c) I do really get the point about not reaching to a university you aren't prepared for. I'm not going into details here but I do have a close friend who's kid has hit this pitfall and is now struggling just to graduate from an elite school.
I get the point too... but fwiw... I also see this struggle over grade vs challenging course going on with students (locally) who are very capable of the high-level universities they are applying too and can and are very successful in those schools... still having to worry over GPA. One example of this is high school credits earned in middle school - the students I am referring to here are all highly able, highly capable, highly successful in school students. Many of them have taken high school level course in middle school (as allowed by our district). Our school district also allows you to add these courses to your high school transcript - and our high school counselors advise the students to be *very* aware that in doing this, they are potentially lowering their GPAs both through adding anything less than an A and by adding classes that don't carry weighted grades.
polarbear
