Hello Everyone,
I’m currently in a dilemma between applying early action or regular decision. My sophomore grades were stellar however junior year I struggled a little bit and my grades dropped. I’m not talking A to F just A to A-. Long story short my grades are not showing an upward trend. Let’s assume the fact that I get straight A’s senior year (which I am motivated to do). First of all, will having good senior grades affect my college admission chances through the mid year report? Also if I apply early action I will most likely not get a chance to show my senior grades correct? Also If I apply Regular Decision then I will have basically 2 more months to improve my test scores, ECs, etc. How much of an increased chance is there if I apply Early Action? Will applying Early Action significantly increase my chances or should I wait till Regular Decision?
Firstly, don’t worry about your grades “dropping”. I’ve heard that some colleges don’t even look at +'s and -'s. This is even less important if you were taking more challenging classes that year.
I can’t really give you exact numbers about EA vs. RD, but personally I would go with EA because it 1. shows interest and 2. can sometimes be an admissions boost (although some argue this is just because it is a self-selective pool). Two months is really not going to make or break your application, and honestly I don’t think you’d be able to improve test scores or extra-curriculars substantially between November and January.
Was in the same place last year. My grades slope downward from Freshman year (same A to A-). It ended up that mid year grades were my worst ever (actually went up on my final report card this month and was not trying).However must confess I was not in a great place this year or last year so this made an impact on my grades and effort. If you are really going to make an effort (why did grades slip in the first place, something happen or it got harders?) that will help. Does your school to Q1 grades that are available by November? They will see those. My ECs are great so that was not a factor. My best ACT was in October so that did not matter since it was already available. I did not apply EA or ED and still regret it. I recently happened to look through one of HYP EA threads (was proving a point on another thread, not to torture myself). I was surprised at how much more holistic the acceptances seemed. I would suggest looking through the ED/EA and RD threads for this year for your target schools and using that to help with the decision. As well as your schools records on admissions.
Thanks for the responses!
@SaphireNY Can colleges really accept 1st quarter grades for senior year? My school prints transcripts in semester format but maybe I might be able to find a way to show college my first quarter grades? My biggest fear is being rejected in the EA round.
My understanding it they will accept a report card if you are normally issued one. Simplest way to get an answer is to call the admissions office or email the admissions rep (although try to sound confident and matter of fact, NOT my grades are on a downard slope) it will show interest.
It depends on the college whether or not you need to send in your senior report card. If you get deferred, it can show that you’re still working hard and if you’re on the edge, it shows that you were still excelling academically despite all the essays and college application stuff.
Early Action helps you by quite a bit, (I think it might be a 10-15% increase in admit rate, Harvard’s EA is like 15%~ whereas RD is 2%~), BUT the competition is much fiercer. The applicant pool will be much more competitive than regular decision.
Apply if you think you have a good shot and the good thing is you don’t have to worry about financial aid due to the non-binding nature of EA.
If I’m not mistaken, some schools like Harvard defer a lot of students something ridiculous like 70% ish I think, so getting rejected from the EA round is not that likely and you will most likely have a chance to show your upward trend/good grades. So if you want that, maybe apply to a school that has a high deferral rate?
@rdeng2614
What about for my high reach schools? I want to apply to University of Chicago but it’s a daydream for me. I do not think I have a good chance of getting in, it’s my number one school, should I still apply early?
I think you should probably apply early. It will boost your chances. Early action is basically meant for people’s number one choices. Doesnt really matter how big of a reach it is, during regular decision it will be even a bigger reach due to the much lower acceptance rate.
Your grades are fine. Applying early action improves your chances. Early Decision should only be reserved for your dream reach school that you would be able to attend, no matter what.
Good senior grades are important, yes. If they decline during the admissions process, to the point of being at D’s and F’s, it has the potential to affect your chances. If you apply Early Action, the chance of showing your senior grades depends on the way your school displays grades (Do they just send out the midyear or would they send out a trimester etc. report?)
The increased chance of applying Early Action depends on your stats and the average stats of the school.
@P0lakskii, two thoughts:
- Early action isn't just for your top school. Because it's non-binding and in most cases offers better odds, it can work to your advantage elsewhere on your list. For example, if there's an EA opportunity in the middle of your list I'd encourage you to apply there too since good news can help you prune your list of lower ranked schools and make for fewer applications to complete over winter break.
As others have stated, just how much of an odds boost (if any) varies by school. Check out this link, it compares EA rates to RD rates for several popular schools:
https://www.college-kickstart.com/blog/item/boost-your-odds-50-with-these-early-action-schools
- Applying early action (or early decision) won't make an uncompetitive applicant more competitive. So just make sure your academic credentials are in good shape relative to the previous year's entering class (test scores, GPA). For example, your test scores aren't at the 25th percentile but closer to or above the 75th percentile of entering students from the previous year. If you feel these can be strengthened materially during your fall semester senior year, might be better to wait for RD. If not and you're a competitive student, EA is almost always a good thing to pursue.
Good luck.
Thanks everyone for the responses, I appreciate all of you giving me your time