<p>I had a cumulative GPA of 91.19 at Bronx Science, New York for the last three years of high school. This year, as a result of my overactive ambitiousness or sheer stupidity, I decided to take AP calculus bc (math was my strongest subj through high school), ap macroecon (history was my second strongest), ap eng lit, ap bio, and a programming related non-honors/ap class. Here are the second marking period (these don't actually count, they're just how i'm doing two thirds of the way into the semester).</p>
<p>AP Calc BC - D
AP Macro - C
Everything else - B</p>
<p>I applied to a lot of big reaches - J. Hopkins, MIT(deferred already), Columbia, Cornell, NYU, RPI Physician Scientist and then some target/safeties - City College of NY Honors College, Brooklyn Polytechnic, St. John's Pharm.D., and some SUNY Honors programs. </p>
<p>Columbia, Hopkins, MIT, Cornell, RPI - I didn't have a decent chance at anyway but they require midyears. Am I totally off their admissions table? Polytechnic is a safety for me, but will these grades make this school a target or even possible reach for me?</p>
<p>I have the same question with a D and a few Cs in AP Physics and AP Calc BC, except that I'm applying to schools like Reed, Hampshire, SJC, New College of Florida, Grinnell, etc. I'm wondering how much emphasis is put on midyear grades, please help.</p>
<p>im in the same situation as you. i took calc ab AP and biology AP when i wasnt really qualified for them and my quarter grades were horrible. an F and a D. but the midyear includes two quarter grades so i guess theyd go up to around a C- and B-. the thing is, ive already been accepted early to rice. so would they rescind the acceptance?</p>
<p>That's another thing I'm afraid of, even with the lower tier colleges - a withdrawal of their acceptance. I wish I actually had more targets instead of a majority of my schools being high targets or reaches.</p>
<p>Kobe: I'm sorry but a C even during freshman year is a problem for unhooked applicants at the HYPSM-type schools. A 'C' and 'D' is going to be a big problem for them in senior year. Even if you were accepted because they didn't look at the mid-year report, you would have to worry about having the acceptance withdrawn. I think you need to forget the reach schools. Colleges handle mid-year reports differently. Some don't make any decisions without them, and other colleges only go looking for them if it is a borderline case. Large public universities don't use mid-year reports as much. What kind of a GC do you do have? Is it possible to get some good advice from him/her? Beyond identifying schools that are safeties, you need to not have the situation continue. People will say that colleges want you to take the most challenging curriculum and that the colleges won't want to see you drop courses. However, dropping a course is way better than having this happen for the rest of the year. Can you get a tutor? Study more, a lot more.</p>
<p>jenn: Based on what you are talking about, a 'D' and 'F', would look like an almost sure-thing for a acceptance withdraw at Rice. The 'B-' and the 'C' are not nearly as bad, of course. In that case, it depends some on how your grades used to be. If you had straight A's, then it is worse than if you used to have a mix of A's and B's. However, some elite colleges have been known to withdraw an acceptance because of a single C. I would involve your GC so that he/she is aware of what is going on. You may need him/her to speak for you to Rice later. You might reduce your courseload, but Rice wouldn't like that either. You might look into getting a tutor. You should talk to Rice, at least after you get the final grades. Let them know what has happened and negotiate what needs to happen by the end of senior year. There are options even if the acceptance is withdrawn. You may be able to let them allow you to start freshman year on academic probation. It may be possible to get them to allow you to start in the Spring instead of the Fall (some slots typically open up after Fall.)</p>
<p>Since your "safeties" are specialized programs (so in reality they are not safeties), your midyear grades will hurt your chances of being admitted. The programs you mention especially the suny/cuny honors programs are going to be more straight numbers driven. </p>
<p>As you already know, your biggest "competition" is going to be other students from bx science, student from stuyvesant, tech, hunter, etc. who will have midyear reports that will knock you out of the box.</p>
<p>I think you may need some "safer safeties" that would be regular programs at the suny/cuny schools or you could find your self with out an admission in april.</p>
<p>I'm applying to top colleges including HYP. Unfortunately, I got grade slip: 4 Bs in AP courses and As in AP Calculus and three non-weighed courses. How bad is this? Will I still have a shot in colleges with excellent stats and bad mid-year report? How much does a bad mid-year report bring down your chance? Is it significant? Or it is no big deal?</p>
<p>There are going to be a lot of different parameters concerning midyear grades - how bad was the slip, how strong is the rest of the application, how good is the fit, and so on. In general, however, if your midyear's slipped, it may be time to re-evaluate your list to verify that you have matches and safeties based on this new information. In particular, your need to look at the RD acceptance rate. A school that accepts many of its applicants is more likely to forgive a slip than one who must deny 9 out of 10 (or in Harvard's case), 18 out of 19 RD applicants.</p>
<p>My GC can't say much about the power of these grades, but I'll ask her if she can talk to the people at the admissions office. I just hope that nyu, which has always been my dream school until recently acceots me. they dont require midyrs. Thanks, everyone.</p>
<p>I'm sort of in the same situation but not as bad. My top picks are Cornell, JHU, and CMU, and as far as I know they all require mid-years. I've gotten straight A's throughout high school, except for 1 B Soph year, and 1st marking period this year I did amazing (all >96). However, I'm afraid this may be a bad thing because now 2nd marking period I have a B in AP physics and Latin Honors. I'm not trying to be a worry wart here, I'm just wondering if the downward trend will hurt me, or if they will see my midyear average (which would certainly be fine with me and exhibit no downward trend)? If you guys have any input I'd appreciate it a lot.</p>
<p>ydgunz: Adcoms see what is on the transcript when it is sent as the mid-year report. Transcripts differ a lot from school district to district, but they typically only show the semester grade and not quarter grades. You can ask your GC/Registrar for a copy of your transcript and check the format.</p>