Is a B in honors really better than A in regular?

i hear this all the time, but a B is a 3.0 in GPA And a A is 4.0, and the person getting B would have a much lower unweighted GPA. How would colleges compare the 2? It seems like if a person took all honors/APs and got 3.6ish UW GPA, it would be an immediate turn-off for top schools, despite the tough classes…

If you are planning to go to top schools, you should be getting A’s in Honors. If you are getting B’s in Honors classes, maybe you should start setting your sights a little lower.

Honors classes are weighted higher than regular classes so it is possible to get a higher GPA . Many colleges look at weighted GPA over unweighted GPA . They also look at rigor of a class. Honors and AP classes are considered more rigorous.

It depends. Depending on the “top school,” 85% + have a GPA of 3.75 or higher, and one should assume that they all had honors/AP/tough classes. A 3.6 would be pushing it, unless your HS was a very competitive, elite HS that feeds a lot of students to top schools and/or you have a hook (e.g. URM/legacy/recruited athlete).

For one or two classes, yes. However, if you are taking 6-10 honors/AP classes and end up getting B’s in nearly all of them it is definitely not worth it as your GPA would suffer way too much.