<p>I told my son to increase chances at top colleges he needs to continue to get all A's in AP courses at least for the first grading period (he did) then second and third trimester he is probably fine with A's and B's as that won't change any college's decision.</p>
<p>Now I am reading most colleges don't even ask for senior year grades to help them make their decision. Or is that for just the early acceptance schools? Are the regular decision schools interested in first trimester grades of Senior year for a 9 - 11th grade 'A' student?</p>
<p>Obviously, your S should get the highest grade he’s capable of and not slack.</p>
<p>Many of the colleges have a disclaimer on the acceptance letter that the acceptance can be declined if senior year grades/rigor are not acceptable to them. If one gets a ‘D’ then definitely one might end up with the admission rescinded. If they suddenly switched out of the rigorous courses and took easy courses instead, that could result in being rescinded as well.</p>
<p>I don’t think a D is possible without a heavy drug laced year. Perhaps he could get a B with no studying. I kind of feel bad I told him to get all A’s this trimester in the hardest classes when colleges don’t look at senior grades for non-borderline students.</p>
<p>What about this…our older daughter’s experience:</p>
<p>1) She applied ED, the school required first quarter unofficial grades
2) deferred from her ED school, her RD schools all asked for mid year official grades
3) rejected from many of her top choice schools, including her ED school, wait listed at 2 runner ups. In order to get her off the WL schools, her GC sent in her 3rd quarter grades.
4) not knowing if she could get off those 2 WL schools, she was prepared to transfer after a year, therefore she still needed to get best grades possible 2nd semester senior year.</p>
<p>My daughter had great stats, good recommendation letters and decent essays. She never expected to be in the position of not knowing where she was going to school in May of her senior year. She did get off both WL schools. We think it was due to her excellent senior year grades. Tell your son to keep up his grades, he has worked too hard to let it fall apart senior year.</p>
<p>Answer is dependent on the school. One school my D applied to used her first quarter senior year grades and that was it. They stated that they would not consider anything beyond that as it would place applicants on uneven ground. That was even for an appeal.</p>
<p>Another college she applied to waited until they had her second quarter grades before they would make a decision.</p>
<p>In any case, your admittance is always conditional upon maintaining your grades. All colleges I saw would ask for your final transcript before allowing enrollemnt in the fall.</p>
<p>oldfort – Yes! my son was in that waitlist situation too, and yes, I believe his 1st, 2nd, and 3rd quarter grades did help him get off the waitlist and accepted! (The waitlist caught me totally off guard too.) So, yeah, sprint to the finish. Don’t feel guilty, ChiselCheeks, about advising him to keep his grades up.</p>
<p>Don’t tell him to get all A’s, tell him to do the best he can. You don’t want to advise him to slack do you? Ideally he should want to do a good job even if someone else isn’t holding him to a grade on it.</p>
<p>Late senior year grades <obviously> aren’t important for admissions but the school your kid deposits at will request the end-of-year transcript when it is available. (FWIW–at that point someone will inevitably start a “Oh no! Will my child’s admission be revoked?” thread. Except for the tippy-top schools, a decrease in grades over the last semester/trimester will probably not have any impact. However, getting in trouble (at school, with the law, . . .) can.)</obviously></p>
<p>I mentioned to him yesterday that he might want to think about downgrading one of his APs and not worry so much about pure A’s so he could enjoy senior year a bit more and he told me “That’s not good advice”. Zing!</p>
<p>I think at this point grades/classes are a competitive thing with the nerd herd. He doesn’t want to fall to the bottom of the pack.</p>
<p>If he is applying to top tier schools, down grading may not be an option. He would need to inform schools he is applying to that his schedule has changed. Those top schools expect their students to keep up the rigor senior year.</p>
<p>With RD all of the schools my son applied to required mid-year grades (first semester). Once decisions were sent all made it clear that acceptances were provisional based on final transcripts. It’s not only the tippy-top schools that will ask for an explanation if grades drop. There are some state flagships that want to know what’s up if grades drop. If a couple of A’s turn into B’s you don’t need to address it, but if you have any D’s, or a marked drop in grades overall you may end up starting school on academic suspension. Not a comfortable welcome. Obviously the OPs son is a great student that seems perfectly capable of riding out Sr. year without much trouble, my comment is for the discussion overall. </p>
<p>Our advise/strong encouragement to our 2011 grad was you’ve worked exceptionally hard for 7 semesters (not counting the hs courses taken in middle school) to get a stellar GPA and rank, we suggest you not toss it in the garbage at the 11th hour for the sake of Sr. slacking. He finished strong and was proud to do so. It in no way hindered having fun Sr. year and participating in any activities with his friends.</p>
<p>Thanks all. Really great advice that cleared up bits and pieces I was reading in other threads about senior year grades. I’m glad everyone here and my son, set me straight.</p>