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Alright, this is the deal at my school. You take Honors or AP classes, then you can get a 5.0 for that class. If you don't, then you get a 4.0. Right now I'm in the 2nd seat (as freshman) only because I'm taking one extra 4.0 class than the #1 seat. Next year I was thinking about joining Journalism to try to become Cheif Editor senior year (I think I have the best chance of being it). But that would further screw up my GPA. Should I drop journ. and go for a 5.0 schedule or should i take it and be cheif editor. What im asking is is do top-tier colleges prefer to see a cheif editor or would they like to see a 1 in rank opposed to a 2 or 3?

By Modestmouse (Modestmouse) on Monday, April 05, 2004 - 10:17 pm: Edit

Why don't you self study a few APs, or BEG the newspaper adviser to let you do the paper while not taking the class? That's possible. Ha. I found your topic line intriguing, since I am both Chief Editor and number 1.(We don't offer a journalism class.)

By Ahwosg (Ahwosg) on Monday, April 05, 2004 - 11:27 pm: Edit

colleges are not going to care if you are 1, 2, or 3. editor in chief is so much better.

By Anjel0ve (Anjel0ve) on Monday, April 05, 2004 - 11:36 pm: Edit

I totally agree...u dont have to be in the top 3 at all to get in...last yr at my school the three people who got into harvard had ranks of like 15 or 17 (out of 600) and that was because they took orchestra/journalism which lowered their ranks significantly due to the weighted GPA thing...so don't worry about it :D

By Steffie1212002 (Steffie1212002) on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 12:26 am: Edit

I had to make that decison when I was a sophomore: I could continue pursuing the valedictorian spot, or I could royally screw up my GPA with 4.0 newspaper class.

I finally decided that I should just do what I like and let rank be darned.

Turns out, it didn't even matter -- I'm class salutatorian, and I purposefully took myself out of the race.

What concerns me is that you seem to soley be concerned with what colleges would like: Would they like you better if you were #1, or if you were the Chief Editor.
DON'T think like that. You have three more years of high school and if you plan your whole career on what colleges would like, you'll be cheating yourself.

Instead, pick classes that YOU like. If you like journalism, then take journalism. If you like art, take it. Experiment. Enjoy.

What colleges really want is a *passion* for something. You can't fake that. Just because you log in hours as Chief Editor doesn't mean Harvard will send a limo to your house.

Finally, admissions are so random and uber-competitive that you can be a 1600 valedictorian and president of 10 clubs with 500 community service hours and get rejected. You're only a freshman; don't live your life for a college that might reject you. Make the most of your high school experience, keep up your GPA, and finding something you *really* care about. You can't go wrong.

By Hiya (Hiya) on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 01:40 am: Edit

That's weird... our ranks are based off of only core classes (ie science, history, math, eng, foreign language) so we don't have that problem. Anyways, who takes 8 honors level classes??? Well, I shouldn't talk b/c I'm doing that next year, but most people don't.

By Gosu (Gosu) on Thursday, April 08, 2004 - 12:01 pm: Edit

Thanks, im probably going for journalism. But one more thing, since you guys all brought up the insignificance of GPA, then should i take college courses to furthur screw my GPA but do something that is fun. I know it shows initiative but are the college courses (not a top college) going to be looked upon as a highschool regular course or a AP/honors level course? If I am going to do the post secondary, then it would be at the University of Toledo.