Please continue your Floyd Irons debate here

[VTIME]

I was top 10% in my class, but not top 10 as far as rank. You're dead wrong about the 20 kids period out of St. Louis. Cardinal Ritter sends a lot of kids Ivy League and so does Metro, McCluer North, Pattonville, and many others. I think you underestimate today's kids. With college being more important than ever parents are really pushing their kids. Every school is not Vashon when it comes to academic achievement and even they had at least one kid in Washington who got accepted to Ivy League schools and could've gone to Dartmouth on full basketball or full academic scholarship

[brianstl]

http://www.normandy.k12.mo.us/news/FY06_ne...edictorians.pdf

Well it looks like none valedictorians will be headed to the Ivy league this year. Also, with the top GPA being 4.0 would lead me to believe they offer no advance placement classes. If thats the case V there is no way 20 kids from your class went to Ivy schools. The MICDS class of 2005 had only 9 grads going to Ivy schools. We are supposed to beleive your class at Normady had more than twice as many, right.http://academics.micds.org/counseling-college.htm

[VTIME]

That was our class. Every class is not the same. And I had AP Literature my senior year, so there are advanced placement classes. Someone asked me why I stayed home despite my above average grades. Well the answer is: My dad asked me to. I wasnt long since my mom died, and between him working 2 jobs, both in hard labor, someone had to take my brother to school, practices, games, National Honor Society meetings etc. My brother finished 4th in his class by the way which is a big deal coming out of Ritter. He also got the Cardinal Ritter Award which goes to the graduating senior who personified leadership, excellence in the classroom, and a lot of other admirable qualities. That made me feel like all the hardwork i put in to help him paid off. He got accepted to several Ivy League schools such as Penn and Columbia.

[davidlee]

"with the top GPA being 4.0 would lead me to believe they offer no advance placement classes"

Not all HS give extra grade points for Honors or AP courses. O'Fallon Township HS (Illinois) does not. Each year there are at least 5 or more valedictorians - all with 4.00 GPA.

[brianstl]

Thats why I didn't state it as fact. I wasn't sure. Now I know. V do you have any proof of 20 students out of 179 going Ivy. Thats more than ten precent of the graduating class. If thats the case which Ivy did you turn down?

[LoveforVouk]

I didn't have that many kids from my school go to Ivy leagues and I went to a top high school. My schools had more AP and College credit classes then most other schools combined. I find it hard to imagine that 20 kids went there, unless these Ivy league school wanted some diversity. A 4.0 at a failing public school is not impressive compared to the scores my high school had. Also, my school didn't have weighted scored. Kids could take 4 AP classes and not get an extra points for that.

[VTIME]

I got letters from most of them, but I only applied to one of them as I had no intent of going to any of them. I always wanted to major in journalism and Missouri is known for it. So that was my top choice for college. I got accepted to the following schools, Missouri, Illinois, Milliken, Fontbonne, Harris-Stowe, Saint Louis, Missouri Western, Brown, Rust College, Langston University, Southern University, and UMSL. When my dad asked me to stay home, my focus shifted to find a historically black college close by. I immediately thought Lincoln. I was unaware that there was a historically black college in St. Louis until I went to Preston Thomas was a guidance counselor at Normandy and still holds that position along with holding the same position at Cardinal Ritter and Coaching Forest Park. He told me to consider Harris-Stowe as a lot of the prominent blacks in St. Louis came out of there, not just teachers. The name he said that I recognized was Julius Hunter. My mother and father also attended Harris-Stowe and my dad was still known for his playing days down there where he averaged 17pts and 18rbs per game. Now that the school has expanded from a college to a university and is no long solely a commuter college, my decision doesnt look so bad. I'm content. And graduation is not far off. I'll be a senior in January and I cant wait to see those six letters on my schedule. S-E-N-I-O-R. Ah ha ha ha!

[VTIME]

ding ding ding.

[Pistol]

Not to knock you or your academic abilities, but receiving letters from elite universities means nothing except that you've taken the standardized tests (Iowa basics, PSAT, PLAN, etc.) in high school. The letters are a recruiting tool that every school uses, from community colleges to Ivies, and I recieved letters from both of those and everything in between.

I went to one of the more academically elite high schools in the area, and did a lot of homework on colleges before deciding to go to SLU. It is typical for any given Ivy League or other top university (like Northwestern, U of Chicago, Wash U, Stanford, etc.) to take just a handful of students from any metropolitan area, aside from the very large cities. The schools can pick from the best applicants in the country, and try to keep their demographics as mixed and spread out as possible. I can assure you there is no possible way that so many kids from a single class at any school were admitted to Ivies, especially a school with many struggling students- not that you were one of them, but you're way off base on those numbers.