<p>Hey,
I applied ED and got in. Since then my grades are a little lower than what they were when I applied. I had a 3.99, and now I have a B+ or two and I might get one or two A-'s. My test scores weren't super high, so I assume that they liked my grades and my essay. I dont want anything to be revoked, do you think anything like that would happen. Its super worrying me.
Thanks</p>
<p>Below I have copied and pasted part of a letter which my daughter’s college guidance counselor recently sent to graduating seniors. I realize some of the information is not entirely relevant to your situation, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless: </p>
<p>"Having completed fall semester, it’s important to remember that you want to finish the entire school year strongly (spring semester, especially!).</p>
<p>Offers of acceptance from colleges and universities are ALWAYS conditioned on the accepted applicant maintaining his/her academic performance (grades) and rigor (course load) through the conclusion of the senior year. If an applicant’s grades or course load decrease substantially prior to high school graduation (unless there is a valid reason and the reason has been communicated to the college), the college or university may re-consider its admission decision. </p>
<p>Each college or university will have different criteria for re-consideration of an admission decision, and admissions officers are certainly not out to “get you.” However, college presidents and faculty members get very testy if the first-year students who matriculate are not successful students on their campuses, so admissions officers try very hard to be sure that all of the students they admit will be successful academically. So although they do not WANT to take punitive action, some may feel they have to.</p>
<p>Here are some general guidelines:</p>
<p>1) PUBLIC institutions will insist on satisfactory completion of all required courses (English, history, science, foreign language, math, and arts). Find out what the minimum required courses are for your preferred college/university; for many institutions, they include: 4 years of English, 3 years of social science, 2 years of lab science, 2 years of the same foreign language, 3 or 4 years of math, and 1 year of arts. Will you satisfactorily have met at least these minimum requirements? If you have not met the minimum course requirements by June 2011, however, expect the Admissions Office to re-consider your acceptance.</p>
<p>2) PRIVATE institutions will insist on satisfactory completion of all required courses, but they may have some flexibility if they really want you for some reason - - for example, because you are a virtuoso violinist or a Westinghouse science scholar, etc. Public institutions often have much less flexibility than private ones. The word from the UC’s and CSU’s is that they will be particularly careful when reviewing students’ final transcripts this summer, in part due to the state budget crisis and their desire to “weed out” any extra students that they can.</p>
<p>3) What is the definition of satisfactory completion of required courses? For many colleges and universities, satisfactory completion is defined as a grade of C or better in each semester of a required course. If you have a semester D in a senior required course, it is very possible that your acceptance will be re-considered. Please see me if you think you will earn a D in a spring semester course. </p>
<p>4) What are the consequences of less than satisfactory performance in the senior year? As you might imagine, different institutions will behave differently:</p>
<p>a) In the case of the University of California, the California State University, and many other public institutions, if you don’t receive at least a C each semester in all of your required courses, your admission will be revoked and you will need to re-apply for a future semester, once you have re-taken the problem course and successfully completed it. During summer 2010, approximately 500 UC-admitted students (all campuses included) had their acceptances revoked due to lower-than-C grades in the senior year.</p>
<p>b) When I was the dean of admissions at a selective private college over ten years ago, I had a rule of thumb that I used - - if two or more grades dropped from B at mid-year to C at the end of the year, I mailed the accepted applicant a wrist slap letter saying that I was concerned by the drop in grades and that the applicant’s name would be given to the dean of students office to closely monitor the applicants academic progress during freshman year at the college.</p>
<p>If two or more course grades dropped by TWO or more grade points (for example, from As to Cs or from Bs to Ds), I would require the accepted applicant to visit my Admissions Office in June or July to have a conversation with me regarding the reasons for the drop in grades and in order for them to tell me in person what the applicant thought s/he was going to do differently during freshman year to prevent his/her senior grades from being repeated. If I thought the applicant was taking appropriate responsibility for the grades and had thought about what s/he would do differently in college, I would confirm acceptance and I would also pass the applicant’s name on to the dean of students for close monitoring during the freshman year.</p>
<p>If the accepted applicant earned one or two semester Ds and seemed NOT to take appropriate responsibility, I would revoke admission for at least one semester and would require that the student enroll in courses in a local college for the fall semester in order to complete a semester’s worth of college work with at least a B average. If the student achieved this performance, admission was re-instated for the January semester.</p>
<p>c) As you might suspect, the more selective your college is, the higher will be the standard to which your performance is held, so don’t assume my rule of thumb above will be the same as Harvard’s or Harvey Mudd’s. Also, my rule of thumb was in place over a decade ago - - nowadays, selective colleges may be tougher than I used to be.</p>
<p>5) So, what should you do if your spring courses feel as if you may be heading toward a problematic conclusion of your high school career? Talk to your teacher and let him/her know about your concern about your grade. Find out what you will need to do to assure a satisfactory grade by the end of the school year."</p>
<p>NATALIE135–BASED ON ALL OF THE ABOVE, I DON’T THINK YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO WORRY ABOUT!</p>