Vent

[ToldYouSo]

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Ok so my friend lost her 2nd semester schedule and she went to the office to get a copy, and I went with her. Somehow in her copy was a piece of paper with the rankings of my senior class in number order. (Name then GPA then # rank then % rank). Students are only told of their percentile to make things less competitive I guess (When 10 kids all know they are in the top 10 percent, its not as irky as opposed to if they knew who was 1,2,3....etc) So the fact that she got this list amazed me. It was legitimate since it had the school seal and the numbers were accurate and what not.... So I see my name as number 14 on the list (Out of 239 kids in my class) and I was so happy at first but the thing is it was notated that students ranked 1-13 were in the top 5 pct. while kids from 14-29 were top 10 percent and so on....... I WAS ONE SPOT AWAY FROM BEING TOP 5 PCT but no, life caused a struggle and I am in the next %.



I know my friends would beat me up after school for complaining about something like THIS but all you guys on hSDN are rly smart and would probably tolerate it more. I don't ever really sit down and seriously study on my own and I ALWAYS do assignments last minute. I know that I somehow had more motivation to care then I would do SO much better. I swear I have the worlds worst procrastination problem and i've been googled ways to overcome it but the urge to be lazy and the shiney new laptop in the corner of my room take me by suprise and I am suddenly on the internet. What are some good ways to beat procrastination? I mean I will literally do homeworks 5 minutes before the class they are due in starts.. I wish I cared more but I don't... And with me taking so many AP classes this year, being able to slack and still get good grades comes much harder....







Sry 4 the wall of text I am in an internal struggle XD lol bye guys

 

[Maygyver]

Hey, I know how you feel, I think I graduated 10th out of 700 people and wish I had gotten to the single digits. But, the main point is...it doesn't matter at all. You are still doing well in your classes, and you don't seem to spend an overly excessive amount of time on school work. You will still get into your top school pick. In the end, it really doesn't matter. What matters is what you do after high school. Life isn't about grades, but rather real-world applications of your intelligence. I think most people wish they did better at things that they enjoy because people always strive to be the best they can be. Moral of the story, you will be fine, high school really isn't that important as long as you study what you enjoy, make some friends and figure out what you enjoy in life.

 

[niblet]

Actually think about what benefits come from being in the top 5% vs top 10%. Just bragging rights? After that, probably not much at all. It's not going to make a difference in the end. You can go through the what ifs all you want, but the fact remains that you didn't put the effort to be top 5% as opposed to top 10%. You made the decision to prioritize other things over that extra work required to obtain a higher class rank. And be okay with that. I'm in the top 20 of my ~300 student class, and I never study--just complete assignments and take tests as they come. I know that I could've studied more and been in the top 10, but to me, the trade-off wasn't worth it. If I had to do high school all over again, I'd do the same thing. The bottom line is that you'll be getting into college (or already are) and your academic performance in high school will be a non-issue.

As for procrastination, I'm a severe procrastinator, too. I'm of the belief that the majority of people label themselves procrastinators, so it's pretty normal. The key is to understand that you and only you will be able to overcome your procrastination.

 

[tennisball80]

My school does not rank people. I am very neat and take about 15 minutes everyday to just get organized (calender, room, etc...) I do not procrastinate and I make schedule for study and time management to get things done as soon as possible.

 

[ToldYouSo]

Hey, I know how you feel, I think I graduated 10th out of 700 people and wish I had gotten to the single digits. But, the main point is...it doesn't matter at all. You are still doing well in your classes, and you don't seem to spend an overly excessive amount of time on school work. You will still get into your top school pick. In the end, it really doesn't matter. What matters is what you do after high school. Life isn't about grades, but rather real-world applications of your intelligence. I think most people wish they did better at things that they enjoy because people always strive to be the best they can be. Moral of the story, you will be fine, high school really isn't that important as long as you study what you enjoy, make some friends and figure out what you enjoy in life.

Yeah, I agree with what you say. I honestly know its dumb lamenting over what could've been, but I always ask myself if I could have done better. Thx for making me feel better XD

 

[MilkmanAl]

I think the school will report both your percentile and numerical rank to the colleges you apply to. That's what my school did, anyway.

 

[huskerdye]

I wouldn't be too mad about this..

Top 10% is still a great rank, when colleges look at your application they most likely wont look at top 5% they'll look at top 10%.. I know how it's like to be one away though, I'm second in my class, and we go by your percentage grades, not cum. gpa.. So the kid higher than me is beating me by like .04% percent..

Don't worry about it so much man.. Finish up your school year well.. As for the proscrastination problem, try using a planner.. It helped me out quite a bit and makes you better organized

 

[Brandqn]

redacted

 

[TheMagicCookie]

My school does not rank people. I am very neat and take about 15 minutes everyday to just get organized (calender, room, etc...) I do not procrastinate and I make schedule for study and time management to get things done as soon as possible.

