no. A is an A
well what if you go to one of the best high schools so to speak…and grade deflation is high. Ie a B+ in Honors chem is equiv to an A in AP chem (same curriculum) at other school .
Will it matter if you have a 3.7 UW taking the most difficult poss. in these cases?
Just wonderin’
You need to think about “why an Ivy.”
The Ivy League is just an athletic conference. The actual schools vary widely: urban, rural, huge, tiny, graduate-oriented, undergraduate-focused, teaching by full and full-time faculty, teaching by adjuncts who barely earn a living, teaching by international graduate students whose English is incomprehensible. Do you know what you might want to study, because all Ivy schools don’t offer every subject? And how many non-major general education courses do you want to take, because some Ivies have extensive requirements and others have few?
You can get an excellent education at many other schools, some of which may welcome you and offer significant financial aid. Dont limit yourself to a few high-priced places that sometimes seem to work harder on public relations than education.
Full disclosure: I have an Ivy degree and, if I had to do it again, I would choose a small liberal arts college instead.
^ This is a very good post.
It will only NOT matter if the following condition holds:
Nobody in a given class got a solid A
You are judged relative to your peers, not by an absolute standard, in Ivy admissions. If there are 50 kids in a class and 10 get A’s and you get an A-, you ARE at a disadvantage. You didn’t do as well as them. Period. The HYP-level schools want the best, not people who are almost the best.
If you get a few A-s, then that’s okay. If those grades - and below- are all that populate your transcript, then yes, it’s a problem.
Wordworker, that was a nice post, but I think it was a little misplaced.
I honestly the OP was asking about top ranked schools in general, not necessarily just Ivy Leagues…but I could be wrong.
Hi sorry I have not been on in a while…
I ended up getting all A’s and two A-'s …
this is my junior year schedule, does this look rigorous???
AP Calc AB
AP Chemistry
IB History HL
IB Spanish HL
World Lit (H)
Physics (H)
Anatomy and Physiology (H)
^^^ bump please
As long as there weren’t more Honors/APs/IBs available you could have taken and didn’t that’s fine. It’s rigorous in relation to what your school offers.
And A- is fine. I got into Penn unhooked and I have several B’s on my transcript, including a B- (though it was Freshman year).
I believe EC’s make someone’s resume, and grades support it. The Ivies don’t accept “regular” students with A’s. It can be a simply answer to study for five hours for a history test, but do you have the ambition to take your interests further than the norm?
But that is off topic kinda. A or A-, if you have good EC’s, a high SAT, etc then you have a good shot at being accepted.
Guys, stop giving the OP hope. His chances at a successful life are obviously over. He should just go to trade school if he ever finds the self-discipline.
I don’t think anyone can accurately answer this without knowing what your school is like. At my school, I don’t think anyone has gotten straight A’s and no A-'s. It’s just the way our system is.