High school seniors hoping to slack off once they have been accepted to college could be in for a rude awakening.
Colleges and universities are becoming more vigilant regarding high school seniors who slack off and whose grades deteriorate during the final months of their senior year, a phenomenon commonly known as "senioritis".
"It's a national problem and a recurring theme in college admissions," said David Hawkins, director of public policy at the American Association for College Admissions Counseling.
Some observers are more frank: according to Harris Siegel, director of college counseling at Stuart Country Day School in Princeton, N.J., senioritis is "an infectious disease."
Recently, some universities have felt the need to take drastic measures. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champlain sent out hundreds of letters to admitted students threatening the revocation of admission without an adequate justification for their drop in grades. Slacking students without an excuse would be replaced by similarly-qualified students originally relegated to the waitlist, the letter said.
And last week, Virginia's Governor Mark Warner, chairman of the National Governors Association, announced a plan to increase senior-year productivity by increasing availability of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses and improving credit transfer policy.
"It's a national phenomenon that policymakers are wanting to correct, regardless of the admission situation," Hawkins said.
At Tufts, administrators have tackled the problem by making the offer of admission "contingent upon the completion of the secondary school curriculum at a level consistent with the academic achievement that characterized their application," Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Lee Coffin said.
According to Coffin, students must file a final transcript by June 30. "That part is the key piece," Coffin said. "When it arrives, we review it to assess whether or not the student completed the year in a manner consistent with the grades we saw in January."
Tufts then sends a letter to underperforming seniors noting that the University has taken notice of their slipping record and asks for an explanation for the change.
According to Coffin, "their candidacy will be reconsidered by the Admissions Committee after their response is received."
Students whose grades undergo a severe decline will receive a sterner version of the letter and have their offer of admission placed in jeopardy, Coffin said.
"Happily, no one fit that description for the class of 2008," Coffin said.
According to Coffin, Tufts' entering freshmen earned mostly A's and 74 percent of enrolling students ranked in the top 10 percent of their class. As a result, he said, "we would not send a letter if grades fell into the B range, but a slip to C level in one or two classes would prompt that reaction."
The incidence of these warning letters among many of Tufts' peer institutions is relatively low - Amherst College only sends two to five letters every year, Amherst's Dean of Admissions Tom Parker said.
At Bates College, between five and 15 students received warnings this year, according to Director of Media Relations Brian McNulty.
At Boston College (BC), the warning letter carries the threat of academic probation, but each school has its own specialized policy for its applicants.
Tufts and its peer institutions use these letters to remind the students of the academic rigor that lies ahead. "It's something they don't think we'll take note of, but we do," said Stan Zatkowski, senior associate director of admissions at BC. "Typically they have taken it as a wake-up call and they have done well and survived their freshman year."
Not all institutions send out warning letters: at public universities, enrollment is virtually guaranteed as long as students graduate high school.
Coffin said that Advanced Placement Calculus is the most common class in which students receive a lower grade after being admitted to the University.
In extreme cases of grade decline, there may also be a family crisis or disciplinary problem that lies at the root of the cause, Hawkins said.
In one respect, senioritis is somewhat unsurprising among students whose schedule of elite college-preparatory academics and activities weighs heavily on them by the end of high school.
Siegel believes that seniors deserve a change of pace after four intense years of highly structured academics. He proposes that high schools offer seniors "some form of worthwhile service endeavor" or internship to pass the time until graduation.
