<p>I'm taking four AP's next year that I know I can do well in and I was wondering if, completely hypothetically, I got straight A's first term or first semester whether or not that would make an impact on whether or not I got accepted? The weakest part of my application is my GPA so I figured a 4.0 senior year might be a make or break difference. I don't need advice specific to my situation just information on how colleges view senior grades and whether or not they have an impact on a college application.</p>
<p>If you apply ED or EA they don’t consider them at all. If you apply RD then first semester grades will be considered. An upward trend helps. A flat trend of 4.0 is best.</p>
<p>Senior grades don’t change your GPA much because, at most, only 1st semester grades are included (and often those aren’t included) by the time you’re accepted or rejected. So, 1 semester of “good grades” won’t do much to change 6 semesters of lowish grades.</p>
<p>I took all AP senior year and got very good grades and my class rank and gpa went up a nice amount. Lots of seniors decide to take it easy that last year so as long as you don’t, it’ll help. Colleges take a lot of consideration into this because it shows you gradually got better and better and could continue to into your undergraduate career.</p>
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<p>…unless you are deferred from Early Decision/Action to the Regular Decision round. When the do that, it’s sometimes specifically because they want to see grades from fall of senior year.</p>
<p>And if you apply Regular Decision, those grades are considered, and they do matter.</p>
<p>And if you end up on the waiting list of one of your preferred colleges, second semester grades matter a great deal. They can be the basis of new information that you submit to the college as part of a LOCI (“letter of continued interest”).</p>
<p>Agree with all the others. Plus, if you’re applying to very selective colleges, your acing an extrememely difficult schedule can only be in your favor.</p>
<p>I got all As my 1st semester Senior year. I’m sure my As in my ridiculous 1st semester schedule confirmed to my target colleges that I was a serious and high achieving student. (I had already been accepted by a rolling admissions school in Oct and applied to all the other schools via RD)</p>