Myth: An A is always better than a B.

Parents and students often ask if it’s better to have a B in an honors course or an A in a less-challenging one. Insiders joke that the honest answer is an A in the honors class.

That may be an exaggeration, but this much is true: the road to UW-Madison is rarely lined with cupcakes. Nearly nine of ten students who enrolled as freshmen in 2007 took Advanced Placement (AP) classes in high school. Admissions counselors are barely looking at students who don’t have ambitious transcripts these days, and simply to stay in the mix a student should have completed at least four years of English, math, science, and foreign languages.

Counselors understand that not all high schools offer AP or special honors programs, but they want to see students take a healthy sampling of the most demanding classes available to them.

“We don’t tell students to take difficult classes to torture them,” says Kelly Olson, an assistant director of freshman recruitment. “We want them to take those classes so that they’re better prepared for what they’ll face when they come here.”

Next myth » One grumpy admissions counselor can doom an application.

• Introduction
• Myth: It’s a secretive process.
• Myth: A formula determines whether students are admitted or denied.
• Myth: UW-Madison has raised its admissions criteria in recent years.
• Myth: The UW turns away students with perfect GPAs.
• Myth: Some students get special treatment in the admissions process.
• Myth: It’s impossible for regular students to get in anymore.
• Myth: No one reads personal statements.
• Myth: It pays to apply early.
• Myth: Minority students get in with lower grades than some white students who are rejected.
• Myth: UW-Madison caps the number of students who can be admitted from one high school.
• Myth: Back in the day, UW-Madison let everybody in.
• Myth: Applicants from outside Wisconsin are taking up spots that could go to state residents.
• Myth: Connections with important people can get you in.
• Myth: Alumni can get their kids in if they pull the right strings.
• Myth: Being postponed is the same as being on a wait list.
• Myth: An A is always better than a B.
• Myth: One grumpy admissions counselor can doom an application.
• Myth: Admissions counselors like rejecting people.
• Myth: My son or daughter isn’t emotionally ready to be turned down by the university.
• Myth: It’s a perfect system.