Where do valedictorians from “meh” schools go?

[Anonymous]

By the time the valedictorian is named at graduation, college selections were done 3-6 months earlier.

[Anonymous]

By the time the valedictorian is named at graduation, college selections were done 3-6 months earlier.

The timeline may be off as some kids won't decide until May 1, but I agree college decisions are done when valedictorian is announced at most schools.

[Anonymous]

You just can't game out the college admissions process like that. If you take the most rigorous classes and have the best grades, you're as well positioned as possible. There's a reason lots of folks liken admission to the very top tier to a lottery. It's always better to focus on maximizing learning and happiness now while your DD is in high school rather than focus on admission to a college where 95%+ of students don't succeed in getting in.

And don't take the disaster stories from PPs as universal. Most students at the Ivies are from meh schools (mostly because most schools are meh) and they do as well as anyone. Look at all the children of foreign medical graduates who grew up in small towns and how well they do at the elite colleges.

Now for useless advice that could get your child into an elite college but only if they already have an academically elite mind and attitude. Since you're in a college town, get your DD to find a faculty mentor. If she's a STEM student, she can wash equipment and learn how a lab works. Maybe they'll sponsor a project that could make a good run at the Regeneron Science Talent Search. If she's humanities oriented, she can file notes and make library runs. Those kinds of opportunities may lead to more responsibilities that would allow her to work along side graduate research assistants and postdocs and provide experiences many undergraduates never get. A rec from a faculty member who really knows your DD's work can be a real leg up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We moved to a small college city (about 50k locals, grows to about 65k with the state university kids). My DD is on track to be valedictorian of her public HS class. This is not as impressive as it sounds. Almost all kids who are UMC here or a professor kid goes to the local private - the top kids from there go to places like Cornell, Michigan, Wisconsin, not many SLAC since kids here don’t know what Bates/bowdoin/Colby even are. We are sending our kids to public school for a variety of reasons. The top kids from the school (graduating classes of about 250) typically go to the state university honors program or another state university that has tuition reciprocity discounts for our region. DH and I went to fairly highly ranked schools (both non Ivy top 20s) and would love for our daughter to go somewhere like Georgetown, UVA, Hopkins, rice etc. At the end of sophomore year she is ranked number 1 in her class, straight As in honors courses (one A- in freshman math). This has not been hard or challenging for her at all. She’s taking all APs next year and will do the same senior year. It’s too early to say if it will still be manageable to have straight As, but it’s a definite possibility. She is a varsity athlete, but again, this is a random town and sports aren’t competitive - swimming and tennis everyone makes varsity, she won’t be recruited but may be a captain. She also does some very focused community service with the Native American community in our area and volunteers at the college art museum. Would a kid with this profile have a shot at the top 20 colleges now a days? I can say with confidence she would not stand out in the DMV - she was at a private in DC for elementary school - 7th grade and was a very average student. It’s just so much less competitive here I think it was a confidence boost. We’d be fine sending her to the flagship state school as well, but we would love for her to have a top 20 college experience. We will have SAT tutoring and hopefully her scores would be competitive, at least above the median. We are full pay but otherwise not special.

Well if you are not special, you say youe kid is not special and attends a "meh" school they'll probably end up at a "meh" college. You sound like a complete a$$ by the way.

[Anonymous]

I think it will come down to SaT and how well she does in AP EXAMS. She could end up at Harvard or the state school and everything and anything in between.

She should be able to get to a top 25 as long as she has a good sat score 1500+.

[Anonymous]

She should be able to get to a top 25 as long as she has a good sat score 1500+.

Nope. Plenty of kids with 1600 are rejected from T25 schools every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

She should be able to get to a top 25 as long as she has a good sat score 1500+.

Nope. Plenty of kids with 1600 are rejected from T25 schools every year.

Yes but plenty of those kids come from highly populated metro areas where those stats are very common. This kid has a hook: rural.

[Anonymous]

Valedictorian may be moot but the HS will still report class rank at time of application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

She should be able to get to a top 25 as long as she has a good sat score 1500+.

Nope. Plenty of kids with 1600 are rejected from T25 schools every year.

Yes but plenty of those kids come from highly populated metro areas where those stats are very common. This kid has a hook: rural.

how do you know rural is a hook?

[Anonymous]

my nephew and niece (siblings) both valedictorians who live in a fairly small rural town. He went to Yale and then Harvard law, she went to Stanford and dropped out junior year to join a startup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my nephew and niece (siblings) both valedictorians who live in a fairly small rural town. He went to Yale and then Harvard law, she went to Stanford and dropped out junior year to join a startup.

Not applicable. Your sibling or FOB is clearly wealthy, no MC kid from rural area is dropping out of Stanford or going to pay for Harvard Law School. OP can’t afford private school, so she won’t be laying the ground work with summer enrichment, tutors, etc I’m sure your niece and nephew enjoyed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my nephew and niece (siblings) both valedictorians who live in a fairly small rural town. He went to Yale and then Harvard law, she went to Stanford and dropped out junior year to join a startup.

So you're saying small towns in rural areas have smart motivated people that can be successful...who would have thought? I thought they were just a bunch of stupid country folk that weren't from NOVA, the center of the intellectual universe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

She should be able to get to a top 25 as long as she has a good sat score 1500+.

Nope. Plenty of kids with 1600 are rejected from T25 schools every year.

Yes but plenty of those kids come from highly populated metro areas where those stats are very common. This kid has a hook: rural.

how do you know rural is a hook?

Geographic diversity and less competition.

[Anonymous]

My DH was valedictorian at a meh H.S. and ended up at Brown. He’s now a physician.

[Anonymous]

If she wants to go to a highly selective college, she should take a shot (while also applying to target and safety schools). She will be competitive if she continues to get straight As in the most rigorous coursework offered at her school. Being a Valedictorian will help but will not guarantee admittance. And yes, being from a rural area can be a hook depending on the school -- Dartmouth for example is trying to increase representation from rural areas.