I'm confused...what does your organization have to do with class rankings??

 

[ToldYouSo]

I wish I was in your position.

Freshman/Sophomore year ruined my rank, I'm barely in the top 20%.

I hate how your GPA that colleges see/ rank as well comes from 9th 10th 11th grade only (At least for me) 12 th grade has no bearing on rank and GPA that college sees. I'm working the hardest in senior year and the only thing is shows colleges is that i'm not failing lol

 

[ToldYouSo]

I'm confused...what does your organization have to do with class rankings??

He was answering my question on some ways to not procrastinate as much, his is organizing

 

[Brandqn]

redacted

 

[Crazyday]

I hate how your GPA that colleges see/ rank as well comes from 9th 10th 11th grade only (At least for me) 12 th grade has no bearing on rank and GPA that college sees. I'm working the hardest in senior year and the only thing is shows colleges is that i'm not failing lol

With the classes I'm taking my senior year they better see those classes.

 

[glowworm]

Well, i procrastinate horribly too, so you are def. not alone. and internet is also what kills me. and for some reason everyone thinks i'm all organized and a perfectionist and stuff. my mom always brags about my time management to other parents, but i think i'm horrible at it. as long as you are making decent grades, you probably aren't any worse than most other kids.

 

[lhtran07]

I know how it's like to be one away though, I'm second in my class, and we go by your percentage grades, not cum. gpa.. So the kid higher than me is beating me by like .04% percent..

The same thing happened to me when I was in hs. They didn't factor in the last semester grades when calculating who would be valedictorian and salutatorian.....because of that I ended up being the salutatorian and didn't qualify for a scholarship for college. Now that's something to be mad about.

 

[ToldYouSo]

I don't understand, why wouldn't the colleges get to see your senior GPA/rank?

All of the colleges I've applied to currently have my updated transcripts.

In my school your rank comes from 9 10 and 11 grades only, 12th has no bearing on it. Also, the 2 colleges I applied to already accepted me and haven't asked for my senior year GPA, they only see what classes I'm taking in 12th grade. The only point of me taking AP classes in senior year is too look good for schools and that's it.

 

[Crazyday]

Personally I hate the whole valedictorian thing.

Students who do far less well academically wise that take the easiest courses and make A's have a higher GPA than students like me, for instance, that actually challenge ourselves.

It's just an inaccurate way of judging academic performance if you ask me.

 

[lhtran07]

My school did it differently...they calculated honors/AP/dual-enrollment classes as well, so it's not just your cumulative gpa that counts in their ranking system.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Get used to it. Everything else for which GPA matters works the same way. Do you think med schools liked my C in electromagnetism that I had to absolutely cripple myself for or my A in botany that I coasted to better? Incidentally, I agree with you, but we're not in charge of the system.

 

[Crazyday]

Get used to it. Everything else for which GPA matters works the same way. Do you think med schools liked my C in electromagnetism that I had to absolutely cripple myself for or my A in botany that I coasted to better? Incidentally, I agree with you, but we're not in charge of the system.

Yea definitely, doesn't mean I have to like it 😉

 

[MilkmanAl]

True. 🙂

 

[ToldYouSo]

Yea definitely, doesn't mean I have to like it 😉

Ummm, idk about u, but in my school ap and honors lvl courses carry an extra weight with them, so a person who has taken normal classes and another who has taken harder ones with the same avg will actually have a higher grade

 

[xnfs93hy]

Ok so my friend lost her 2nd semester schedule and she went to the office to get a copy, and I went with her. Somehow in her copy was a piece of paper with the rankings of my senior class in number order. (Name then GPA then # rank then % rank). Students are only told of their percentile to make things less competitive I guess (When 10 kids all know they are in the top 10 percent, its not as irky as opposed to if they knew who was 1,2,3....etc) So the fact that she got this list amazed me. It was legitimate since it had the school seal and the numbers were accurate and what not.... So I see my name as number 14 on the list (Out of 239 kids in my class) and I was so happy at first but the thing is it was notated that students ranked 1-13 were in the top 5 pct. while kids from 14-29 were top 10 percent and so on....... I WAS ONE SPOT AWAY FROM BEING TOP 5 PCT but no, life caused a struggle and I am in the next %.



I know my friends would beat me up after school for complaining about something like THIS but all you guys on hSDN are rly smart and would probably tolerate it more. I don't ever really sit down and seriously study on my own and I ALWAYS do assignments last minute. I know that I somehow had more motivation to care then I would do SO much better. I swear I have the worlds worst procrastination problem and i've been googled ways to overcome it but the urge to be lazy and the shiney new laptop in the corner of my room take me by suprise and I am suddenly on the internet. What are some good ways to beat procrastination? I mean I will literally do homeworks 5 minutes before the class they are due in starts.. I wish I cared more but I don't... And with me taking so many AP classes this year, being able to slack and still get good grades comes much harder....







