<p>Okay, so when people (admission officers/counselors/alumni) say decent so they mean:</p>
<li>All A’s
or </li>
<li>A’s and B’s</li>
</ol>
<p>Or do B’s = “omg, this kid stinks and isn’t ready for college” (that was my exaggerated version, but you get the point)</p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Harvard explicitly says it has no minimum G.P.A. requirement. ALL colleges I have heard from say that they look at "transcript" (note, that is not "grades") when they look at applicants. Challenge yourself with tough courses and do well in them.</p>
<p>I guess the other side of that is what are the profile of those who are accepted. I would guess that all A's & B's may have a tough time regardless of what the official policy is. I think it is more likely that the policies do not exclude someone who as some B's depending on the overall case. I know the IVY recruiters in some of the non revenue sports were picky about grades. D when through this last year is at P.</p>
<p>yeah, a lot of people have said that. </p>
<p>but I think "well" is also a very ambiguous word. Obviously, all A's is considered "well" but would B's take you out of the category?</p>
<p>I think it depends on a student's course load. A full IB Diploma student taking many advanced classes will obviously have a more difficult time than a student floating along with a few regular classes. As someone above said, they look at the TRANSCRIPT, not just the grades. Grades are important, but not the deciding factor.</p>
<p>rank can become an important factor. if you get all A's and A-'s in a school and not be in the top 10% you would be looked at less favorably than someone with A's and B's who ranks in the top ten of his or her school</p>
<p>Rank is the important factor. A few B's at one school may still be top of class but would be out of top 5% at many. At Dartmouth, very much a mid tier ivy, 40% of the ranked kids in this year's class were top 2 in their HS class. I would have to imagine that figure is even higher at HYP.</p>
<p>Dartmouth has a good 9% of the student body with GPA's from 3.4-2.0 uw.</p>
<p>Honestly if you have mostly A's with maybe a few Bs it won't really make a difference because most of the applicants already have these grades so they just look beyond it.</p>
<p>I'm sure all colleges have some questionable GPAs. Don't know how that works as DS says the ivies have a formula based on NCAA rules. In one book I have it says athletes are 18% of each class which in addition to development could explain some low GPAs. When I look at this is reinforces how high the stats have to be for the unhooked kids for them to come out with these medians.</p>
<p>You cannot put a number on the number of A's or B's for a student. </p>
<p>For example (Real Scenario):</p>
<p>Student 1: GPA: 4.25/4.33 (Only A's and A+'s) Top Ten percent ( 4 APs)
Student 2: GPA: 4.00/4.33 (All A's and a couple B's) Top Ten percent (8 APs)</p>
<p>Student 2 is going to be the more impressive student. Because despite not having the same GPA as student 1, they managed to remain in the "top ten percent" while taking 8 APs.</p>
<p>that's true (about the 4 and 8 AP thing)</p>
<p>Although, I'm not sure about getting B's in AP...it's considered college-level (idk if it really is...since I'm not IN college yet), but I just hope that the adcoms don't see B's as "unprepared" rather than "driven personality"</p>
<p>it really depends. if you're at a top private hs that sends 25% of grads to ivies, then you can get a few B's and still be really competitive. compare your own grades to those of the kids from your school who got into Ivies in the past. only then can you answer your question.</p>
<p>There were courses in my high school where less than 5 students could
get an A (curved). The curve actually helped the students at the middle
and the bottom but competition for the top spot was quite fierce.</p>
<p>A number of students place into the top 5 schools from my public HS
every year with a few (B+ and A-)'s on their transcript. Token is quite right
in that Harvard in particualr is not focused on all A's. Princeton however did
seem to care based on historic data at my HS.</p>
<p>Top 25 percentile, estimated if unranked, if one attends a competitive and prestigious high school.</p>