[stanford_labrat]

Sounds like my school district. Freshman were technically banned from taking AP classes (but of course, some parents spoke to the school and thus they were allowed in). And naturally the valedictorian 3 years later was one of the 4 that was able to get into an AP class freshman year.

I always felt quite vindicated when I got my class rank (8/432) even though I had a "normal" schedule. 0, 3, 6, 7 APs. I even took a free period and only had 6 classes junior year as opposed to the normal 7!

[rodonn]

I had a similar situation at my school where I was valedictorian because there are 2 Latin language APs vs. only 1 for most of the other foreign languages.

[freeopinion]

Try living in a rural area where some kid took all 5 AP classes offered, and all 8 Honors classes. They've been #1 throughout high school. Then somebody moves in from a school that offered more than 5 AP classes. Suddenly the kid who did everything possible didn't do enough.

Or the student who was tied for #1 when the school decided they wouldn't accept ties. So they did pole vault scoring and reached back to kindergarten to see who got the first B.

In academics as in sports and all other pursuits, sometimes you just have to be satisfied with excellence regardless of trophies.