Roadmap to College: Getting a Late Start - How Can I Salvage My Senior Year?

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How Can I Salvage My Senior Year?

Senior year is an important year. Colleges expect you to take a full and challenging course load, and senior grades may still be requested by many colleges, especially highly selective ones. If you are a borderline student, senior year can be especially important to convince colleges you are serious academically. Colleges also know maturity is a factor for some students, so senior year is a time to prove yourself. If you are a student who had a slow start or inconsistent grades, your senior year may be a way for you to demonstrate your readiness for college.

Colleges look for a positive trend (grades that go up each year) and strong senior grades. Lorne Robinson, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Macalester College, believes that “a student who’s a ‘late bloomer’ is clearly going to be viewed more positively than one whose grades are declining in later years.”

Deferring your college entrance for a year is another way to tackle a late start. Joan Mohr, VP and Dean of Admissions at Quinnipiac University, says, “not all students choose a ‘traditional’ path. Some will work or travel for the year after high school. Some will begin at a community college to strengthen their academic skills at a reasonable cost and take credits that will transfer on to a 4 year school, where they’ll eventually receive their degree. It’s never too late to get motivated.”

“Preparation matters. Relying on last-minute inspirations is a kind of magical thinking akin to rolling the dice and expecting to get double sixes. Not having a strong academic or extracurricular record by the end of the junior year does put most applicants at a disadvantage. But getting on an upward trend will always help; no matter when it happens—even if it occurs as late as the senior year. Late bloomers may need to improve their records in a post-graduate high school year, or consider transferring after a year or two of strong grades at one of the colleges that will admit them, or try a gap year with some academic content to it.”  –Paul Marthers, Dean of Admission at Reed College

Senior Year "Catch-Up" To-Do List

If you have left most of the researching, planning, visiting, and applying until your senior year, you need to catch up on all of the steps needed to prepare an effective application.The following “to-do” list covers what you need to do if you are getting a late start.

Catch Up To-Do List