<p>Hi!</p>
<p>If you applied regular decision and are still waiting for decisions, is it okay to get “senioritis” during second semester senior year? Like if you are currently an A student, getting Bs in all classes?</p>
<p>My midyear report will be sent after midterms in two weeks. Are there any negative consequences to getting lower grades in the second semester after that, as the only time grades are sent to colleges is when I send them to wherever I decide to attend?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Your question makes me laugh. </p>
<p>It’s like going to a bunch of folks and saying: is it OK for me to start smoking cigarettes. Most people will ignore you. A few might say: “that’s not cool”. A few others will say: “go ahead it’s your life” or “i’ve done it and it doesn’t affect me”.</p>
<p>The similarity in both scenarios is that you already know the answer. You’re going to do what you want and just want some validation. You’re looking for an online hang-out spot akin to where the kids are smoking behing the high school.</p>
<p>waitingforivy … T26E4 is thinking like me in response to your question, which suggests that you may need to consider a gap year or make sure you’re considering schools a notch down from the ivies. Students that are ready for college and especially highly selective colleges wouldn’t seriously consider slacking off to B’s after getting A’s their whole lives. The problem with even attempting that is how do you slack off to all B’s without getting some C’s, especially in rigorous classes that contain the most competitive students? For many high performing seniors, that last semester is tough, but it is also when they set the tone for how they will do in college and the attitudes they will have in college. Sleep in tomorrow, get some rest, and then go look at your question from the perspective of 1000’s of other kids ‘waiting to get into ivies’ and ask yourself what they are doing 2nd semester.</p>
<p>WFI: for me, my last semester was very liberating. I knew my college apps were in and nothing I could do could change it (I already had some early admits in my back pocket). I wanted to go out with a bang – having no regrets. Asked out the girls I wanted to. And cranked on my classes because I knew I wanted to knock 'em out! Ended up w/ a 4.0 in one of my hardest semesters – all the while prepping for multiple APs. Very proud of what I did. Still had fun. Still found time to relax. Still went out with the girls I wanted to!</p>
<p>I don’t agree with the previous two posters. The posters seem older and out-of-touch. You’re a senior, enjoy you’re second semester. Don’t go out and try to get B’s, but if it happens, nothing terrible will come of it.</p>
<p>No where did I imply the world was going to collapse based on OPs actions. I just cited the fact that whether it was “OK” or not was well within the ken of the OP to decide. He/She is a big boy now. He/She can weigh the consequences versus the rewards. Didn’t need to come out here to ask for reassurance one way or another. That’s why I said the OP already has the answer even w/o making this thread.</p>
<p>As long as nothing drops below a B, you won’t have acceptances rescinded. That usually takes Ds, but Cs might be a risk depending on the school.</p>
<p>I would suggest paying attention enough to retain the material, though. Especially in classes you’ll need to take versions of your freshman year. For example, if you’re in calc, and you’ll likely need to take a calc class your freshman year, don’t shirk that class, or else you won’t be very prepared for next year.</p>
<p>Also, if you happen to be in AP classes, I imagine you’d want to pay enough attention to do well on the exams, assuming you’d get credit for them.</p>
<p>Wow! So many responses!</p>
<p>I want to start by clearing up some misconceptions. First of all, I’d like to ask you not to judge me. You really don’t know anything about me, and I don’t need to justify anything. </p>
<p>I love to learn; I would hate going on a gap year because I am looking forward to the academic part of colleges.
However, classes in school are not just learning. They are busywork, and catering to teachers wishes, and a million other things. I have done very well so far; a slight break is not a ridiculous idea.</p>
<p>I am not looking for anyone’s permission, except perhaps my parents. My parents, who know me very well, unlike certain others.
I have always been very independent and made my own decisions. But any decision should be informed. This is one way of obtaining information, and the different views on the issue. That is appreciated. </p>
<p>I might have exaggerated in my post, which could be a source of misunderstanding. I do not intend to go from A’s to C’s. I just want to not obsess over my grades, because they do not reflect my learning. so if that A slips into an A- or a B+, so be it.
Very few of my classes count for college credit as they are IB classes. The ones which count are cumulative, and therefore are dependent on much more than a couple months of class. I will study for them, and I do aim to do well on tests, because I take pride in that.</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, I am much more interested and excited about my extracurricular activities such as science research, lit mag, and some volunteering I do , and would be delighted to have this time to focus on them as well.</p>
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<p>@T26E4 
This past year I’ve envisioned you as a motherly-type woman. Until I saw that. Then again, maybe you are a female. No judgement here. Just shocked that I maybe could have been so far off base for such a long time.</p>
<p>I’m reminded of all the threads that appeared here about last July, “OMG! My acceptance got rescinded because of senior year grades. Can you read my appeal letter for me?”</p>
<p>@annasdad - My grades aren’t going to be low enough to be rescinded. A B/B+ at the lowest, from an A. Not such a big deal.</p>
<p>I hope you’re right.</p>
<p>As for the OP, I know that at my school, seniors usually… slack off (I hate to use that word, since it’s basically as you described it here, going down to a couple of B+s or maybe even a B). So far, I don’t know of any who have gotten rescinded, and that’s from Ivies and the like. That does not mean you should set forth with the goal to slack off. However, if it does happen a tiny bit, you shouldn’t get very worked up about it. Or at least that is my plan. For kids who spent the last 3.5 years working our butts off and drowning in stress up to our eyeballs, I think it’s okay for us all to step back a tiny bit and get a B or 2.</p>
<p>A couple B’s = fine
All B’s = questionable. I wouldn’t be surprised if you got some sort of angry letter mid-summer if your grades dropped to all B’s. I remember seeing a thread on here a while back about a student whose grades did just that and who had to take a year off to “mature” in order to attend Yale, but I can’t find it for the life of me.</p>
<p>But the point is that you need to be careful</p>
<p>I’m not old or out-of-touch and yet I agree with T26E4 (as usual) and SnowflakeVT =)</p>
<p>I’m not even slacking off and I already have a B… people lie… senior year is not easy <em>sob</em>.</p>
<p>I think it’s a bad idea to slack off. Really bad… Don’t do it. Once you start slacking off, procrastinating, not paying attention in class, it all goes into a downward spiral and soon the situation spins out of control.</p>
<p>Getting an acceptance rescinded when you’re all pumped to go to college will not be fun… at all…</p>
<p>Good luck! Don’t get inflicted with Senioritis, because you’ll have a hard time adjusting when you get to college… or so I’ve heard.</p>
<p>hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha</p>
<p>this thread makes me laugh. I pity the seniors still doing their homework religiously and cranking out those As… I bet y’all are gonna have soo much fun in college ;)</p>
<p>Seriously though, take it easy. You got your 2000+ on your SAT, you’re getting into your schools… get over yourselves and be a teenager for once!</p>
<p>As a practical matter, some colleges make admission offers conditional on sufficiently good academic performance in reported senior year courses. In some cases, the standard is clearly specified (e.g. “3.0 GPA with no D or F grades”), but in others, it is vaguely specified (“consistent with your previous academic performance”).</p>
<p>I have a question about my midyear report. Can someone answer please.</p>
<p>As for OP, colleges will check how you’re doing in school. Even if they’ve made their decision , they can reconsider and deny you.</p>
<p>I highly doubt you’d get rescinded for Bs or even Ca. So have fun! Obviously you just mean you’ll still try to do well but you aren’t going to be obsessive and crazy to get As right? Sounds like a good idea to me! :)</p>