<p>I'm applying to Yale SCEA. Senior fall grades will be released in the beginning of December, but I know that my senior fall grades are about a fifth to a third of a point below my cumulative GPA. My cumulative GPA is still on par with the GPA of admits from my school, but I'm scared that Yale will look badly at the drop in my senior fall term grades. I'm taking all AP classes, by the way, so they are extremely difficult and should hopefully help Yale understand the drop.</p>
<p>Two questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Will Yale see my senior fall grades (released a week and a half before December 15) as I'm applying SCEA?</p></li>
<li><p>If they do see them, how much of a disadvantage would I be in? Should I address them in a letter/call to Yale?</p></li>
<li><p>Any other thoughts?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Don’t worry, Yale definitely DOES NOT see any of your grades for SCEA. However, your drop in senior grades might pose a problem for the other schools you apply to (especially if you don’t get accepted to Yale early). Mmm… and I’ve heard lots of rumors about people getting warning letters because of mere B’s on their report cards (I guess it’s because they’ve been getting A’s their entire high school lives), so just be careful about that. Don’t let senioritis completely kill you in the 2nd semester! :)</p>
<p>No, I think it’s a generally accepted fact that goes for ALL early decision/action admissions. Sorry for not having a reliable source But I’m sure they don’t see them! So it won’t matter for Yale, unless you get deferred.</p>
<p>OK thanks so much NJChick. That probably holds for most schools, but I go to a prep school and my counselor just sent an email telling all her students that fall grades ARE sent to colleges about a week or so before December 15.</p>
<p>So considering that I’m taking hard classes and that I devote a lot of time to my extracurriculars, is the drop in senior fall grades detrimental to my application? How lower are my chances?</p>
<p>Yeah I’m pretty sure they don’t take mid-year grades into account for SCEA admissions since many schools, including my own, don’t finish the semester until after decisions are released</p>
<p>They do not consider fall grades for SCEA decisions. And they only actually rescind acceptances if you drop all of your hard classes and proceed to get C’s and D’s. That came straight from my guidance counselor who has been doing this a VERY long time.</p>
<p>Thanks xfxjumper. But my counselor, whose also been doing this for a long time, says otherwise. Does it differ from school to school? And are you saying when my school sends them the fall grades, they will save them for RD if I get deferred?</p>
<p>My school sends them in Late January when they get them. Our first semester report cards are not mailed until the second week of January anyways. It really depends on the school. And honestly, schools never want to rescind anybody, because it looks bad on their part for admitting someone who is incapable of maintaining decent grades throughout the remainder of their high school career, which is why a lot of the time they brush it under the rug. There have been numerous posts on CC where they have basically said as long as you don’t kill someone, fail, or get suspended, your offer of admission will still stand, maybe with probation first semester in the fall though.</p>
<p>“It is important to maintain a high level of achievement throughout your senior year because we consider senior grades as we evaluate applicants.”</p>
<p>So I guess if your school has them available, Yale will consider them. I know when they were evaluating my app for a likely letter, they called my guidance counselor for my current grades. But I was one of very few who were being evaluated to such a great extent. With the large number of applicants in SCEA, and even larger in RD, they don’t have time to do that. But for most high schools, the decision has been made before they even finish their first semester.</p>
<p>OK, if my senior grades dropped a fifth to a third of a point, but my cumulative GPA is still on par with Yale standards, how much of a disadvantage do you think I’ll be in?</p>
<p>Time and time again, people have said numbers are not the end-all be-all of college admissions. If your essays sucked, then it wouldn’t matter if your senior grades brought you up .2 points, you would still be denied. The entire process is holistic, meaning they look at everything as a whole. 19 kids from my school applied to Yale last year, and none got in. The year before that, the kid with one of the lowest GPA’s and SAT scores was the only person to get in, and he was not recruited in any form. I honestly don’t think it will matter in the least as long as your junior year grades were up to snuff. You really shouldn’t worry because there is not anything you can do about it now. It is in their hands.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your kind words xfxjumper. You don’t think they will defer me to look at my winter trimester grades, and accept me if they are up-to-par, do you?</p>
<p>I think a lot of the times when people get deferred, it is not necessarily to see their grades, but to see how they compare to the large applicant pool, and this again goes back to what kind of talents or qualities you can provide to the diversity of a college campus, not necessarily your GPA.</p>
But I’m sure they don’t see them! So it won’t matter for Yale, unless you get deferred.</p>