My top 3 schools are Cornell, Dartmouth and Brown. And up to this point I’ve had a 4.0, but in AP Physics 1 I think I’m only going to be able to pull off a B+. Only one person last year got an A in this class and its really difficult. By senior year I will have taken 8 APs: AP Biology, AP US History, AP World History, AP Physics 1, AP English Lit, AP Calc BC, AP English Lang, and AP Psychology. My entire courseload is either honors, AP or dual enrollment. I got a 1510 on my SAT. Will a B+ in my Junior year absolutely kill my shot at these 3 schools? My cumulative UW GPA would drop to a 3.98.
Also I will likely do ED at either Cornell or Brown, with an intended major in English (I have received A+ in all of my English courses thus far)
I don’t really think they care, you’re still at like the 75th percentile.
If any of these schools reject you, it will not be because of a B+.
Like many HS kids you seem to see the world in black or white terms. Once your gpa is good enough to show you can handle the work then all the other stuff comes into play: your recs, your essays, your scores, your ECs, etc. A few B’s are not the make-or-break factor, nor do the kids with a 4.0 get into any school they want.
It’s not just about the GPA. In fact, I think schools do NOT want perfect GPAs because that sends a message that either your school is too easy, or you are a perfectionist.