<p>okay...so here is the problem for me...Freshman year i took all the hard classes and got all A. Sophomore year i also took the most challenging course load and got all A<a href="low%20A's%20tho...school%20doesn't%20give%20out%20minuses">/B</a>...junior year, i jacked up my schedule with all APs (smart right) and basically i bite more than i could chew...i ended up with all B+<a href="school%20does%20give%20out%20pluses%20lol">/B</a>...SO, my GPA weighted is 4.14/4.33 and unweighted is 3.81/4.0...IF i apply early...colleges will only see the huge DOWN trend in junior year (even tho i did take the hardest class, i'm unnsure how they will look upon this) and they won't see midyear reports...SOOooo i have eased up my senior year a bit and i'm confident that i'll get (probably) all A's for my midyear report...and i think that this will look better....is this a good reason to apply regular decision rather than early to schools such as UPenn, Columbia (my top choices)? How much do these school look at midyear grades? (my midyear grade would come out at end of January.) THanks!</p>
<p>It will look bad that you bit off more than you can chew, but I think colleges will see you took A LOT of AP classes and understand.</p>
<p>Regular decision would probably be a good idea for the extra grades, but if you really want to go somewhere apply ED because even though your grades have suffered, it shows how much you truly want to go there.</p>
<p>Bumppppppppp</p>
<p>Midyear grades might make it or break it for you.</p>
<p>so u r suggesting that i apply regular right? (cuz they won’t see midyears if i go early decision)</p>
<p>Bumppppppp!</p>
<p>Don’t use ED as a “strategy” to get in, only apply ED if you absolutely want to go to that school.
That said, if you think your rank, grades and performance will increase by the RD round, apply RD. Truthfully though, I don’t think mid-years play a very large role in admission (don’t quote me on this though, I’m just speaking from personal experience).</p>
<p>Even for ED/EA, don’t they look at your first marking period grades? I hope so..</p>
<p>I doubt “first marking period grades” hold much weight, if any, during the ED/A round. If you’re applying early, you should be banking on your first three years’ academic record, not the beginning of senior year.</p>
<p>NO, they didn’t look at my first marking period grades when I applied ED. I didn’t send them and they didn’t care.</p>