Sry 4 the wall of text I am in an internal struggle XD lol bye guys

If I'm not mistaken, colleges and universities will see that you were one spot away. I'd kill to be in the top 10% of my class. You are still going to get into good schools.

 

[xnfs93hy]

Do colleges really not see what you are doing senior year?

 

[KempDrumsalot]

Do colleges really not see what you are doing senior year?

No, they see what you are doing. You can get admission revoked for poor grades or not accepted at all if your schedule is to lax.

 

[coldkatanagirl]

Personally I hate the whole valedictorian thing.

Students who do far less well academically wise that take the easiest courses and make A's have a higher GPA than students like me, for instance, that actually challenge ourselves.

It's just an inaccurate way of judging academic performance if you ask me.

That's odd. It's impossible to be valedictorian here UNLESS you take advanced classes. Someone with a 3.6 GPA or so in AP classes will be ranked higher than someone with a 4.0 GPA in regular classes because of weighted grades.

 

[xnfs93hy]

No, they see what you are doing. You can get admission revoked for poor grades or not accepted at all if your schedule is to lax.

Good because I will finally be in AP classes. I'm taking five. I kinda want colleges to see that I went from being in stupid classes as a freshman to honors and CP this year and honors an AP senior year.

 

[shishka32]

Good because I will finally be in AP classes. I'm taking five. I kinda want colleges to see that I went from being in stupid classes as a freshman to honors and CP this year and honors an AP senior year.

Dude, that's not gonna work. I ended up getting a full ride to my State U based on Freshman and Sophomore grades only. I'm not saying that's the only case, just one example.

Plus, most college application deadlines are due before (or thereabouts) 1st semester ends in your senior year (obviously depending on your school's schedule). So your senior classes won't even matter in college admission decisions.

Just try your hardest all four years. Don't try and cheat the system... that's when you'll just end up screwing yourself in the end.

 

[shishka32]

That's odd. It's impossible to be valedictorian here UNLESS you take advanced classes. Someone with a 3.6 GPA or so in AP classes will be ranked higher than someone with a 4.0 GPA in regular classes because of weighted grades.

Funny thing... my school is the exact opposite. You can even RETAKE a class (say, for example, you got a B in math, you could retake it for an A and the previous B would not count in your GPA), and as long as you have a 4.0 at the end of 1st semester senior year, you're valedictorian. Class difficulty doesn't matter at all.

Dumbest thing ever, I know.

 

[Brandqn]

redacted

 

[xnfs93hy]

Dude, that's not gonna work. I ended up getting a full ride to my State U based on Freshman and Sophomore grades only. I'm not saying that's the only case, just one example.

Plus, most college application deadlines are due before (or thereabouts) 1st semester ends in your senior year (obviously depending on your school's schedule). So your senior classes won't even matter in college admission decisions.

Just try your hardest all four years. Don't try and cheat the system... that's when you'll just end up screwing yourself in the end.

OK I'm def. not getting in anywhere then. I don't even have AP classes. I was in regular classes for two years then got moved up this year and am only in two honors classes.

 

[KempDrumsalot]

OK I'm def. not getting in anywhere then. I don't even have AP classes. I was in regular classes for two years then got moved up this year and am only in two honors classes.

That doesn't matter.

 

[broken tibula]

Depending on the selectivity of the university, it can...

 

[KempDrumsalot]

Depending on the selectivity of the university, it can...

Unless you're applying to the top colleges, it won't. He's saying he won't make it into ANY university at all because he doesn't have enough honors grades. Not to mention his classes show he has been trying harder.

 

[broken tibula]

Not top, but yeah, most state universities and some private ones won't care all that much. The thing that works against him is that they were available and he didn't take advantage of them. That's what any college is going to look at when giving out academic scholarships and such.

On the plus side, they'd rather see you waste your freshman year and steadily improve over the next three years than see stellar grades freshman year and then watch you decline from there.

 

[coldkatanagirl]

Funny thing... my school is the exact opposite. You can even RETAKE a class (say, for example, you got a B in math, you could retake it for an A and the previous B would not count in your GPA), and as long as you have a 4.0 at the end of 1st semester senior year, you're valedictorian. Class difficulty doesn't matter at all.

Dumbest thing ever, I know.

Wow, really? That's strange... I don't think we're even allowed to retake classes unless you've failed them, and it'd still be counted in your GPA.

 

[Crazyday]

Not top, but yeah, most state universities and some private ones won't care all that much. The thing that works against him is that they were available and he didn't take advantage of them. That's what any college is going to look at when giving out academic scholarships and such.

On the plus side, they'd rather see you waste your freshman year and steadily improve over the next three years than see stellar grades freshman year and then watch you decline from there.

