After working so hard through high school, some students believe they can slack off during the last few months of senior year. Mid-year grades have been submitted and some students have been accepted at their favorite school. Why not kick back and enjoy life? But an offer of admission is conditional, and students are expected to maintain their academic performance throughout senior year. Every year, colleges around the country rescind admission offers.
You are admitted to a college based on the information in your application, and if there are any changes, you need to let the college know. If you have dropped a class that was listed on the transcript you submitted to colleges, your application has changed. Colleges receive your final transcript during the summer, and you don’t want to find out in July that you no longer have a place in the incoming freshman class.
It is much better to be honest and explain why you dropped the class or why your grades have gone down. If the drop in academic performance is severe enough to jeopardize your acceptance, admissions officers may be able to advise you on how to salvage things.
There’s another reason to keep working hard in school. It makes the transition to college level work easier. That’s one of the advantages of taking AP courses, which require a high level of commitment throughout senior year in order to prepare for AP exams in May. The anti-slacker curriculum built into AP classes will help you adjust more easily to college-level academic requirements.
If you start procrastinating during senior year, it’s difficult to get back to good study habits when you arrive at college. There will be lots of distractions on campus and no parents reminding you to finish your history paper before you go out for pizza with your friends.
While you do need to keep your grades up, making sure you have some fun throughout high school will help you avoid burnout. Just don’t go overboard quite yet. Summer is only three months away, and you will have plenty of time to play before you go off to college.
It’s not just lower grades that can torpedo an offer of admission. While spray painting the school gym might seem like a fun prank, a disciplinary issue can torpedo your spot in the freshman class.
More importantly, students who keep senioritis under control will get their reward when they embark on the great adventure of college, beginning in just a few short months.
