Things other than grades are also very important. You’ll need some strong extracurricular activies, volunteer work, great SAT scores, strong essays, and good interview skills (if they request an interview).

However, don’t look down on “average” colleges. There are some state schools and private schools that are much easier to get in to that have nearly as good of an education. If you’re not planning on doing something that will require a degree from some place like Yale (like if you wanted to be a normal accountant), I’d definitely suggest keeping an open mind to other schools, as you’ll save yourself a good bit of cash. But if it’s your dream to go to one of those colleges, definitely push for it!

If you get A’s and B’s in honors classes, you will probably be able to go to a place like UCSD, to give an example close to home. A’s and B’s in regular classes will probably get you into a place like SDSU, but maybe not UCSD.