I’m not sure if this is the right board, but hopefully I’m not too far off 
So I am planning on applying ED to Cornell. However, my school is on a block schedule with 4 classes per semester, meaning that I have my first set of midterms in October and my first set of finals in December. Will these grades (particularly the midterm ones) appear on the transcript sent to Cornell?
Ask your GC if they will be on the transcript. But Cornell will probably ask for your midterm grades since that is before the December ED decision date.
It is typical for schools to send a transcript through junior year with the application and then send a mid-term senior year report for ED schools. At our HS the mid-term report was for the first (out of four) marking period-of senior year- your GC should know exactly what gets sent from your HS.
Thanks guys - I asked my GC about it today and he said they don’t send over any senior grades with our applications; all that gets sent is the report once we already get accepted. I don’t know if that’s the norm or not, but it’s a bit of a relief for me
That’s what is done at some schools, but whether your GC is used to sending term reports and midyear reports or not, it isn’t what he decides, it’s what the ED school decides, and the Cornell typically wants the midterm reports (October grades since you’re on block scheduling, but generally mid year reports indicating you haven’t received any grade of C, D, F, or didn’t get in trouble for cheating and didn’t commit a crime, all of which could lead to being rescinded; Cornell may not request the October grades but definitely wants the January report.)
Ok so just to clarify then none of my senior grades will go on the transcript that is used to determine whether I get accepted for ED, but the mid year report in January will be looked at to make sure that I’m not getting any Cs/Ds/Fs… Is that correct?
Yes, that’s correct.
There MIGHT be a request to see your October (midterm)grades but the most likely situation is that your GC will have to report your 1st semester grades to ensure you didn’t get D’s and F’s especially (and, for universities as highly ranked at Cornell, a drop from A to C can also make them check with the GC…)
Oh ok that makes sense; thank you so much for your help!