Mid-Year School Report - Grade drop

Answered

Hi @Ashley_University!

I think your chances are still good at most of your targets, but I need a bit more context to give you a fuller answer.

Is this your first semester taking APs? And, if so, how many have you taken before? (I'm also a bit confused about your taking 9 AP courses this semester — most students don't even take that many courses in a term, or have that many APs in total.)

I'm wondering because that would give me a idea on the trajectory of your overall transcript: how many APs you typically take in a semester, and how you've tended to do in them until now. My immediate concern is that you may have overreached this semester (having not taken many AP courses before), and that this will be a topic of discussion for those reading your application.

It's extremely impressive that you took 9 AP classes and got through the semester with decent grades. But it's concerning that you overextended yourself, since admissions officers expect you to take reasonable courseloads you can excel in. I'd definitely recommend scaling back a bit next semester.

Now, regarding your grades, you gave us a pretty wide range. A 3.3 is a lot lower than a 3.5, and your GPA will be factored differently depending on your demographics. A 3.5 would also put you at the lower end for all your non-reach schools (except for Washington College) — but I'm also not sure how your unweighted GPA could drop to a 3.5 (or 3.3!) from just one semester of mostly Bs. I'd double-check your math on that, as you should be closer to a 3.7, which would be fine for most of your intended schools. (Your GPA accounts for all of high school, not just the latest semester.)

Regarding the mid-year report, that is more like an addendum to your transcript: admissions officers take it into account as part of your grades when evaluating your application. Normally they'd be looking for senioritis, but I think you're good on that front. In fact, I don't think you have much to worry about, other than the fact that it looks like you overextended yourself (which is not much of a demerit). The lower overall GPA might make your reach schools like Harvard less likely, but otherwise you'll still look good academics-wise.

And lastly, your grades in senior spring aren't going to be a factor in admissions. Colleges receive those from your end-year report, which is mostly just for transferring AP credits and such. They might issue a warning or rescind admission if there's an extreme drop in academic performance — but as Priya mentioned, that's more of a "nuclear option."

So in short, there's more info I'd need to give you a fuller answer. But from what I can tell, you're just dealing with a drop in grades senior fall. It'll be noticeable, but I don't think this will be a deciding factor at your reach or target schools.

Best of luck!

Hi there @Ashley_University,

Good question! I've pasted the following from this article which you might find helpful: https://blog.collegevine.com/what-is-the-mid-year-report/

"For regular admissions students, the mid-year report can either give their application a push over the top, or put an end to their chances of admission at a particular school. It gives borderline candidates an opportunity to show improvement, highlight an upward academic trajectory, spotlight a new athletic achievement (for example, making captain of a spring sport team), and call attention to additional distinctions. Conversely, a negative mid-year report can serve as the excuse an admissions officer needed to pass on a candidate."

"Rescinding an offer is the nuclear option for colleges. It’s more common that a school will send a student a warning letter—many of which ask the student to follow up with an explanation for why their grades have fallen and what they’re doing to correct the situation. No matter the reasons for a student’s drop in grades, they should reply to colleges with an honest and sincere explanation and a detailed course of action for how they plan to get back on track.

It’s worth noting that colleges are receptive to the challenges facing students; however, they’re more understanding of students facing extenuating circumstances, like illness or family issues, than students who simply decided to kick back senior year."

Hope this helps!

Didn't you mention in your other post you had a trepidation about submitting your 1270 SAT as well? I'm not sure if you submitted your 1270 since some of the deadlines on the reaches have passed.

But combined with the anticipated lower mid year grade report and the lower 1270 SAT, I think this s perfect last chance to add some targets and delete some reaches for RD.

I don't see any liberal arts colleges on your list except for URichmond. How about looking these college with later deadlines? Many of them were Test Optional even before COVID-19 so they are used to evaluating applications with out standardized test scores.

Bennington College 1/15,

Skidmore College 1/15,

St. Lawrence college 2/1,

Whitman College, 1/15

Lewis and Clark, 1/15

Reed College, 1/15

Clark University, 1/15

Pitzer College, 1/7

Smith College, 1/15

Mt. Holyoke College, 1/18

Macalester College, 1/15

Trinity College CT, 1/15

Franklin & Marshall, 1/15

Bates College. 1/10

Bryn Mawr College, 1/15

Just a thought.

Good luck.

I think that it will factor in your reach schools as @CameronBameron said, it may also affect your target schools. That being said if there were other reasons for your grade drop, maybe outside pressures then you could explain to your colleges: i.e. you had trouble managing applications and senior grades at the same time. I am also confused if you are taking 9 AP classes because I thought usually people have about 7-8 periods. One period which usually taken up by PE and lunch.