Some students spend their Junior year studying for the SAT test, taking as many AP classes as they can, and working hard to overall improve their GPA and class rank. Many people say that their junior year of high school would be the hardest because of college preparations as well as being involved in extracurricular activities and overall maintaining good academics.
Class ranks in high school is a summary of how a student’s academic achievements stack up against other members of their graduating class. Class rankings are organized by a students GPA from the students with the highest grade to the student with the lowest in the graduating class. A students Grade Point Average, also known as “GPA,” according to College Board, is the sum of all course grades throughout a students high school career. Most high schools go up to a scale of a 4.0 average which equals to an A.
College admissions look for good class ranks and GPA, but that’s not the only thing they are interested in. Colleges and universities consider a variety of factors in their admission decisions. According to the Career Exploration Program, colleges seek good grades, standardized test scores, extracurricular activities, and a strong admissions essay. Junior Jaylen Bowman, is not very concerned about submitting his class rank for college.
“The college that I’m looking at to apply for, they don’t require class ranks for the application. I did a lot of research for my top picks and most, if not all of them, you don’t need to submit your class rank. They mostly look into what extracurricular activities you’re in and how you do on testing, so i’m not too worried about my class rank, like i’ll try to get it up higher but if it’s low, I won’t stress about it,” Bowman said.
One way a student can improve their class rank and GPA is by taking Advanced Placement, or AP, and dual credit classes. AP classes and dual credit classes are a system of classes in which an eligible high school student can enroll in college courses and receive credit, plus an extra 10 point boost for their GPA. Junior Logan Clark, is taking several AP classes so that he is able to improve his overall GPA and class rank.
“I’m currently taking AP U.S History, AP Comparative Government, AP Economics, AP Language, AP Chemistry, AP Pre Calculus and AP Statistics. So overall seven Ap classes,” Clark said. “I do think it’s worth it, I know some people may not agree with me, but I think it’s a good way to boost your GPA and get a higher class rank.”
For some students, school can be very overwhelming and stressful, especially while balancing extracurricular activities, studying for big tests, and trying to maintain good grades and academic achievements. For other students it may also feel overwhelming and they may feel so much pressure to excel academically that they find themselves stressing out. Junior Javier Lopez, tries to distract himself when he is stressed
AP European History and AP World History teacher, Rena Long recommends students to be careful when taking too many AP classes.
“I would be careful about the load of how many AP classes a student takes. I do encourage students to take AP classes but think they need to be careful because usually there is a lot of workload,” Long said. “It really helps to make a schedule and figure out how much time you have and how much work you need to complete. It can get very stressful very fast and it’s very crucial to stay organized.”
“I’m not really always too stressed about school because I try and take it easy. I like to pick up hobbies, play video games, go outside, and hang out with friends. I’ve never been one to stress over school, or Ive never worried too much about it, but when I do sometimes I try to keep myself distracted,” Lopez said.
As a student continues their high school career their class rank may change every year according to how they are maintaining their grades compared to other students around them. At the beginning of Senior year students are informed that they might be running for Valedictorian, which is the person with the highest class rank.
