<p>How important are they? Are adcoms looking for an upward trend?</p>
<p>At selective schools, they want you to maintain your GPA at the very least. At less selective schools, if you have a high GPA they want you to maintain it, if you had a low GPA before, they generally want to see some good midyear marks.</p>
<p>2nd semester grades? Don't get any Cs and your application definitely won't be rescinded. If you're talking about FIRST semester grades, you should maintain your GPA or even have a slightly higher GPA</p>
<p>C's will not necessarily cause rescission.</p>
<p>I need them to be important to balance out my first semester!</p>
<p>if you're accepted, you need to maintain the same general trend (usually)... ie don't get D's and F's or go from straight A's to straight C's. They do matter if you are waitlisted, however, as adcoms continue to review grades (and updated second semester grades) as they evaluate kids for open spots.</p>
<p>Can you get deferred from RD, or is that only for EA/ED?</p>
<p>no, you can get waitlisted for RD.</p>