I know, but that’s not the question that was asked. It’s kind of a duh that colleges want to see the A in the hardest class. The fuzziness happens with the OP’s question. My guess is that it’s interpreted differently depending on who sees your transcript and what college you’re applying to, but that’s just a guess.
I agree with happy1 and lost account. Don’t coast through high school, but don’t work yourself into a state of
anxiety. Do your very best and challenge yourself. You might struggle sometimes, but you will be glad you didn’t take the easy way all the time.
However, many AP courses cover in a year the material that a college course covers in a semester (e.g. calculus AB, psychology, the physics ones, chemistry, the economics ones, computer science, statistics, etc.), so that most sets of 4 AP courses should theoretically be less work per week than 4 college courses in the same general subjects, unless the high school is one that adds extra work just to make extra work.
That doesn’t change the answer you would get from a college admissions person, which is the answer @ucbalumnus gave.
^^No chance that the admissions people would actually tell you which one they favor. Can you imagine the furor…
My outlook is biased by the experience of my son and two other students who applied to Univ. of Calif. campuses. One of them had demanding and impressive extracurriculars, including president of an important club. However he had a tough time with one of our school’s most difficult AP classes and got either Bs or Cs, not sure which. He was not accepted to UCLA or UCB, and, though admitted to the mid-tiers, did not get his desired popular major. He was then accepted and now attends a top 25 university in another state.
My son, who had modest extracurriculars and was not president of anything, took the Honors level of the class, made As, and was accepted into all the UC campuses and was given that same popular major at all of them, except for the one campus at which you have to apply for the major after 2 years.
Another student, an A student except for mainly Bs in English but a very high ACT score, was offered a substantial merit scholarship to a top 50 university. However, he was rejected by UCLA and UCB and was not given his major at the mid-tier UCs.
Was it really just a few Bs that made the difference in the quality of UC acceptances? One can’t know for sure. I don’t have all the facts on each student. But I keep this in mind and wonder. I think that enjoying taking on challenges is one of the most valuable qualities in a student. But if one has one’s heart (or finances) set on attending a UC, one may need to be a bit cautious.
@MotherOfDragons they will happily tell you they favor the A in AP World History is my point.
The actual answer to the “B in hard class versus A in regular class” question probably depends on the context and the college applied to.
For the most selective colleges, applicants need mostly A grades and mostly hard classes. One B or one regular class among A grades in hard classes is different from lots of either or both.
I graduated last year. There were some kids in my high school who took all standard level classes, always made honor roll, and even got on NHS, but they never challenged themselves academically and ended up at subpar/mediocre schools. I, as well as most of my friends, challenged my self in high school and took all honors and AP’s. I wasn’t always on honor roll, I wasn’t on NHS, but i did end up at a top 50 school. I think schools really like to see you challenging yourself.
@laurrodes Congratulations! I see from your post in another thread that you got into Boston University with 3 APs (APUSH, AP Psych, and AP Gov) , 2 honors classes, and a community college Sociology course.