So much discussion already & great points made by all! Something else to think about is that once you are admitted, SOME schools (several that D was admitted to & the one she attends) - I know not all schools are like this - base academic scholarships solely on unweighted GPA & ACT or SAT (also rank, but her school doesn’t rank). She took demanding classes so the she could graduate with an “Advanced with Honors” diploma, but in hindsight, would have been better off skipping some of the harder classes she struggled in and making A’s in classes that were a little easier. The grade scale was also an issue - her school switched from an 8 point to a 10 point scale her senior year & she had several 91/B’s from 9th-11th grades and unweighted they were counted as 3 points instead of 4. She missed out on a lot of scholarship $$$ with the unweighted GPA, even though her ACT/SAT scores were quite good.