Midterm grades & Early Decision

Applying to College
1

<p>My trimester midterm grades are going to the colleges I'm applying to early (action & decision). As usual, some will be a notch lower than my final grades for the trimester. I know, senior year, early decision, I should have worked to make sure they were up to snuff, but I got an awful two-week-long cold a couple of weeks ago, which set me back a little.</p>

<p>I'm wondering: a) should I explain being sick in Additional Info; b) do colleges accept that sometimes midterm grades just aren't the same as final grades when reviewing ED apps? I sort of assume they're expecting your best, but thought I'd ask.</p>

2

<p>Most colleges that I know only need midyear and final year grades.</p>

3

<p>They will probably recognize that trimester midterm grades don't contain that many assignments and aren't really representative of your work as a student - that is, one illness bad test grade could have completely thrown your grade. So you should have a little leeway.</p>