I’m applying to Brown ED, Northeastern EA, and Drexel EA.
My curriculum for next semester, senior year, is very challenging. Statistics AP, Calculus BC AP, Physics AP, and English H. I just don’t know if I’ll be able to keep straight A’s like I did for the last three years.
Then I realized: my first marking period report card comes out around November 1st. The second one won’t even come out until after admissions decisions come out. So, colleges will see my full junior year grades (all high A’s), but only see the challenging courseload of my senior year with a small peek at my grades.
This isn’t about being lazy, or senioritis. It’s something different. I have two modes for studying.
1, brute memorization and cramming. Gets me high grades all around, but I don’t enjoy it. I don’t retain the information, either.
2, conceptual understanding. Actually reading the entire texts, not just cramming the vocab words. Spending time until I have a deep understanding of topics and formulae. High retention rate.
If grades become less of an object, and I have the freedom to get B’s and A-'s, then I’d have the luxury of studying the second way. But if I have to continue to keep grades super high, then 2 takes a backseat to 1.
That’s why I want to know: how do early action/decision senior year transcripts work?
Generally they will determine whether or not to admit you without access to your first semester grades and certainly without access to second semester ones. However, if you’re waitlisted/deferred then it would be in your best interest to keep grades as high as possible. That said, it’s better to have a challenging course load you can do well with than a light course load guaranteeing you all As.
And of course the advice to not slack too much even once admitted stands because no one likes stressing over risk of being rescinded.
On Brown’s website, they say that students who apply ED should be confident with their freshman trough junior grades. I assume that this means that they don’t really take senior year grades into account when deciding whether to admit the student. I was going to take both Calc BC and Stats this year too, but I opted out of stats for oceanography lol
Come and talk on the ED Brown thread! All applicants are welcome
If I submitted my application earlier, would it be reviewed earlier, thus reducing the odds of my 1st semester grades being considered?
If you consider “well” high B’s, then yes, I foresee myself doing very well next semester with lots of work. However, in order to do excellently (straight A’s) then I foresee myself going into shut-in mode. I want to avoid the latter situation.
You haven’t met me, but I’m one of those people who can spend hours on Wikipedia. If given the chance to not solely focus on number grades, I would enjoy the material, and focus on concepts instead of brute memorization.
Check the specific schools you’re interested in. Their website should have the EA/ED deadline and say how long it will take for them to give you a response. If your school first semester hasn’t ended by that results day (or if your semester ends but grades aren’t available yet) then it’s pretty much a guarantee they wont see it. Your GC will probably be able to tell you as well.
I say “generally” just because I’m sure there’s some school that does check first semester grades for early applicants. When I applied early first semester grades were not viewed. It’s very likely they will not see first semester grades. But you may be deferred or waitlisted in which case it will matter. I’m not sure if any of those schools are particularly known for deferring large numbers of applicants but there should be threads for each school on here somewhere about it.
For Brown, it is highly advisable to keep your senior year grades up. They often contact HS guidance counselors for first quarter grades of ED applicants. Then too, Brown defers the majority of ED applicants (63% last year) who then need to submit their first semester grades for RD.
No one who applies ED1 or EA should expect a boost from 1st semester Senior grades. Yes, they see your transcript and hopefully the continued challenging classes you’ve chosen – but like Brown’s website said clearly – 9-11 only.
Your concern isn’t unnoticed however. Applicants wishing for a hoped-for 7th semester GPA boost is one of the reasons people eschew ED/EA and apply RD.
