Overheard in Committee: The Prequel

Admit It!  You’re wondering whether or not your first semester grades senior year really matter.  You’ve heard it’s all about the junior year; that it’s that year that is the most important to colleges.  Well I’m here to tell you, and guidance counselors you can thank me for this, that your first semester grades from senior year do in fact matter.  That’s why this post is called the prequel (because we gather your first semester grades before we begin Committee deliberations), well that and because Danny suggested the title in a comment on a previous post in the series.

Overhead in Committee today: “Tell me about the mid-year grades.”

So there’s your answer.  They do matter.  And sometimes they can help us make close-call decisions.  Let’s say we’re looking at a student who had a slight dip in grades their junior year; maybe they got their first C or maybe they went from mostly As to mostly Bs.  Or maybe the student has been on a steady upward trend and we want to see if that trend is continuing.  Chances are their schedule only got more challenging during the senior year so looking at first semester grades can be quite telling.  If we see those grades rebound, or we see the upward grade trend continue, we are reassured that the student is capable of excelling in college classrooms.  If the grades decline we may be more hesitant to admit the student because we will not admit a student who we feel will be unsuccessful here academically.

Or maybe the mid-year grades tell a very different story.  Maybe the student has gotten straight As and then all of a sudden senior year we see several Cs or even a D.  Senioritis perhaps?  Such a grade slump might turn us off from a student when we have so many other great applicants who continue to excel in the senior year.

Now, don’t think we’re unfeeling.  We know senior year is tough.  You’re taking hard courses, continuing your extracurricular activities, enjoying traditions like Homecoming and Prom, and applying to college (which should be a credit-bearing class in my humble opinion).  That’s why we joke that you can’t spell calculus without two Cs.  Or maybe you’re getting a C but it’s in a really tough course like linear algebra or organic chemistry (classes most students don’t take until college).  We know that these courses are tough and that you’re under a great deal of stress and sometimes a C is acceptable.  Other times there are just bad grades for seemingly no reason.  So we encourage you to explain any downturn in grades that we might see at the mid-year report.  We respect those who ask permission rather than forgiveness (meaning we appreciate you contacting us about your grades rather than us just discovering them with no accompanying explanation).

I could write a sequel to the prequel on second semester grades senior year and maybe I’ll do that in April.  For now, that brings the Overheard in Committee blog series to a close (how appropriate as Committee is also coming to a close).  Decisions will be released the week of March 28 which will bring about another installment of the Decisions Decisions blog.

Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ’09
Senior Assistant Dean of Admission

Categories: Admission, Faculty & Staff Blogs
24 Comments
  1. Joanne
  2. Admit It!
  3. Joanne
  4. Admit It!
  5. Wayne
  6. Admit It!
  7. Amy
  8. Betsy Choate
  9. Admit It!
  10. Tom
  11. Tom
  12. Alex
  13. Admit It!
  14. Sam
  15. Alex
  16. Amy
  17. Admit It!
  18. Admit It!
  19. Deborah
  20. Admit It!
  21. Elizabeth Clark
  22. Admit It!
  23. Sam Niemann
  24. Admit It!

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