You should have your grades from your first term of senior year by now. And by the end of next week, the colleges to which you have applied should too. They get them in the form of the Midyear Report if they are a Common Application school or something similar if they use their own forms.

So whether the Midyear Report is good, bad, or ugly, here is what you need to do to keep your applications on track:

1.  If you don't have grades yet, get them! (Some of you may not have them because you ended up with incompletes - resolve that now! Some of you may not have them because your teachers haven't turned them in - pester them to do it!) Your Midyear Report is important and colleges need to get it in a timely manner.

2.  Confirm that your counselor has sent in the Midyear Report. If he/she hasn't, follow up and make sure he/she does by February 15.

3.  Deal with what it contains and how it changes your academic profile.

• If it is good news -- it raises your GPA or class standing or demonstrates a positive recovery or grade trend -- MAKE SURE THAT IS OBVIOUS. That means that your GPA is updated on your transcript, that your class standing is updated on your transcript or on the counselor's report, or that your counselor makes some note of it in the Evaluation section. YOU are responsible for making sure this good news gets shared, so meet with your counselor and let him/her know what you want highlighted. If he/she isn't receptive, then formulate a short e-mail to the admissions office and toot your own horn in two-three sentences that recount the facts clearly. E.g. "I hope that the admissions office has received and processed my Midyear Report. I am excited and proud to note that I moved into the top 10% of my class because of my performance in the fall term of my senior year. Thank you."
• If it is bad news - a decline in GPA, class standing, part of a trend of declining grades, or a particularly bad/anomalous grade in one class -- then you need to do some damage control. There are a couple of possible ways to do this. One is to meet with your counselor and discuss the situation and see if the counselor can address it in his/her evaluation in a positive way, e.g. "Johnny struggled in Chemistry for Geniuses, but it is our hardest science course and no one in the class got an A, so even though it appears that his performance has declined, it really is a demonstration of his commitment to challenging himself and a success." Another is to become your own advocate, but you must do so without slipping into an excuse-making, whiny tone. Generally speaking, you are striving to explain, without trying to excuse, and you are taking full responsibility for the grades you got. E.g. "I am writing to add some additional information regarding my Midyear Report. I am disappointed that my overall GPA slipped during this term. Despite my efforts to stay on top of my school work, I was out of school quite a bit because of my participation on the Varsity Soccer Team. It took its toll, but I expect my grades to rebound in the spring, because I won't be playing sports. You can see that a similar dip happened in the fall of my junior year and I made it up in the spring." BE SURE AND INCLUDE YOUR FULL NAME AND SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER on all correspondence, so it gets to the right file. You don't want another Leslie or David to benefit from your damage control.

4. Be sure to make your own midyear report if you have something else to share that boosts your profile. An honor bestowed or a significant achievement earned should be communicated to the admissions office and added to your file. So if you just were elected into Honor Society, share that news. Likewise, if you qualified for the Junior Olympics, let them know. The easiest way to share this news is an email. Again, it does not need to be long. Two to three sentences is plenty, but again BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR FULL NAME AND SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER, so it gets to the right file. An email from Beth at bemerry@aol.com runs the risk of not making into the file of one Elizabeth Morgan, because no one knows that Elizabeth Morgan is the Beth who was crowned Homecoming Queen at Big Public School in Maryland and the admissions staff don't have time to chase down the email address.

That's all for this week. Take care of this business and then get back to enjoying your last months in high school!

Comments or Questions?

Not sure whether you are explaining or whining?  Post a draft and we'll let you know! 

Alison Cooper Chisolm writes the series 52 Weeks to College. She has worked in admissions at Southern Methodist University, the University of Chicago, and most recently Dartmouth College. She is a graduate of Yale College and the University of Virginia Law School. As part of the Ivey Consulting team, Alison works with college applicants and their families as they navigate the college admissions process. Read more about Alison here.