Can better grades your senior year tip the balance in favor of acceptance?

<p>Long story short, I had pretty average grades freshman year (a 3.0), and sophomore and junior year I had good but not great grades (a few B's here and there). But so far senior year, I have all A's and I really think I can keep them until the end of the semester. I'm also taking challenging classes so it's not like I dropped into easy classes to get higher grades. Would having a 4.0 senior year tip the balance in favor of my admission into some of my reach schools?</p>

<p>If the colleges require senior year grades then they might boost your overall gpa that gets sent to that school, so it can only help you really. </p>

<p>Note that many schools don’t require senior year grades until after you get accepted</p>

<p>If applying regular decision, your 1st semester Sr grades comprise 1/7th of your GPA. If you’re taking AP/Honors classes, then it’s in your favor. </p>

<p>When you say “reach” schools, how selective are these? If your overall GPA comes in around 3.5, let’s say – then very selective schools aren’t within your reach, generally.</p>