Deferred, when should I hear back and do I still have much of a chance?

Hi, so I just got deferred by MSU yesterday. They want to see my seventh semester grades and have me complete the sbei before a final decision is made. I applied October 18th in case it helps. My GPA is a 3.46 UW and my SAT score (new) is a 1270. Do I still have a fair chance in getting accepted for the fall of 2017? Once I submit my seventh semester grades, how long do I have to wait for a new decision? And how much does the sbei weigh in on my decision? Thanks for the help!

Also, generally my grades have been decreasing from year to year, so would raising my grades this semester significantly boost my chances?

Depends, from what I was told they only count the core courses and not electives so you would need to try and improve your core classes (i.e. Math, English, History, Science, etc.), probably won’t help you if you only raise scores in non-core classes. From the admissions session I attended a month ago, if they are requesting another semester of grades then those decisions might not be made until April.

Thank you for the reply! My first quarter grades looked great. As far as core classes, I only got one B+. All the rest were A’s. I also plan to study profusely and to take the ACT, shooting for a score around 30. I should be able to keep my semester grades close to my first quarter ones. If I do end up getting accepted, what are the chances of them accepting me for the fall semester? Do they often waitlist to the spring semester, or do I still have a chance of being accepted for fall? If I get waitlisted, I instead intend to attend another university and to transfer to MSU my sophomore year. Just in case, I got EMU and WSU as back ups, but I really would like to attend MSU in the fall.