For top schools, yes one B will hurt your chances

[Anonymous]

For top schools like the Ivy Leagues, MIT, or Stanford, they do expect straight As in a demanding course load. In committee when admissions officers are discussing candidates, Bs will be used as an argument to not admit a student. People have gotten in with some Bs, but the rest of your application has to be even stronger to compensate for it.

First of all, in college admissions, no one cares about your weighted GPA. Weighted GPA just exists to make students feel better, but it isn't helpful for properly evaluation academic performance in admissions. To know your GPA, you need to look at the unweighted GPA for core classes only (i.e. PE does not count).

For many competitive high schools here, a single B can place you outside of the top 10% of your class, which will kill your chances for admissions.

Even for slightly lower ranked top schools like UCLA, a single B will place you below the 25% percentile of admitted students.

A ton of applicants to top schools are going to have straight As. Grades matter a lot, and you want to avoid anything except for As if you want to have a shot at top schools. Even then, many students with straight As will get denied.

[Anonymous]

This is not true.

[Anonymous]

Oh well.

[Anonymous]

Unhooked DD got into multiple Ivies, Ivy+'s, and WASP schools with a couple B's in Spanish over the years. She was still top 5% and also had strong rigor, test scores, ECs, and, LORs. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

What a weird unsolicited post. No on e asked for your opinion, OP.

[Anonymous]

Not true if it's in the early semesters.

[Anonymous]

Not true

[Anonymous]

IT DEPENDS ON THE SCHOOL'S RIGOR AND THE GRADES OF YOUR CLASSMATES.

If you're in public, where a fifth of the school gets straight As, yes, a B will penalize you, unless it's in AP Physics C, or multivariable calc (and you're not trying to get into MIT).

If you're in a rigorous private, where only top students get straight A, a couple of Bs might still be fine, especially if they're in advanced courses.

Know your school.

[Anonymous]

Never heard of this cause it isn’t true. DC goes to a highly competitive college and students will end up at Harvard, Princeton, etc with Bs in more than one class. Misinformation is very at strange.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
IT DEPENDS ON THE SCHOOL'S RIGOR AND THE GRADES OF YOUR CLASSMATES.

If you're in public, where a fifth of the school gets straight As, yes, a B will penalize you, unless it's in AP Physics C, or multivariable calc (and you're not trying to get into MIT).

If you're in a rigorous private, where only top students get straight A, a couple of Bs might still be fine, especially if they're in advanced courses.

Know your school.

Many rigorous privates where most of the class is getting As. This comment is out of touch and out of date.

[Anonymous]

Well I’m sure it “hurts” your chances but it doesn’t eliminate them. My unhooked UMC white daughter from MoCo got into a top 10 college and had 2 Bs from freshman year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
IT DEPENDS ON THE SCHOOL'S RIGOR AND THE GRADES OF YOUR CLASSMATES.

If you're in public, where a fifth of the school gets straight As, yes, a B will penalize you, unless it's in AP Physics C, or multivariable calc (and you're not trying to get into MIT).

If you're in a rigorous private, where only top students get straight A, a couple of Bs might still be fine, especially if they're in advanced courses.

Know your school.

Many rigorous privates where most of the class is getting As. This comment is out of touch and out of date.

No it is not. You do not get As in privates the same as in public. Could there be a private like a public? Yes. But the admissions team knows that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
IT DEPENDS ON THE SCHOOL'S RIGOR AND THE GRADES OF YOUR CLASSMATES.

If you're in public, where a fifth of the school gets straight As, yes, a B will penalize you, unless it's in AP Physics C, or multivariable calc (and you're not trying to get into MIT).

If you're in a rigorous private, where only top students get straight A, a couple of Bs might still be fine, especially if they're in advanced courses.

Know your school.

Many rigorous privates where most of the class is getting As. This comment is out of touch and out of date.

PP said "know your won school." Our school had two 4.0 students total last year, and the class average SAT was over 1400.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
IT DEPENDS ON THE SCHOOL'S RIGOR AND THE GRADES OF YOUR CLASSMATES.

If you're in public, where a fifth of the school gets straight As, yes, a B will penalize you, unless it's in AP Physics C, or multivariable calc (and you're not trying to get into MIT).

If you're in a rigorous private, where only top students get straight A, a couple of Bs might still be fine, especially if they're in advanced courses.

Know your school.

This is the only answer that matters! It is Rigor, then grades, in that order of importance (ie slightly lower grades but TOP/max rigor is always better than slightly higher grades and less rigor), and both of these only matter in the context of the high school!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unhooked DD got into multiple Ivies, Ivy+'s, and WASP schools with a couple B's in Spanish over the years. She was still top 5% and also had strong rigor, test scores, ECs, and, LORs. YMMV.

She’s probably full pay, and that’s a hook.