<p>Obviously, a perfect 4.0 unweighted is better than anything else, but would 1 B+ in a high level honors math course in sophomore year make the difference between being accepted or denied to a very competitive college?</p>
<p>The difference is .02</p>
<p>You are a human, not a robot. Being .02 off from a 4.0 is nothing to even think about.</p>
<p>And no, it would not make a difference…unless it was between you and another student with the exact same criteria, except he had a 4.0 and you had a 3.98, THEN, it would make a difference. But that will most likely not happen.</p>
<p>At that level, it’s about intuition on the part of the admissions officers on whether the student has what it takes to be part of the community – it’s an art, not a science. A 0.02 difference won’t get you in, it won’t leave you out.</p>
<p>My GPA was in the high 3.8 range but I was admitted at all schools applied. I’m sure there were many many 4.0s who weren’t admitted.</p>
<p>How would a B only bring down your GPA .02? If a B is counted as a 3.0 and an A as a 4.0, that would mean that you’ve taken 50 courses in high school. Is this true? If so, wow that is impressive.</p>
<p>Well, there should be 6 classes a semester right (4 cores, a language, and say classes like ap compsci, ap art history etc.)? If that’s kept up throughout high school, then a person would have 48 classes, give or take a few.</p>
<p>^^And a B+ is a 3.33 too.</p>
<p>Depends.
Yes</p>
<p>I can’t believe this thread exists. </p>
<p>Will it make a difference? Yes, they are different numbers. Will it really hurt you? Pffffft, no.</p>
<p>I agree with ellipses. If this were a genuine concern, then I question how the OP had enough common sense to actually attain a 4.0GPA. According to his/her line of thinking one would think the elite colleges only had 4.0GPA students accepted.</p>
<p>I understand nerves and all but please, use some of the superior deductive reasoning that you must have to have gotten as good grades as you have already.</p>
<p>So very, very much. There are thousands of applicants with perfect GPAs who are number one in their classes. Most people buy into this “I have a shot at a top college without perfect stats” myth that colleges perpetuate so that they can reap millions of dollars from applications fees for subpar applications that they would never consider in the first place. Do you really think a small admissions office really has the time or resources to carefully consider twenty thousand plus applications? Think about your own reading rate. Without a perfect GPA, top class rank (except in certain competitive schools), and scores above that admission year’s 80th percentile curve, (they determine that early on in the ED cycle) all you get is a red mark on the top of your folder that is left in a pile until some unpaid intern takes the time to drag it to the paper recycling area. Even if you somehow made the cut, they start picking the folders that match the “legacy list” and “recruited athlete list” who are given first consideration for admittance. In the end, that leaves a few hundred spots for the regular applicants who are vetted through a refined mathematical/statistical formula to meet racial, regional, and nationality quotas for a given year. They pick the rest, pat themselves on the back for a job well done, and subcontract the IT department to create a “we regret to inform you” website for the 20,000 or so anxious people who never stood a chance. And so a seventeen year old girl from New Jersey with a 3.98 GPA breaks into tears in front of her MacBook Pro at having her lifelong “dream school” dashed away, while her parents try to console her that it’s not her fault (while secretly hoping she’d go to state school to save money). </p>
<p>And that’s why a 3.98 GPA would be hopelessly unacceptable.</p>
<p>lol… jk</p>
<p>If you are smart enough to have a 3.98 GPA then you should be smart enough to know that this is a really, really stupid question.</p>
<p>Either this post is a ■■■■■ or your HS practices rampant grade inflation.</p>
<p>I agree with soze. OP, you should relax and try to enjoy life, instead of stressing over one B+.</p>
<p>As much as we on CC like to pretend applications are holistic, adcoms can’t see all the potential/intelligence of any given student. It’s not an entirely ridiculous question if the OP comes from a school with pretty decent grade inflation–at my school, no one has been accepted to an Ivy without a 4.0 (but we also don’t have pluses or minuses). Sometimes, it makes sense to worry, especially since the context of one’s school can be the best way to get a feel for your own chances.</p>
<p>Still, OP, especially with the knowledge CC provides to bolster your apps in other ways, a 3.98 is hardly a deal-breaker.</p>
<p>You might find it more suitable to pay more attention to rank than GPA… GPA’s can mean different things at different school, even sub-3.8’s may be more impressive than at first glance.</p>
<p>If your rank is high, you may not have to worry about this.</p>
<p>Gryffon, you are my new hero. I might be quoting you in the future.</p>
<p>wow are you seriously asking this question?</p>
<p>Gryffon - <em>applause</em></p>
<p>It actually could be a big deal at some schools where many students get 4.0s. Many years at my school you’d possibly drop as much as 5% in your class rank without a 4.0. Will it kill you? No, but it seems obvious that a 4.0 and higher rank is going to be better than a 3.98 and lower rank, even if the difference isn’t that great.</p>