Zero

Two B's: One in Spanish freshman/Covid year and the other in first semester AP Spanish at a good-not-remarkable public high school. DD got into three T20s (two Ivies) and two WASP LACs. She had a 35 ACT, 12 APs, strong ECs, and a generally strong application. FWIW, she has received straight A's so far at her WASP LAC.

OP, you need to check Naviance for data from your high school.

Any top 15 school is a crapshoot nowadays. Harvard gets 8000+ perfect GPA students for 2000 spots, for example. But that doesn't mean they don't take kids with a B or two.

As other example, the person posting here about the absolutes top 6% for things like UVA is being too exact. We have over 110 kids from our mediocre FCPS get into UVA every year based on scattergram and it certainly isn't all over 4.51 GPA. And they reject some over 4.4 because they didn't take the most rigorous or 4 years or science or whatever reason. There is no absolute formula for any school. For uva, you can follow Dean J on instagram weekly she updates followers with live videos and answers questions. Most rigorous curriculum is very important nowadays for some schools, and so is intended major. Follow her blog, and also look at data from your school.

It really depends on your particular school and exmissions history. My kid got b+ grades (2 freshman year, 1 sophomore year). Accepted ed to upenn. All other grades were a/a-, testing and ec were very strong. Kid goes to well regarded private school where many kids do get into selective schools with a couple of B). The cds gpa info isn't accurate or helpful bc there is so much grade inflation, rigor varies by school, and most privates don't even weight gpa's. Most helpful to see data from kids at your school.

My kid had a couple of Bs but hardest curriculum and lots of AP classes at a DMV Catholic. Instate Virginia student.

Waitlisted UVA but in at W&M, VTech, UMD, and UMich. Waitlisted at a couple of privates.

Went to UMich for data science and very happy. Academics going but not overwhelming.

Anonymous wrote:3 Bs - all in freshman/sophomore year:

French (9th)
French (10th)
Biology (9th)

Everything went up to an A/A- in 11th and 12th (first term).

Got into Brown, and a few other top 30 schools.

Did your DC apply for a STEM major and was Brown ED?

3 Bs - all in freshman/sophomore year:

French (9th)
French (10th)
Biology (9th)

Everything went up to an A/A- in 11th and 12th (first term).

Got into Brown, and a few other top 30 schools.

Anonymous wrote:Hello,

If your child was accepted into a highly selective college, how many Bs did they have?
If you don't mind, could you name the school?

I know this is a silly question as admissions is holistic, but trying to gauge which schools we should target early decision/early action. There are differing opinions in our family!

none. no one in the top 10-15% has any Bs at their school

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello,

If your child was accepted into a highly selective college, how many Bs did they have?
If you don't mind, could you name the school?

I know this is a silly question as admissions is holistic, but trying to gauge which schools we should target early decision/early action. There are differing opinions in our family!

Zero (A- in 7th grade algebra and Spanish 4-FCPS)
Waitlisted at UVA and NEU
Denied H and Penn
Accepted at BU, CWRU, Lehigh, UMD, WM, Pitt, Ohio St and UMN

Can you share what AP’s they took for context?

CS Principles
CS-A
Adv CS (post AP)
World
APUSH
Gov
Phys C-Mechanics
Phys C-E&M
Calc BC
Stats
Calc 3/Linear (post AP)
Obviously NO Lang, Lit or FL. 100% sure that killed chances at UVA.

Nah, it got to be something else. Maybe just bad luck.
My DS took similar AP classes, did not took AP Lang or AP Lit, only English honor. His highest foreign language was Spanish 3. Had one B in middle school (Algebra 1), others are all As. He got in to UVA Engineering and GT CS, went to GT instead. He had great letter of recommendations, and very good ECs, leadership roles, research, and several state and national level STEM awards.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get so tired of the "in publics everyone should get an A b/c of retakes" nonsense. Our school does allow retakes, but only up to an 80. That isn't going to get you an A. Maybe it's helping a kid not get a C.

So your kid goes to APS where an -A is 4.0 and a B+ is a 3.5 (when it should be a 3.3)? Plus retakes. I think that really helps pad the gpa.

At my kid’s privates, there are no retakes and you earn the appropriate gpa points for your work. -A=3.7, B+=3.3 B=3.0

This is where the AO's often say that the students are reviewed in the context of their region/high school. It is irrelevant if prep school from NYC uses a 1-5 grading scale and rural school from South Dakota uses A-F with as many or as little increments delineating the As and the Bs.

Admissions do not evaluate based on absolute values. That's why this question of how many B's (presumably to assess the acceptable number of B's for anyone to have to have a chance at certain schools) is not helpful because the answer is always... it depends.

If there is anything I learned about this admissions cycle is that absolutely nothing is predictable. So everyone go apply to wherever you want to apply and let the cards fall where they may. Most chances are improbable yet anything is possible.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA pretty much said it's not an either/or for all As and rigor. It's an AND for them.

Well, yes, but UVA still has test optional. It is a "AND" for boring entitled white kids like mine applying, but it's not an "and" for URM and first generation, etc.

My 2024 FCPS DC had 3 Bs after end of junior year, plus 2 Bs first semester senior year. Accepted by UVA and W&M. 10 AP courses in total.

Any hooks? First gen? URM?

Asian (with an Asian name), so absolutely no hooks, no first gen and definitely not URM.

Congrats!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA pretty much said it's not an either/or for all As and rigor. It's an AND for them.

Well, yes, but UVA still has test optional. It is a "AND" for boring entitled white kids like mine applying, but it's not an "and" for URM and first generation, etc.

My 2024 FCPS DC had 3 Bs after end of junior year, plus 2 Bs first semester senior year. Accepted by UVA and W&M. 10 AP courses in total.

Any hooks? First gen? URM?

Asian (with an Asian name), so absolutely no hooks, no first gen and definitely not URM.

my kid was valedictorian, Eagle Scout, perfect GPA, 36 ACT, etc., national
honors, but boring white kid i guess in today's new world of college admissions. Deferred at Princeton REA; waitlisted at four Ivies (legacy at two of them). Got in to UVA, Purdue and Ga Tech all for aerospace engineering and picked UVA.