Valedictorian/Salutatorian

[CloneAggie]

All I know is that this question was asked of the admission people in almost every session we attended during the campus tours we took and they all talked about using this profile that every HS completes...again they use this to level the playing field.

The bottom line is that they told us that they were looking for students that had challenged themselves (taken the advanced courses and not just the bare minimum), had success (got good grades...As and Bs), and were "involved" in some form or fashion.

I think most colleges probably do a good job of this, and the effect of different scales is lessened. I'm not so sure that is the case for scholarships.

 

[Ms3r4ISU]

Not sure the relevance of the school board issue in your post but it is entirely logical that if with Bs, Cs, and Ds you can get a + or a - that you should be able to get a + or - with As. Also, it is logical that there is no + or - with an F (because it is a 0...there is no + or - with zero involved).

In Iowa, school district boards of education make those decisions.
On a 4.0 scale, a D is 1.0 point, a D minus is 0.66/7 point, so wouldn't an F+ be 0.33/4 point?
Just asking.

 

[rahtotheames]

Thanks for the responses to those who managed to stay on topic. I'm doing research for a paper specifically assigned to me by our principal. I think his reasoning was that my GPA has fallen to around 3.9 while I've been taking courses at the local college while the top 3 or 4 kids in our grade our taking stuff like child development and housing. I could care less, but I think he is actually looking at adopting a new process for this reason.

 

[MontyBurns]

I was Salutatorian in HS. I recieved one A- in my HS career by my Freshman english teacher that ended up costing me Co-Valedictorian....I'm not bitter or anything though!

I got an A- once too.

 

[247cy]

1) I'm a valedictorian, so all you riff-raff can suck it.
4.0 on a 4.0 scale, but given some of the criteria here it woulda been in the 4.3 range.
2) High School is a joke, college was only marginally harder. Squeaked out of the CPRE program with a 3.8.

 

[Balls]

I too was the valedictorian of my class. However my GPA was only a 3.83. My bother graduated 3 years earlier as the salutatorian with around 3.8. I don't know of any other classes around my age that had any 4.0 GPA's. My point here is that if a school has a bunch of 4.0 students... something is likely not be graded correctly. Not sure why our schools need to make the scale so that students need to always be able to get A's. I had several classes where no student in the class got A's... for years.

 

[balken]

To summarize the points of contention:

1. Is A+ = 4.33?
2. If F+ = 0.33?
3. What is F- worth?
4. If you dislike the person is it okay to emphasize the third syllable and call the person the valeDICtorian?
5. Is the salutatorian obliged to call the valedictorian, "El Conquistador" at all times?
6. If there is more than one individual tied for valedictorian, must they rho-sham-bo for the honor?

 

[kingcy]

Both are nice but dont always mean you will do well in college. Average HS students can become good college students and the best HS students dont always finish college.

 

[cyclonenum1]

I think most colleges probably do a good job of this, and the effect of different scales is lessened. I'm not so sure that is the case for scholarships.

This does vary from school to school but many of the schools that we visited were set up so that when you applied you were being reviewed for all available scholarships...no extra submission for the scholarship(s) was necessary.

 

[cyclonenum1]

In Iowa, school district boards of education make those decisions.
On a 4.0 scale, a D is 1.0 point, a D minus is 0.66/7 point, so wouldn't an F+ be 0.33/4 point?
Just asking.

Not sure if you saw my previous post but if I were in charge of setting up the grades I would start D- at .33 and go to A+ at 4.00. F = fail...so that is 0.