Don’t compromise sleep. I was and am still pulling allnighters. 4.0 unweighted gpa, class rank 4/500-something. But, I like sleep. Wish I always had more of it. Always.
The CDS may help you, depending on the college. Harvard just marks everything ‘considered’ except for rank, yale just marks everything ‘very important’. Berkeley does not consider rank. So I gave the link you can print out the Harvard CDS for her. But really the issue seems to be that she wants to make your life about being perfect and getting into college and you want to make your life about pushing yourself and learning–imo, you are on the right track, and what college you go to isn’t the most important thing anyway, really. Developing yourself to be a superb student is and pushing yourself and talking risks are part of growth. They do not want safe and pedestrian robots, or timid scholars anyway, be bold.
Harvard
Rigor of school record - considered
Rank - not considered
gpa - considered
standardized test scores - considered
recommendations - considered
essay - considered
extracurricular activities - considered
character/personal qualities -considered
talent/ability - considered
http://oir.harvard.edu/files/huoir/files/harvard_cds_2013-14.pdf
Berkeley
Rigor of school record - very important
Rank - not considered
gpa - very important
standardized test scores - very important
recommendations - not considered
essay - very important
extracurricular activities - important
character/personal qualities - important
talent/ability - not considered
Yale
Rigor of school record - very important
Rank - very important
gpa - very important
standardized test scores - very important
recommendations - very important
essay - very important
extracurricular activities - very important
character/personal qualities -very important
talent/ability - very important
You are correct. You are taking rigorous classes and doing extremely well in them…this is what the top colleges want.
The only time I would say to take easier classes to maintain a GPA is if you wanted to go to a state school (Texas, FLorida) where acceptance/scholarships was dependent on GPA. But even then, if you are in top 5% you are good.
Your mom probably doesn’t want you to slack off, but a B in one class isn’t slacking.
Also, don’t keep monitoring your rank. Watch your grades and do well in your classes.
It is definitely a balancing act. Colleges prefer a 3.9 with max schedule difficulty to a 4.0 with a so-so schedule, and almost always prefer a B in an AP class to an A in an honors/standard version of the same class. However, don’t take that to mean that a 3.0 with 8 AP’s is better than a 4.0 with 8 Honors. It’s a balancing act. And when all else fails, you can ask the colleges.