Slacking in senior year?

Applying to College
1

I have already been accepted to 5 of the 6 schools I applied to, UVA being one of them. I am only waiting for Virginia Tech’s early action deadline still. I applied to architecture which is their most competitive major and its my number one choice right now since it’s a top 5 architecture school in the country. The decision comes out Feb. 22nd so they wont get second semester grades until after the decision is sent out. If I am deferred I will obviously work hard to raise my GPA in the hopes of getting in, but if I get accepted am I safe to slip down to all B’s? what about mostly B’s and 1 C? what is the cut off?

here is my information btw
Sat: 1480 (no essay)
Gpa: W/O first semester of senior year 3.91 weighted. with semester 1 of senior year: 4.14 weighted
extra circulars: Debate club all 4 years on the varsity team, Economics challenge first place regionals 3rd place states, Its academic varsity team.

2

Don’t get a D. A wall of C’s will likely do you no favors, either.

3

If you don’t want to work hard, you should not be going to Architecture school. That is crazy hard.

4

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/2122350-faq-rescission-of-admission-offers.html

5

i just dont want to do work when i dont have to. it’s called efficiency. It wouldnt be the minimum if it wasnt enough

6

@Carthago “what is the cut off?” you asked
Bs lowest no Cs definitely

7

IMO, the cutoff is after 1 C. William and Mary’s policy is that 2 or more Cs or a D/F will lead to your app being reevaluated and I’m sure it’s similar for Va Tech.

8

The issue is for most schools there is no defined cut-off. So if your slack off too much you risk blowing the acceptances you have worked so hard for. In my house the rule was to keep it a B’s or better – both kids did just fine their last semester but were more relaxed about things.

9

yeah thats what im aiming for. i worked my ass off first semester so i just needed to know if i could lay off a little

10

If you want not to worry, then reread the post linked from reply #3.

The short version on what academic standards you need to meet:

  • No unreported schedule changes.
  • No D or F grades.
  • If specific grade/GPA conditions are listed, fulfill them. Otherwise:
  • Senior GPA >= your previous GPA should be safe.
  • Senior GPA slightly less than your previous GPA is low risk.
  • Senior GPA much less than your previous GPA is high risk.
11

Carthago:
When you apply to competitive schools, it means the adcoms admit you over many others with strong academic profiles and who would work hard to sustain those strong profiles.

The last thing you want to do is give the adcoms any reason to think “why the heck did we ever admit this kid?”. They hold every right to rescind their decisions. And they often exercise it.

12

Every year our HS guidance office sends seniors a package of 20 or so letters collected over the years from various colleges to former students at the HS (names redacted) that either: rescind an acceptance, ask for a letter detailing the reason for their academic fall-off in the last semester, or starting the student off on academic probation at the college. So bottom line is don’t slack off too much.