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I know the colleges request a semester grade report for regular decision applicants, but do they expect to receive a quarter (mid-term) report for seniors applying early decision ? If you don't send do they assume the worst ? If your grades are good, should you get counselor/school to send ?

By Dave Berry on Friday, September 07, 2001 - 07:53 am: Edit

Mid-term grade reports are standard operating procedure for almost every ED process. I say "almost every" because, as soon as I say "all," someone will post a link to a school that doesn't require one. So, I'll avoid the sweeping generality.

Mid-term reports are due usually around early February and are a requirement. If you don't send one in, they'll hunt you down like an escaped convict and find out why you didn't send it. If you were an admissions officer, would you be suspicious if an ED admit suddenly clammed up about his or her grades? Sure, you would.

The purpose of the reports is to keep admits ED from coming down with senioritis, which turns once-fine students into slackers. Senioritis affects students' judgment because, somehow, they think that just because they have a ticket to their first-choice college in hand before winter break their high school career is over. Don't make THAT mistake.

Bottom line: Continue to perform at the level that got you into your ED school, and send that report. There have been some documented cases of students with severe senioritis who had their offers of acceptance withdrawn. This is very rare, but take heed that it can happen.

By Ed Scissorhands on Friday, September 07, 2001 - 11:41 am: Edit

What about sending in mid-term (first quarter)reports for the first semester (i.e., around November, before the ED decision is made - do schools expect this ? Obviously if my grades were good I'd send I suppose, BUT if below overall GPA (maybe, just maybe I loaded up on APs to make senior schedule look challenging ?!)and I didn't send would college count that against me ? Will they assume the best (i.e., she's doing just as well as in previous years and we'll just extrapolate) or the worst (she didnt send them in so she must be tanking under this number of challenging courses !)