Your senior year of high school matters more than you might think. Hopefully, you have avoided that final-year laziness and done well with your senior year’s workload. If not, you could be in for a rude awakening.

Each year the University rescinds the acceptance of a dozen or so incoming students for having final semesters that don’t meet academic standards, said Stacey Kostell, director of undergraduate admissions.

“On our offer of admission letter it clearly says your acceptance is contingent upon the condition that you continue to do well in classes and complete the courses you said they were signed up for,” Kostell said, “When your final transcript comes in, we look at it to see if a student failed a course or if they dropped an AP class.”

If a student fits into this category, Kostell said he or she will be notified approximately two to three weeks after the final transcript is sent.

“The first step is to contact the student and tell them we are considering dropping their admission status,” Kostell said. “They then have a chance to respond with the reason why their performance slipped, whether it’s mono or a car accident or something like that, we take that into consideration. If there is no response or its not valid, the offer is rescinded.”

Kostell said that an A student getting all Bs is no reason for concern for the student or the University. But if a student fails a class or drops a class that was contingent on their acceptance, then the University may choose to get involved.

“If say you’re applying to be a biology major, and you said you were going to take AP biology and calculus and we find out you dropped those classes, that’s a red flag,” she said.

A student whose admission is rescinded can reapply after attending community college or another university but must do so as a transfer student. In rare cases, the college the student was accepted into will readmit the student if he or she takes some course work at a community college for a semester.

“The majority of kids dropped have been for grades not changes in coursework. Typically, its caused by ‘senioritis’ where the student just took senior year off mentally,” Kostell said. “Think of it like you’re training for something, like a race. You wouldn’t take a significant portion of your preparation time off when you’re training. Stay in your core academic classes and do well in your classes.”