I've always heard it's alright to get a few Bs if you take AP and AL classes, but I'm wondering just how many.
There may not be a specific number, but I'd just like to know the average grades you got in high school (# of Bs and As) and made it to a top college such
as UPenn or Duke. Thanks!

Doesn't it depend I guess? This girl from my school is the perfect & a very well rounded student. She's first chair in cello and did a lot of music programs, she's very artistic and got a 4 on the AP portfolio, she's a straight A student with unweighted 4.0 gpa and in some classes she exceeded the 100% mark. I don't know about her SATs but I heard she got over 2300. She's 1/7 valedictorians. She applied early decision to Yale but she got rejected.

It all depends. You can get straight A's but still get rejected from an Ivy league school. You need to be well-rounded. This can mean sports or work or community service or leadership skills.

Good grades in the hardest classes you can take added with solid test scores get you in the door.

What push you in is devoting yourself to different EC's. Whether you are well-rounded or well-lopsided.

One of my senior friends. 3.9 GPA/2110 SAT/Plays many instruments (some typical like trumpet and his voice), others very exotic. He's very good with all these instruments.

He's gotten into Northwestern Early Decision

my first friend, valedictorian at my high school had a 4.0 and i think he took over 6AP's and got A's in all of them.
he got over a 2200 on his SAT's, etc. etc. was in like a bazillion clubs, a bazillion community service hours and his neck looked like it was gonna break from all the cords he had during graduation. he got into upenn.

my other friend, valedictorian at another high school had a 4.0, perfect SAT, over 6AP's, A's in all of them, worked, community service, involved in tons of clubs, super social and easy to get a long with. he's a freshman at harvard..

like the other ppl said, it doesn't matter if u have a 4.0 though. u have to be well rounded.
if there was a kid with perfect SAT scores, 4.0 and valedictorian compared to a kid
that had like a 3.8, 2200 on SAT's but in tons and tons of clubs and such, the latter would get chosen.

-esther-

i know a guy who was

president of almost every club you could imagine at the school
drum major of the marching band
first seat trumpet
perfect scores on almost all standardized tests
2300+ on SAT's
highest scorer on the math team from freshmen year to senior year
Valedictorian of '08
on the track team
4.0 gpa
i don't think that he got anything lower than a 90, even in AP classes

he got accepted into MIT and Yale and is still waiting to hear from Princeton

i think that he got everything that he deserved, because not everything was given to him, he had to work hard to get into those schools

as you can see from above, you need more than grades.
ivy league is a mystery. all ranges of sats, class rank, stats. but, one thing they all have...passion for something, they persevere and outstanding excellence in what they do (usually something unique)
good luck, but dont be heart broken if you dont get to go to an IL. i know people who have graduated from IL's and have hard time finding jobs and stuff. and people from state colleges who are very "successful" and everything they want to be.

college, in general, is what YOU make of it. good luck!

I know someone who got a 36 and was wait listed for harvard;he's well rounded and had a 4.0...Grades do matter, but you have a much greater chance to get into an ivy league if you went to a prep. school....

my ex bf got into MIT this year.

he only took 2 ap classes this year, 1 last year
in yearbook for only this year
key club for about two years
1900+ on SAT, not sure of his SAT II
soccer outside of school his fresh and soph year
volunteers at the library everyyy summer


he's #6 in our school ranking. he's had about 5-6 b's?

soo yeahhh. school decisions varyyyy