Not sure why anyone on this would either take comfort or fear from someone else’s guess/opinion. But, I’ll guess that if they ARE asking for the additional information it’s because you’re in the pile they’re still working on, and not in the rejected or accepted pile, yet. Just a guess.
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@madeinVa have your grades generally been stable for the prior 6 semesters? I have been told that sometimes when grades are asked it is either because someone might be borderline or a school is looking for an upward trend in grades, so I wouldn’t be worried about it. Also, with Covid a lot of schools grades last Spring are being excluded so they may also want to instead substitute q1 grades to get a better perspective.
I wouldn’t be concerned at this point.
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penn still doesn’t have an official release date 
but i called & they said that they’d email us when a date becomes available for them to release decisions… hopefully that’s either this week or next week!!
It is easy to understand, due to test optional rule, more applicants are able to apply, at least it is worth to try. However, qualified students should be stable every year anyway
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I think requesting in progress grade is a sign to show kind of interest. What do you mean borderline? What is the desire candidate in terms of grade for Upenn? All grades are perfect?
ahhh I see, thx!
Borderline in the context that they need to see your grades because they want to see what they are relative to prior grades since schools want to see an upward trend and maybe the person didn’t have an upward trend previously, or had one bad semester, etc. So if they’re on the fence about the person they need more data to decide whether to admit them or not.
It is not a bad thing that they haven’t asked. If you have had consistently good grades throughout high school it’s likely you have good grades now too and they probably don’t need that confirmation now.
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I had an upward trend through my first three years of high school, and my school reported actual grades in the spring. So does this mean that they don’t need my first quarter grades?
I agree it does not mean you get rejected if they haven’t been asked. I don’t agree it is something borderline or upward trend related, I got in progress report request and I have stable grade trend. Anyway, it is free to have different thoughts
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At this point I’m just looking for any news whatsoever that seems to increase my admission chances. I am so worried/nervous. 
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I have the same grade pattern as you and didn’t get 1st Q grade request. I’m so worried now.
I’m pretty sure that in order to ED somewhere you have to send interim or 1st Q grades. My guess is that those who got requests were just the people who’s college counselors didn’t send them in on a certain date and it was just a reminder to do so.
My school sent in interim grade reports for November 1st and I have not received a request from Penn so I think you’re right.
Depends on the uni. Brown and Dartmouth require of all ED applicants. Penn does not, although they may request from some.
Read nothing into it if you were, or were not, asked for Q1 grades.
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What times do decisions usually come out? I know the website says mid-december but over the past few years what specific times have they been out? 6 PM, 7 PM, 8 PM, etc…?
Planning how and where I’m going to view my results lol. I’m considering recording my reaction.
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Penn usually releases decisions at 7pm EST. Doesn’t mean that that is certain for this year, but that’s the time they’ve commonly used in the past.
Not necessary. You may be good enough and no need more information
a lot of applicants just kinda shot their shot because of test optional. if they have grade inflation at their school, their GPA looks good, and if they have strong ECs/writing skills, then they may have a better chance without a test score. this is the case at basically all top schools - applications are going wayyyy up
And those colleges know which schools have grade inflation, etc. So a lot of candidates will probably be eliminated immediately.
I am curious if schools however, are separating students that submitted test scores from tests in an initial look through.
@katharron1 Not all schools require Q1 grades. Cornell does not. Some of their programs recommend them, but they don’t require and I have no knowledge on them asking anyone to turn them in after they’ve applied but I wouldn’t be surprised if they did, although it seems easier to just defer those people and wait for their semester grades.
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