A senior last year was rejected to their top choice 48 hours after they were accepted. According to Gifted and Talented Advocate, Andy Wilkes, it’s possible for schools to change admission decisions depending on senior grades.

“When seniors apply to college and give their first semester senior grades, they have to commit to those schools and work just as hard second semester,” Wilkes said. “Seniors have to uphold their part of the deal when applying to college by not giving up second semester.”

Although it is discouraged to not care about grades senior year, Wilkes said that it is normally permissible for seniors to average a ⅓ or ⅔ drop in letter grades while they  apply to colleges. If an A or B student starts to receive D’s and F’s in classes, however, the counsellors at Park are required by the school to call the admission offices of the colleges to which that student is applying.

Senior Isaac Stone said that he will not give up on school even though he’s on a senior-slide, and is only trying to relax and relieve some stress that has built up from applying to college.

“My motivation has definitely changed. I don’t like doing poorly in school so I’m still trying, but not nearly at the level that I was the three previous years,” Stone said. “I’m just taking it a bit easy for once; there’s nothing wrong with that in my mind.”

Kelsey Milne, the school’s Career and Credit Recovery Counselor, said that most colleges want a final transcript that shows both the first and second semesters of senior year to see if grades start to worsen.

“Students should still work just as hard until the end of the year and commit to doing their best in all of their classes,” Milne said. “If students work hard and hold up their part of the bargain, they will have a better chance to be accepted into colleges and will be the most prepared they can be for college freshman year.”