
<p>And getting valedictorian in my opinion is more due to getting obsessed over grades rather than being smart. A 3.8-3.9 is good enough for harvard; you need to be well rounded and have high standardized scores too.</p>
<p>Ya, defiantly not worth the time or stress.</p>
<p>don’t try for it. there are other aspects of the application that will help you out much more</p>
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<p>While there is no official ‘valedictorian’ as such, there is the University Medal, which serves the place of a valedictorian. It is cited as the highest honor that Berkeley can bestow upon one of its graduates. </p>
<p>Here’s last year’s winner.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/04/26_medal.shtml[/url]”>http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/04/26_medal.shtml</a></p>
<p>The problem that I have with the University Medal is the same problem that I have with all of the academic awards that are partially based on GPA. For example, to be eligible for the University Medal, you have to have at least a 3.96 GPA. The problem is that certain majors are graded easier than others, such that you really can get very high grades for doing very little work, compared to other majors in which you can work like a dog and STILL end up with bad grades. </p>
<p>What these award committees should do is use a dynamic scoring chart to compensate for the fact that certain majors are graded harder than others. For example, in an unusually difficult major, maybe only a 3.8 would be sufficient to make you eligible for the University Medal. In an extremely easy major, nothing less than a 4.0 will do. Something like that.</p>
<p>The Medal is not the same as a valedictorian in the sense that it’s not awarded solely based on grades, but on the “whole picture” (research, activities, etc.)</p>
<p>History is definitely an easier major than chem, math, or EECS. And yet the history major won. And she even admits taking fewer classes to maintain her GPA. Shows that your other stuff is more important than your GPA when it comes to this award.</p>
<p>The award is bs, just like grades are bs at Berkeley. </p>
<p>Just get you 3.8 and get the hell out and you will find far more enriching opportunities elsewhere.</p>
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<p>Well, actually, I think the University Medal should not be based solely on grades. That would serve to completely screw over those students who happen to be in difficult majors.</p>
<p>PA, please stop it. Not all grades at Berkeley are bs. You don’t help anyone with your belligerent, bitter statements like this. You would obviously get agreement if you were to say something like “some grades seem to be influenced by things that shouldn’t matter, or are arbitrarily given,” but you’re just being pugnacious.</p>
<p>Sounds like Polite Antagonis really hates Berkeley…</p>
<p>He does, and he probably won’t say mcuh good about it, even though he’ll go onto some top 14 law school from it.</p>