Were You in the Top Ten in Your Graduating Class?

[AlphaFrog]

I wasn't (really competitive Catholic Prep School - you had to have about a 5.0 on a 4.0 scale [w/honors weight] to even crack the top 20) but I remember one year the top 10 took a yearbook pic with all of them attempting to form their "number" with their body. Number 1 was a guy, and all the rest were girls.

[NiaX]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

I wasn't (really competitive Catholic Prep School - you had to have about a 5.0 on a 4.0 scale [w/honors weight] to even crack the top 20) but I remember one year the top 10 took a yearbook pic with all of them attempting to form their "number" with their body. Number 1 was a guy, and all the rest were girls.

That is how my HS is.... Folks with high gpas were in the 100s and 200s...

class of '98

[Infamous12]

^^^^^^Very true with my high school as well. I remember, years before she was valedictorian, one of my classmates got soooo flustered with our Honors class project that the teachers, all 3 of them, pushed back the due date.

One of them commented: 'If (name) can't finish it in time, I know the rest can't.' < But so true.

Oh, and what high school did I go to? Ahem, let's check Newsweek's Best Public High School rankings...ah, yes...Walnut Hills. #34. Whoo-hoo!

C/O 2002!

[KAPital PHINUst]

Technically I was ranked #20 out of 141 students in my class (top 15%), but keep in mind that was based on the first THREE years of high school and does not take into consideration senior year. But taking into consideration that I pulled at least a 3.5 GPA my senior year AND taking a full courseload with no Mickey Mouse classes (I could've taken the remaining 2-3 classes required for graduation and called it a day) AND a lot of other seniors had "senioritis" like a mu'luva, I am reasonably sure that despite what the "official" reports say, I made the top 10 percent of my class (or at least top 11)

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by KAPital PHINUst

But taking into consideration that I pulled at least a 3.5 GPA my senior year AND taking a full courseload with no Mickey Mouse classes (I could've taken the remaining 2-3 classes required for graduation and called it a day) AND a lot of other seniors had "senioritis" like a mu'luva, I am reasonably sure that despite what the "official" reports say, I made the top 10 percent of my class (or at least top 11)

Wait, a 3.5 would have moved you UP in class rankings? A 3.5 would have killed your class status at my HS.

[KAPital PHINUst]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

Wait, a 3.5 would have moved you UP in class rankings? A 3.5 would have killed your class status at my HS.

How would such a GPA kill you class status? I'm missing something here.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by KAPital PHINUst

How would such a GPA kill you class status? I'm missing something here.

Most of the top 30 or so in my class had GPAs ABOVE 4.0 on a 4.0 scale. A 3.5 would MAYBE get you in the top 50%.

[SoEnchanting]

Originally Posted by KAPital PHINUst

How would such a GPA kill you class status? I'm missing something here.

In my HS the top students had either close to a 4.0 or higher. AP classes counted extra towards your GPA. A 3.5 would have been good but not "top" anything.

[12dn94dst]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

Wait, a 3.5 would have moved you UP in class rankings? A 3.5 would have killed your class status at my HS.

same with my HS.

[KSUViolet06]

I was #9/120 in my graduating class (with a 4.0 overall GPA). The top 5 all had GPAs higher than 4.0 because of AP courses. Our valedictorian & salutatorian both had 5.0 GPAs (because they took the max number of AP courses allowed). I only took one (English).

I was actually MAD when I got my class ranking because I thought I was ranked higher. I remember crying to my friend (who was thrilled because she was valedictorian). I thought life was over.

Five years later later, we get some good laughs over that story.

[ladygreek]

My HS experience was interesting. I went to and "gifted" elementary school, so when I went to high school I was a sophmore academically. For three years I took classes with the students a year ahead of me. When they graduated, I was "housed" with my class, but tutored one-on-one in college prep courses.

The unfortunate thing about all of this is that I was already at least a year younger than my class (started HS at 12) and thus at least two years younger than the ones I had class with. My maturity level was definitely not on par and it affected me emotionally. I did not want to be the ultra smart TK (yes my Mom was the head of the math department at my HS.) So I did my fair share of acting out academically--skipping classes, not studying, etc.

[Little32]

Top 10% in highschool, which would have place me in the thirties somewhere. #7 in my class in college, darn those two A-s.

[OneTimeSBX]

i was #11!!! and to make matters worse, our valedictorian cheated her way thru high school, got a full scholarship to v.tech, and then dropped out of college because she was failing (her mom basically did everything for her in high school)...thanks for wasting that spot!

[Still BLUTANG]

nope, definitely not in top 10 class rank, and i think i just barely made it in top 25%.

everything was SO competitive [example: teachers telling us if you don't get a 1300 on the SAT you would be NOTHING (this was back in the day when the highest score was 1600). You might as well sign up to be a janitor after graduation if you don't go to an Ivy League school, or at least a highly ranked private college. And HBCU??? What are those??? ]

Although it might not have been the smartest move, I consciously made a decision to be "well rounded" rather than the super nerd up I had been until about 10th grade. i joined a bunch of activities and had friends and still made pretty good grades... but nothing remarkable b/c i went to school with a bunch of spoiled cheating overachievers. LOL.

[MsDJ80]

I graduated in the top 10% of my class #23 out of 280+. I was also a member of the Spanish National Honor Society, voted "Best ALL AROUND" by my Senior Class, and Homecoming Queen along with my then boyfriend/now hubby as the King