<p>okay…so here is the problem for me…Freshman year i took all the hard classes and got all A’s. Sophomore year i also took the most challenging course load and got all A<a href=“low%20A’s%20however…school%20doesn’t%20give%20out%20minuses”>/B</a>…junior year, i jacked up my schedule with all APs and honors (smart right?..) and basically i bite off more than i could chew…i ended up with all B+s<a href=“school%20does%20give%20out%20pluses%20lol”>/B</a>…SO, my GPA weighted is 4.14/4.33 and unweighted is 3.81/4.0…IF i apply early…colleges will only see the huge DOWN trend in junior year (even tho i did take the hardest classes, i’m unnsure how they will look upon this)AND they won’t see midyear reports…Sooo i have eased up my senior year a bit and i’m confident that i’ll get (probably) all A’s for my midyear report (2 mps + midterm)…and i think that this will look better…**is this a good reason to apply regular decision rather than early decision to schools such as UPenn, Columbia (my top choices)? How much do these school look at midyear grades?<a href=“my%20midyear%20grades%20would%20come%20out%20at%20end%20of%20January.”>/B</a> THanks in advance!</p>
<p>How would we possibly know? Shouldn’t you be asking your guidance counselor?</p>
<p>well…i was just wondering…i think parents should hv an idea about this stuff…</p>
<p>Well, we don’t - and if we do, it is poorly informed. ;)</p>
<p>One of the mantras one hears from adcoms is that they look first at rigor (the difficulty of the classes you elected) and balance that against gpa. In fact, one of the cliches of the admissions game is “we look for students who challenged themselves.” </p>
<p>At schools like Columbia and Penn, frankly, they’re looking for students who did very well in the most challenging classes their school offered, so, at the very best, the choice between ED/RD will be a wash: higher grades will be offset by a schedule that maybe looks a little weaker. If you choose to apply ED, it should be because you’ve really decided that the school is the ideal match for you (and you can afford it).</p>