Are junior year grades MOST important?

[Anonymous]

My son's worst year of grades are from this year - a mixtures of As and Bs and a C. He was almost a straight A student freshman and sophomore year (3.95 GPA, I think). Alarming?

[Anonymous]

Not "alarming." But moving in the wrong direction for top schools.

[Anonymous]

Might come back to bite him in the rear - it is a possible indicator of inability to handle classes as they get harder.

But, grades are hardly going to be a deal breaker. The final acceptance or rejection result will be based on something that isn't scores or grades, at least for top schools.

[Anonymous]

I would say that 1st semester senior year equally important as junior year.

[Anonymous]

Not most important, but quite important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would say that 1st semester senior year equally important as junior year.

Unless you are applying ED, in which case it's just the first quarter grades.

[Anonymous]

I think so because that's the final set of grades most colleges will see. We focused DS on that mark - we did apply EA and got in so were done Dec. 12th. No grades from senior year went in the application for EA at all (early november).

[Anonymous]

DC applied ED and the school did ask for first quarter grades.

OP it really depends where your DC wants to go. There are plenty of fantastic schools for which this won't be a huge problem. He won't be able to get into Harvard but he was never going to get into Harvard. I suspect he's feeling a lot of stress right now and rather than worry you should focus on the real possibilities out there.

[Anonymous]

Colleges like to see an upward trend as far as grades are concerned. So yes, junior year is very important but I am not sure if it is the MOST important.

[Anonymous]

It is also widely known that junior year is very, very difficult (sophomore year is the easiest, academically) so I think schools are used to a slight drop in grades, especially if the rigor has increased.

[Anonymous]

10th and 11th are the hardest and the most important.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't discount senior year - my DCs grades dropped a bit in the fall semester of senior year and it definitely affected admissions. DC had a great run until then (2 Bs in the first 3 years).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is also widely known that junior year is very, very difficult (sophomore year is the easiest, academically) so I think schools are used to a slight drop in grades, especially if the rigor has increased.

Not in DD school!