<p>Prospective freshman here, currently a junior in high school. I really want to make good grades senior year and be able to send them in. Would UW Madison look at 1st semester senior year grades?</p>
<p>Yes. They definitely will.</p>
<p>Ahhh that’s great! 
Are all grades weighed equally or do they see some years as more important than others? Like would sophomore and junior year grades be weighed more into the admissions process than senior or freshman year grades?</p>
<p>I don’t know how it will work next year, but for this year…HS grades for years 1-3 (6 semesters) are submitted as an UW GPA to Admissions assuming you apply in the fall of your senior year.</p>
<p>If you apply by Nov. 1st, you might have a decision of ADMIT, DENIED, or POSTPONED before grades from semster 7 (Fall Senior year) are recorded. If you get an ADMIT, no worries, if you get a DENIED, too late for Fall grades to matter. If you are POSTPONED, great grades from semster 7 can only help your chances. If you are really concerned about your grades, and feel that semester 7 grades are vital, I guess you could wait to apply until after grades are available (presumably in Jan.) This is a little risky because the deadline is Feb. 1st and you will put yourself in the position of not getting a decision potentially until as late as April 1st. Check with your counselor before taking this approach.</p>
<p>I don’t work in Admissions, so I don’t have hard facts about whether some grades are more important than others, but I’ve read many times that trending up can help you. Remember, many universities only look at un-weighted grades, so don’t fall in love with your weighted GPA.</p>
<p>Also, it’s been suggested mutliple times that Wisconsin values (in order) grades, test scores, essays, EC’s, and LOR’s. Several posters have advised others to focus on grades, and not to worry about joining dozens of clubs senior year.</p>
<p>Thank you, that was really informative! Do they care about class rank?</p>
<p>I believe the answer is yes, they care about class rank. The difficulty is that more and more schools are eliminating rank, so any comparison or categorization becomes increasingly difficult with a declining applicant pool that have a rank from their HS. For that reason, I think rank is lower than several of the other attributes, but I don’t have facts, only my opinion.</p>
<p>I found the people in the admissions office to be pretty helpful, particularly if you are organized and ask a series of questions that you can ask at one time. You may want to approach them as you approach the point of applying or even when you go for a tour.</p>
<p>UW Admissions cares about class rank, but a lot of schools don’t provide it any more, officially, on the transcript for example. It you have a high class rank, you may want to work it into your essay, like “…while maintaining a class rank of 3/175, I have been involved in various leadership and volunteer activities including …”</p>