<p>I have only ever gotten B's in Pre-AP and AP classes I took. That will change this year. But these classes have dragged my GPA down from what it could be if I took all regular classes. I know a lot of people in AP classes with me complain that colleges will just look at the GPA's, and all the people who took regular classes and got A's will look better than us with their 4.0 Unweighted GPA's.
I have a friend, the only person in our grade and one of about three in our school who has gotten all A's, taken all available Pre-AP and AP classes (even one last year that wasn't supposed to be available to us), and has a ~4.5 weighted / 4.0 unweighted GPA.
In our AP US History class last year, our teacher said to our faces, "If you can make an A in this class, you are ready to take a college history course." The highest possible grade was a 94, since her DBQ scale only went up to 92 for a perfect 9, and the class average was a low C (I still squeaked by with a B).
My main concern is, will colleges focus on unweighted GPA's instead of weighted, and will they look to see if I took advanced placement classes? And would I, with a 3.9 weighted / 3.6 unweighted GPA, be preferred over someone who had only taken regular classes and had a 4.0 weighted/unweighted GPA?</p>
<p>B’s in any class are “okay” for most colleges.
Colleges will definitely know that the classes you got B’s in were AP classes, but if you’re applying to top colleges your competition will have gotten A’s in those classes, so it could lower your chances unless your high school is known for being particularly challenging.</p>
<p>They like to see students challenged. APs are better than normal classes*</p>
<p>*unless the student has a bad grade in them (C or below, usually)</p>