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It’s a cruel fate that seniors in the final stages of preparing their early-round applications also need to worry about grades. But this year more than ever, in the wake of increased application numbers and test-optional admissions policies, it’s important not to let them slip. Colleges use mid-term grades in different ways, but here is at least part of what you can expect if you’re a senior going through the application process:
For students applying in the early decision round, highly selective colleges may want to see your first semester or quarter senior year grades, even if they are not yet official. It’s not uncommon for a college to reach out to a high school counselor to ask for an update on grades, even if they come in the form of mid-semester progress reports. If high schools have a natural way of capturing this information already, they may proactively send those reports out to the colleges to which you’ve applied. Not all colleges need or want this, but many do.
It can be tempting to de-prioritize school work to get more applications submitted. Don’t give in to that temptation.
For Regular Decision, although most students won’t have an official set of grades before they finish applying in the round that typically ends in the first week of January, colleges will again expect to see grades after your applications are in. Through the Common App, colleges typically ask high schools to provide a “Mid-Year Report” to all colleges to which a student has applied. For many students, these are extremely important grades. This is especially true if you are trying to show a positive trend that began Junior year. Colleges may look beyond your less than stellar Freshman and Sophomore grades if you turned it around as a Junior. But they will expect to see the trend continue. If you have fallen back into your previous levels of performance, it can hurt you. Likewise, if you continue a strong trend upward, good mid-year grades can confirm what the colleges want to believe, which is that you’ve figured out how to do well academically. It can be tempting to de-prioritize school work during the fall and early winter to get more applications submitted but don’t give in to that temptation. It’s better to have fewer applications with better senior year grades than it is to complete multiple reach-school applications at the expense of your grades.
As the second half of senior year begins with your applications still outstanding, it is also tempting to let down your guard. But the one thing absolutely not to do is to drop hard courses you were taking during the first half of the year to take an easier one for the second half of senior year. This kind of change needs to be reported to colleges and they will see it as a red flag. You are better off staying in the more rigorous class and taking a lower grade for the second half of senior year than you are dropping a class. With regards to those second-half grades, it is unusual for colleges to rescind offers unless your grades take a big dive. Going from an A to a B is likely not going to be problematic (although it might affect scholarship money). But getting a C, or multiple C’s and even something lower (like a D) could really affect your admissions standing later on. Every year, at every top college, somebody has their admissions office revoked because of poor performance at the end of senior year. It’s hard to believe that kids let this happen, but they sometimes do. Don’t let it be you!
