<p>I was deferred in the SCEA rounds and I wanted to know how important is the midyear report for SCEA deferres. I had an upward trend in my GPA from freshman-junior year but my grades this year have gone down very slightly since junior year. They are still well-above my grades in freshman in sophomore year. The slight dip is due to the fact that the courses I'm taking year are simply more difficult than the ones I took last year. Is this going to be an issue? Thanks.</p>
<p>Fellow deferree, I’d have to say the midyear report is extremely important, from what I’ve been told/what I’ve observed. After all, it does say right in the letter that “it may mean the admissions officers want to see your senior year academic performance.” Operating under the assumption that the midyear report matters a great deal, your drop in performance will likely hurt you a bit. There’s no way around that. Hopefully, they’ll take into account the increased workload/difficulty, but remember, they look for students who excel in whatever situation they’re placed in. Saying that, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If you can’t achieve academic “perfection,” showing marked improvement is just as good, if not better. </p>
<p>In summation, yes, your midyear report matters quite a bit, at least in my opinion. As to if it will be an issue for your or not, I’d also have to say yes, but they should take note of the increased difficulty. Anyway, cheers, and good luck to you! I hope to see you at preview weekend.</p>
<p>The admissions office will tell you straight out that they are looking for students who got A’s in the hardest classes that your high school offers. This is because PU will be offering classes that are even harder still.</p>
<p>On the other hand, they are looking at a holistic person, not just that you got a B in AP Bio so it doesn’t necessarily take you out of the running, but you have to be realistic that they have literally thousands of applicants whose grades went up or stayed up for that semester.</p>
<p>By the way, your grades going down because these classes are harder is probably the least good spin you could put on it. Being very busy with the lead in the senior play, or didn’t realize how much time being head of the science club would take or was out of school in January because of the Nobel prize award ceremony would all be interesting reasons that would be worth a note from your guidance office to the admissions office. The classes being too hard isn’t something you’ll want to pass along.</p>
<p>"admissions office will tell you straight out that they are looking for students who got A’s in the hardest classes "</p>
<p>Where?</p>
<p>This article on academic preparation from Princeton’s website might be helpful:</p>
<p>[Princeton</a> University | Academic Preparation](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/preparation/]Princeton”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/preparation/)</p>
<p>It doesn’t specifically say that admissions is looking for A’s in the hardest courses. I can say without a doubt that you will want that level of success before attempting the courses that Princeton offers.</p>