It sounds like he didn't have a choice really. From what I've heard, it sounds like he got placed in those courses due to his prior academic record. As he shaped up and started doing better, they decided to place him in honors. Doesn't seem to me like he had any choice in his course curriculum, correct me if I'm wrong though.

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

Personally I hate the whole valedictorian thing.

Students who do far less well academically wise that take the easiest courses and make A's have a higher GPA than students like me, for instance, that actually challenge ourselves.

It's just an inaccurate way of judging academic performance if you ask me.

My high school WAS like this, and had a string of rather unimpressive valedictorians for several years. They'd take blow off classes, get A+'s (which incidentally counted for more than an A) and be top of the class.

Then there was a big controversy because the class salutatorian was going to be this girl who had some minor learning disabilities and took a lot of special education classes and had gotten A+s in them.

 

[Brandqn]

redacted

 

[broken tibula]

How does yours work?

I thought all systems were based on GPA. The smartest kids in the class are almost never valedictorian. I think our val got a 24 on her ACT (not that it makes her stupid, but I got a fricking 33, and I'm number... 10?)

 

[ToldYouSo]

The system that my school has is very good I think, since the top 2 kids actually deserve the spot. Its based on your GPA for the first 3 years. Honors classes carry a 10% weight and AP classes carry a 15% weight. Whoever has the highest GPA after 9th, 10th and 11th grade is valedictorian.

The weighting almost ensures that kids taking harder classes are rewarded for doing so, even if they would have done slightly better in an easier class.

 

[broken tibula]

As I remind everyone (and I probably will until the day I die, I'm so resentful of this fact), there are no AP or honors classes here. So no weighted GPA's. But that does sound like a good system--makes sure that the people who sit there and take Basketweaving A, B, and C their senior year don't end up making a speech at graduation about how rewarding it is to finally graduate after all their hard work.

 

[EyEnStein 07]

if thats official, then on COLLEGE APPS put down that your....14/239 = Top 6%

=D

 

[Brandqn]

redacted

 

[broken tibula]

As my location says, I live in a ghetto. Think inner-city schools.

Also, none of our teachers are qualified to teach AP or honors classes.

 

[coldkatanagirl]

The system that my school has is very good I think, since the top 2 kids actually deserve the spot. Its based on your GPA for the first 3 years. Honors classes carry a 10% weight and AP classes carry a 15% weight. Whoever has the highest GPA after 9th, 10th and 11th grade is valedictorian.

The weighting almost ensures that kids taking harder classes are rewarded for doing so, even if they would have done slightly better in an easier class.

My school (or schools) is (or are) basically have same system, but the weight percentages were a little different.

 

[Crazyday]

My school has a weighted scale as well, but most of the honors courses aren't all that difficult (a lot of them my freshman/sophomore year I didn't even try AT ALL and still made A's). A+'s don't count for more than A's, and AP's don't count for more than honors. If you take 4 weighted courses in a year, then your GPA is weighted. Or something like that.

I know it can't be that hard to get a weighted GPA because there's cheerleaders in my study hall that are so dumb it makes my head hurt that have a higher GPA than me, weighted.

And we have multiple valedictorians each year. Not sure how that works.

 

[gabeybaby]

My school has a weighted scale as well, but most of the honors courses aren't all that difficult (a lot of them my freshman/sophomore year I didn't even try AT ALL and still made A's). A+'s don't count for more than A's, and AP's don't count for more than honors. If you take 4 weighted courses in a year, then your GPA is weighted. Or something like that.

I know it can't be that hard to get a weighted GPA because there's cheerleaders in my study hall that are so dumb it makes my head hurt that have a higher GPA than me, weighted.

And we have multiple valedictorians each year. Not sure how that works.

That's a mean thing to say.


We do too. Everyone who has a 4.0 or higher is considered a valedictorian. I'm not too fond with the system though; it's not hard to get As in high school & there would be too many valedictorians. The one who worked the hardest & has the highest GPA should be recognized.

 

[broken tibula]

Yeah, but the highest GPA doesn't necessarily mean that you worked the hardest.

Frankly, I don't think there's any way to really recognize the person who's smartest in the class. Nor do I really care. I'm graduating. I'm going to a great college. Do I really care what's going to happen to the rest of my graduating class? Uh... That would be a no. So I'm not really stressed about class rank.

 

[Crazyday]

That's a mean thing to say.


We do too. Everyone who has a 4.0 or higher is considered a valedictorian. I'm not too fond with the system though; it's not hard to get As in high school & there would be too many valedictorians. The one who worked the hardest & has the highest GPA should be recognized.

Eh, it might be mean, but it's true. I mean I know some smart cheerleaders, but these are just wow. There are students in my study hall that I know who are failing all easy classes and these girls make their head hurt too.