Do colleges look at senior grades? How much do they matter?

Applying to College
1

Hi CCers,

I’m currently in this GPA crisis since my grades in junior year slipped down : ( Although I have been keeping my 4.00 (both weighted and unweighted, because my school doesn’t offer honor classes) throughout my frosh and soph years, my cumulative GPA declined during my fall semester of junior year. I have been trying harder to pull up my grades in spring semester, but unfortunately my final GPA was actually worse despite my effort. I am aware that junior year grades matter the most in college admission, but ironically my junior year grades are actually the worst compare to those in the first two years of my high school. Moreover, it seems that if I apply to a school under early action, the admission committee will not get a chance to look at my senior year GPA.
I heard that improvement on grades would look good to the colleges, so I was wondering if I can still save my chances for admission by getting straight A’s in the first semester of my senior year (despite the dip in junior year)? And BTW, do UC’s look at the mid-semester report of the fall of senior year before they make a decision?

Here are my stats. On the left side of the arrow is my current GPA, and on the other side is my cumulative GPA if I get straight A’s in my fall semester of senior year:
Class Rank: top 9% (or at least it was lol)
UW: 3.88→3.90
W: 4.02→4.13
UC UW: 3.79
UC W: 4.04

Additional information: I was placed in ELD in my fall semester of freshman year and then Transitional ELD in my following spring semester. Then I took Advanced English and got straight A’s (we don’t have any honors) in my sophomore year, and AP English Language in my junior year (though I got B’s in both semesters). Can this be viewed as an improvement to colleges? Additionally, even though my school does offer AP classes, enrollment in AP’s as a sophomore is very restricted. The only AP’s a sophomore can take is AP Languages and AP Physics 1/B. I didn’t meet the prereqs for the AP Physics B class, and I don’t need to take any AP Language class, so that’s why I didn’t have any AP or honor class in my sophomore year.

Thank you so much!

2

UC’s only look at 10-11th grades for their GPA. They will look at Freshman grades and classes to make sure a-g course requirements are met. Senior grades are not figured into the admissions decisions unless you are waitlisted but Senior grades will keep your provisional admission. Basically, your UC GPA is what it is unless you take some summer school classes which will be included in the GPA calculation.

http://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

3

@Gumbymom So basically UC’s don’t look at mid-semester report and they only use senior grades to change the admission status?

4

Senior grades will be looked at in your final transcript due after graduation to see if you meet a-g course requirements and provisional admission requirements. If you are a borderline applicant, admissions may ask for a Mid-year report and again if you are waitlisted or appeal and show grade improvement, you could provide Senior grades to help your case but in general, no they are not considered in the admissions decision for the UC’s. Other schools, especially privates will ask for Mid-year reports. After my younger son submitted his SIR for SDSU last year, part of the admission contract was to provide Mid-year senior grades. My older son was never asked for Mid-year senior grades from UCD but updated his application after SIRing anyways.

5

OP, UC’s only look at senior transcripts to see if you get rescinded or not. They might help with waitlisting though I am not sure. About 10-15 kids from my grade got off the waitlist to Berkeley, but they did not have stellar grades so…
Colleges will understand your situation as other people from your school probably won’t have many AP’s either. You should be fine. A 3.88 UW GPA is fantastic.