<p>Hi CC community,</p>
<p>I'm just wondering if anyone knows how much Williams counts first semester grades in their decision making for ED. I have had a strong academic record throughout high school so far (all As) but there has been a dip this semester of my senior year. I'm taking a rather challenging course load with four APs (BC calc, french, lit, psychology) and it shows on my semester grade as I believe I will have at least two Bs on my report card this term. </p>
<p>I just wanted to know if these grades will be weighed heavily in the decision making process.
thanks in advance!</p>
<p>I can’t answer the Williams Q for you, sorry. But I felt compelled to respond when I saw your post bc my instant thought was “again?!”. I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve seen exactly like this both here and on a scholarship forum I belong to that is several thousand high achieving high school seniors (I belong to that group because I’m mentoring a group of students there). It seems like every senior is taking 4 or 5 AP’s and for the first time in their straight A career facing some B’s or even a C. I’m sure that the difficulty of managing that course load plus sports and EC’s is challenging enough but college and scholarship app’s just pushes it over the edge! I wish I could answer your question about Williams (I can’t) but I can tell you that you are not alone! Colleges say that they care most about the grades closest to the time that you will be entering college - thus the importance of an upward grade trend – but I would be very surprised if they don’t often see what you and so many others are experiencing - the effect of a rigorous AP schedule combined with college admissions. Anyway, best of luck to you! (D2 also applying early to Williams - she is in love with the school)</p>
<p>Don’t worry about it at all! Just try your best in your classes…that’s all you can do. A couple isolated B’s on your already impressive transcript will not hurt your odds. </p>
<p>I had multiple B+'s on my high school transcript from both my freshman and senior years (if I recall correctly); I got 3’s on the two AP English exams; I am a white, middle class student from an unprestigious public high school. Not only did I get into Williams (regular decision), I’ve maintained a high GPA among a sea of supposed geniuses. Of course, a single admissions anecdote does not serve as a prototypical exemplar, but either I only got lucky, or the admissions committee truly knows a capable student when they see one. And having met some of these officers in casual settings, I’m confident that the latter is true. </p>
<p>So…my take-home point: RELAX! (But don’t let those possible B’s turn into D’s and F’s.) </p>
<p>Good luck, and shoot me a message if need a current Williams student to assuage any other concerns you may have. I promise I’m not working for the admissions office or anything of that sort. :)</p>