<p>My son is applying ED, and he claims that the school will not see his first semester, senior year grades, If he is rejected, obviously the schools will see them. But how much weight will he be given to that one semester of grades vs his 3 year rank and average?</p>
<p>The first quarter grades may well appear on his transcript for his ED app. Class rank will likely be through his first three years, but the first quarter grades will clue the college in as to whether senoritis has set in.</p>
<p>ED decisions are made before you get first semester grades. However, colleges reserve right to withdraw admission once they get your final grades--and have done so in cases of extreme senioritis. Your mid-semester grades will not appear on many high school transcripts; moreover, if you apply by end of September/early October, they won't appear on the transcript because you don't have them yet. However, ED colleges sometimes request that you provide them before they make the decision.</p>
<p>Obviously, if he is rejected ED and applies RA to colleges that make admission decisions from Feb to April, most of those will require submission of first semester grades and they will be treated the same as earlier grades, if not more so. If the college sees a significant drop in the first semester senior grades as compared to prior year that is often the death knell to admission to a competitive college.</p>
<p>First semester senior year grades are very important and before the college makes the ED/EA decision, many colleges will call the GCs to find out how a student is doing. Afterward, if the grades drop, the college may withdraw their ED/EA admission.</p>
<p>The game isn't over just because an acceptance is in hand. Colleges have been known to pull EA/ED acceptances after seeing first semester grades and have been known to pull RD acceptances after seeing end of the year grades. The latter happened to a CC poster last season!</p>