Anonymous wrote:FWIW, DD pulled plug on her ED choice that requires mid-semester grades after poor performance on early test. Will apply EA elsewhere and RD to first choice school.

DS did the opposite. He was applying EA and switched to ED hoping first quarter grades won't hurt him

FWIW, DD pulled plug on her ED choice that requires mid-semester grades after poor performance on early test. Will apply EA elsewhere and RD to first choice school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m pretty sure MCPS, at least, refuses to report anything but semester grades, no matter who asks. Maybe someone can confirm?

Those quarter grades never show up on an MCPS transcript, either. Only semester.

No they will if asked. My class of ‘23 DD wanted to report her first quarter grades to her ED school and the counselor sent them.

Yep -- counselor on our MCPS senior class meeting a few weeks ago said that they supply 1st quarter grades to the schools that ask for them. But they also know which schools regular ask for them and which don't.

So OP, regardless of where your DC is in school, perhaps just ask the school counselor for insight on their experience with Penn, and they might be able to allay or at least minimize her concern.

Anonymous wrote:I’m pretty sure MCPS, at least, refuses to report anything but semester grades, no matter who asks. Maybe someone can confirm?

Those quarter grades never show up on an MCPS transcript, either. Only semester.

No they will if asked. My class of ‘23 DD wanted to report her first quarter grades to her ED school and the counselor sent them.

Anonymous wrote:I’m pretty sure MCPS, at least, refuses to report anything but semester grades, no matter who asks. Maybe someone can confirm?

Those quarter grades never show up on an MCPS transcript, either. Only semester.

No, you can report quarter grades from MCPS. Counselor will do it. Mine had to submit them for Brown last year.

But, on a transcript, they won't show, and it will just be semester.

Anonymous wrote:It's just insane. My kids' private schools have first quarter grades in several classes that cover ONE assignment.

Some teachers are being incredibly gentle with seniors grading, some are like "I don't give a crap, I'm grading like I always do" (which is: "you can get your grad up by semester's end--once you have more assessments and the midterm")

I hope admissions people know this. These grades are totally random and mean next to nothing in many cases.

Agreed. And very much also hope the colleges understand that quarter grades are not very meaningful.

It's just insane. My kids' private schools have first quarter grades in several classes that cover ONE assignment.

Some teachers are being incredibly gentle with seniors grading, some are like "I don't give a crap, I'm grading like I always do" (which is: "you can get your grad up by semester's end--once you have more assessments and the midterm")

I hope admissions people know this. These grades are totally random and mean next to nothing in many cases.

Anonymous wrote:I’m pretty sure MCPS, at least, refuses to report anything but semester grades, no matter who asks. Maybe someone can confirm?

Those quarter grades never show up on an MCPS transcript, either. Only semester.

Our private definitely refuses to report quarter grades - they're a college prep school, and colleges (generally) don't do quarters, so why would they?

Just piping in to say I think this is an unfair practice. My kids have not had to do this, but it is easy to see that a non-final grade is not appropriate. It's one thing if the grade is on a report card/progress report, but the counselors will literally go into Canvas and give the college whatever is there.

I think high schools need to be super attuned to this and make sure teacher's don't pull the usual "I'm going to hit them with a tough project and bad grade at the beginning to wake them up" knowing most will pull up that grade by the end. This literally tanks ED applications every year.

My kid's ED school requested grades as of the week they were reviewing the application.

Glad we are not the only family with this type of issue. Just chiming in to commiserate.

'First quarter grades' aren't something our school traditionally records (they get semester grades and then just a final grade shows on transcript). So, reporting the first quarter snapshot is not necessarily where kid will end up at the end of the semester. I know they can't change the current info, but given the ED timing and high level of competition and expectation for near-perfect grades, I can only assume that this information will hurt their chances. Maybe it's a life lesson, but I do feel for these kids - juggling the applications and multitude of supplemental essay writing requirements with full schedules of high rigor courses, sports, etc. Its a tough year, unexpectedly harder than junior year. - op

Anonymous wrote:I’m pretty sure MCPS, at least, refuses to report anything but semester grades, no matter who asks. Maybe someone can confirm?

Those quarter grades never show up on an MCPS transcript, either. Only semester.

This is likely true, but we're all in the college forum here, not the MCPS schools forum, so there's going to be some variation...

I’m pretty sure MCPS, at least, refuses to report anything but semester grades, no matter who asks. Maybe someone can confirm?

Those quarter grades never show up on an MCPS transcript, either. Only semester.