<p>Does it look really bad to have B’s in math and science courses for the most competitive schools, or will a good overall GPA mean more? I tend to get high B’s in science and low in math, but I excel in English and other subjects. If I want a LAC and can do all subjects at least well, how much will it matter?</p>
<p>The most competitive schools expect GPAs that don’t include a lot of Bs. Those a tier below are much more forgiving if one area is a slight weakness.</p>
<p>i had mostly bs and b-s in math and even one c+ and i got bs in spanish too…but as and a-s in english and histroy and sciences. anyway, the point is, i got into tufts and they are an LAC. so i think that if you a well-rounded person, it might not matter that much.</p>
<p>i’ll have good-great ECs, great recs, and great essays…even if i get B+'s in math and science, I still work hard and get respect for it. I hope it will be enough. The math SAT needs a definite boost though - studying would be a start.</p>
<p>one more thing - absolutely no grade inflation. not that that will count…but it’s my justification!</p>
<p>They will look at gpa and rank in combination to see how hard grading is at your high school. Large public universities generally just use the gpa without looking at where the B’s occurred. An LAC would spend alot of time looking at the total person. The absolute insanity at the top 12 or 15 national universities drops off exponentially as you get away from the brand-names. By the time you get down to schools that USNWR ranks as 18 or 20, the system is tough but not so bad so long as you have the stats. </p>
<p>Tufts is not a LAC. It is very similar to WUSTL, Emory or Vanderbilt in its size and admissions characteristics.</p>
<p>what schools are you thinking of? i could answer your question accordingly.</p>
<p>Amherst…but I’m trying to be realistic. I’m also looking at Middlebury, Reed, and a few others. UCSC (CA) will be my safety.</p>
<p>I think you’ll be OK. It would obviously be better if you had mostly B+ in those subjects and maybe one or two Bs, but you wouldn’t be an auto-reject for your grades, I don’t think. Strongly consider getting a rec from a math/science teacher who can point out your strengths. If you are really quite strong in english and such then your other lower grades will matter less, I would guess.</p>
<p>Based on your stats, what will get you is not your gpa/rank but your SAT scores. According to recent Business Week article, that 1990 and/or 1200 V/M is not admissible to Amherst, even for the URMs and Athletes.</p>
<p>ooohhh…that sucks. hopefully i can improve my scores to a decent level.
i can most definitely get a great rec from my science teacher. the hard part is trying to get past that B+ barrier.</p>
<p>Bs aren’t bad. Just as long as you don’t have too many of them.</p>
<p>Simple answer:</p>
<p>It is all relative. </p>
<p>If you are taking easy classes then do not get a B. If your courseload is insane then a B+ average is quite reasonable, and if anything quite good. Here is my take on it. If you are taking THE HARDEST possible courseload and your average is a B or B+ then everything will be good. If your courseload is hard, but not the hardest and you have an A average then it will look bad because it won’t seem as if you pushed yourself that extra bit at the risk of grades.</p>
<p>B = BAD</p>
<p>Don’t get Bs.</p>
<p>Have a nice day. :D</p>
<p>I gotta agree with vicissitudes here</p>
<p>A = Awesome, B = Bad, C = Caliginous, D = Devil , F = Failure/Fiasco</p>
<p>Hahaha, so Failure is worse than the Devil eh? Sounds about right.</p>
<p>D can = disaster.</p>
<p>B= Da Bomb</p>
<p>(Only saying this cause I got a B in Driver’s Ed…but I’ve never had a wreck, which is more than I can say for most of the people who got A’s!)</p>
<p>Ha! I almost failed because of senior citizens! One tried to sideswipe me, another was going 40 down a parking lot while i was pulling out of a perpendicular parking spot, and another was hitting the breaks at the completely wrong times very suddenly.</p>
<p>i think B in terms of rank matters. Such as a student can be in a school and get eight Bs and still be valedictorian… I think that means that the school is highly competitive and that can only be a plus. on the other hand, i think if you get a B and your rank drops from 5 to 399, i think that shows how much grade inflation is going on :).</p>