University Sends 'Fear of God' Letter to Students With Senioritis College-bound seniors beware: If you slept through your classes this semester and have the failing grades to prove it, your university may soon threaten to rescind your admission this fall. For students admitted to Texas Christian University, a notice informally known as the "fear of God letter" will read something like this: Dear Joe: We recently received your final high school transcript. While your overall academic background continues to demonstrate the potential for success, we are concerned with your performance during the senior year, particularly in calculus. University studies are rigorous and we need to know that you are prepared to meet T.C.U."s academic challenges. With this in mind, I ask that you submit to me, as soon as possible but no later than July 31, 2012, a written statement detailing the reasons surrounding your senior year performance. Joe, please understand that your admission to T.C.U. is in jeopardy. If I do not hear from you by the above date, I will assume you are no longer interested in T.C.U. and will begin the process of rescinding your admission. Please realize that your personal and academic successes are very important to us. I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Raymond A. Brown Dean Of the 1,825 incoming freshmen at T.C.U., about 100 students - all of them ailing with senioritis - will soon receive a "F.O.G. letter" in July, Mr. Brown said. "It's a wake-up call," he said. The above example is the tough version, sent to honor-roll students whose grades plummetted to Ds and Fs. The university also sends softer versions of the letter to A and B students who suddenly get Cs in the spring semester, Mr. Brown said. Large, public universities may lack the manpower to check thousands of final transcripts, which may give students at large the false impression that they can get away with lackluster final performances, post-admission, Mr. Brown said. But at smaller, private schools, the final grades not only count, but they're called out every summer if they're not up to par. And if the students" responses are not convincingly contrite, they may have to enroll elsewhere. "I can tell you that as we review final high school transcripts (and our admissions counselors read all of them), any student who either failed a class their final semester or fell below a 2.0 G.P.A. is sent on to me for follow up," Jefferson R. Blackburn-Smith, the vice president for enrollment management at Otterbein University, wrote in an e-mail. "We do not automatically rescind the admission decision because of a poor senior year," Mr. Blackburn-Smith said, "but we do want the student to know that we are concerned and will be watching their performance." To be clear, admissions officers do not necessarily revel in the idea of rescinding admissions offers. "It is one of the hardest things to send a letter asking for an explanation," Lee Ann Afton, dean of admission and financial aid at Sewanee: The University of the South, wrote. Fortunately we don't have too many students who just stop studying completely, but if the drop is too extreme, we will rescind our offer of admission. I always remind students that every letter of acceptance has the sentence about the offer of admission is contingent on successful completion of high school work. Mr. Brown said he doesn't know what becomes of those students, but he assumes that their parents are none-too-pleased at the outcome, which could have been avoided. "Senioritis is just sort of an assumed disorder that's going to take us all," Mr. Brown said. You need to be aware that people are watching and that this is important. We care because your study skills are going to be atrophying. We'd like to hear your thoughts about senioritis. Is it fair for colleges and universities to rescind offers of admissions, or should seniors get a break?