It depends on the school. Some prep schools give out lots of B’s and the colleges know that the kids are more than capable of doing the work. My younger son got into U of Chicago with lot’s of B’s. (In Chemistry, three years of Latin and probably some of his English courses as well.) He was in the top 6% of his class though. We belong to what is usually rated a middling public high school in the NYC suburbs. My older son definitely had a B or B+ in freshman year English and got into top schools. He was in top 2% of the class. Our school doesn’t give out A’s like candy.