This is a question that college admissions officers hear all the time. They usually answer by saying that tough, academic courses are much better than frivolous ones and that grades in tough courses are given more weight than grades in easy ones. But you should keep in mind what Stanford (University) reminds its applicants: "Be careful not to assume that the world is divided between students who take difficult courses and get Bs and the students who take easy courses and get As. Most of our applicants are able to take difficult courses and receive As."

Of course, not everyone wants to go to Stanford, and not everyone can make straight As. But the general principle always applies. If you can handle the work in honors, Advanced Placement (IB, AP, or other accelerated courses)take at least a few of them. Many colleges even add points to the grade point averages of students who take these harder courses. If it is obvious from your transcript that you are taking a lighter load than you can handle, admissions officers at selective colleges are going to wonder about your motivation. They will be especially concerned if the difficulty ot your course load drops off noticeably in eleventh grade. Besides consistently high grades, nothing looks better than steadily improving grades.