Currently, I have an unweighted GPA of 3.5 and a weighted of 4.6. I have a low class rank as well (around the top 30%)(class rank is determined by weighted GPA). If I take two AP classes online and finish both semesters of each in the first semester of my senior year (for me, this is very doable and has been done before) will colleges care about them at all, or will colleges really just put heavy weight on junior year grades regardless?
Many colleges care about senior grades for admissions. California schools do not. ED schools cannot wait for the to make decisions by Dec 1 or 15.
All the Regular Decision schools my daughter applied to requested mid term reports.
Would they care about the completed grades that would be listed under the second semester?
(They would be on my transcript before the end of my first semester)
Not for admission purposes but yes, schools require final transcripts to be sent and if there is a signifiant drop off, offers can be rescinded.
Yes if not applying EA, to both semesters. They want you to finish strong. Most will ask for midterm grades. Your second semester grades can help you if your on the borderline… No school wants to see a drop off from your regular grade pattern. Remember your getting ready for college which is much harder then high school. You want to show them you are ready for the challenge.
Surprisingly, a number of schools don’t care for the first semester senior grades. I’ll assume that many of them just assume you’ll provide the grades when they are out. UC and CSU California schools don’t need the grades unless you have been accepted. Interestingly, Carnegie Mellon and Northeastern never asked for them and my kid had positive results. In fact the only schools that my kid applied to that really explicitly asked to submit grades was USC and Vanderbilt.
And every school my kid applied to wanted mid-year grades. Out CC suggested that students who were showing a strong upward trend avoid ED so that their 1st semester grades would be part of the application.
So… depends on where you are applying and whether it is RD or ED.
Your course selection must meet the ‘required’ classes and for selective schools, your course rigor can be an important factor. As for grades, they don’t generally help much but, can certainly hurt, in fact most selective schools will rescind an admission if the applicant doesn’t meet a threshold GPA.