do schools look at senior mark?

[iniesta]

since im beginning to apply in September, and my final marks wont be out until April of next year, do they make decision base on my 3rd year marks? would my 4th year marks make or break my chances?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Schools vary. Some will not officially admit you until the official grades for the last semester are in. You are required to have at least a bachelor degree and who knows what happens in the last year. You may have failed a few courses and don't graduate in time.
And if your first three years grades are dismal, it won't matter because they won't admit you anyway.

Contact each program individually and inquire about this. Some may have this in their FAQ section.

 

[tylor]

just do well no matter what

 

[Stefan Zota]

Short answer is that it should be fine to use partial GPA as well. It's nothing abnormal as an international student. After all, if you want to start the Masters immediately after the Bachelors, the application calendar urges to apply in December latest. My statements apply to programs with different schedule for domestic/foreign students.

On the other hand, most important downside is that you may miss some classes compared with other applicants. Stating that you are attending a course in the future is not strong enough in many cases.

 

[roni]

I have a similar problem...
I am going to take my last 4 courses in fall 2010, but am planning on applying in Oct-Dec 2010, meaning that I won't have my degree when I'll be applying and I won't have the final grades of these last 4 courses :\

 

[Andy Nguyen]

But you won't start your master degree before your bachelor degree and there is time for one after the other.
By the time they evaluate your application, you probably are done with your BS. It depends on rolling admission or not. Programs like NYU won't start admission process until Feb at the earliest.

 

[Joy Pathak]

When I was applying for PhD I had no problem with not completing bachelors. I was in my fourth year and PhD applications had to be in by Dec 15th for most of the places and I was suppose to graduate August 26th of the following year and start graduate school September 5th.

They usually put a condition of, "satisfactory completion of degree", or something a long those terms.