<p>My Freshman year was very bad. I had a 2.35 GPA going into Sophomore year. That Freshman year I had only 3 B's, 2 C's and a D. I regret this totally, it was a bad all-around year. </p>
<p>Will colleges look past this? Let's say I get only A's and B's from Sophomore year on, and bring my GPA up to 3.25, do very well on my SAT's and participate in extra-curricular and sports very actively, 500+ hours of community service, etc... Do I have a chance at getting into, for example, a school like Fordham? What is a legitimate choice for me? </p>
<p>Has my Freshman year tainted my r</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be optimistic. What are some other schools you want to get into?</p>
<p>Hofstra, UMaine, Eckerd College.</p>
<p>You should be fine with Hofstra, maybe Eckerd, and I know nothing about Maine.</p>
<p>Just make sure that you show clear improvement, and fast improvement. As in, go for straight A’s starting now. Colleges like improvement, you’ll be fine :)</p>
<p>I find it completely false when people say improvement is good. Second tier universities like Fordham want gifted and passionate people. Not getting stellar grades Fresh year shows an array of a couple things:
—You lack natural determination; you need the threat of college to start trying
—You have trouble adjusting to situations
—You are not naturally gifted. Many students accepted to these schools would get Bs if they didn’t even try at school, not Ds.</p>
<p>Good luck though.</p>
<p>Except that colleges do like improvement.
“You have trouble adjusting to situations”? Colleges absolutely recognize that many students do, in fact, find the transition to high school to be difficult. Some, like Stanford, disregard freshman year grades altogether, but even if a college looks at them, they view them with less importance than they do sophomore+junior year grades. I’m getting the feeling that you worked hard in 9th grade and think people who didn’t don’t deserve acceptance. What you listed, though, is more of your own thoughts than what adcoms think when they see positive trends in grades.
ryanmass, I’m not saying that you necessarily have just as much chance as if you had gotten straight A’s, but these grades have not ruined you, either.</p>
<p>If there were outside circumstances causing these grades (illness, death or divorce in the family), you’ll definitely want to explain this in your college essay or something. Definitely strive for straight As, and the toughest course load you’re capable of. Find something or things you’re passionate about, whether, artistic, athletic, community service, academic clubs, etc. and devote everything to it. Passion is good. found a club or organization, be a president, fundraise, do something to make you stand out. and definitely consider school like the UCs (and I know there are others) that don’t consider freshman year in their application process. but you can still apply to these other schools, you never know what will happen. good luck!</p>
<p>Supersaian:</p>
<p>-My lowest GPA is actually from my Freshman year… I find it funny that you think it is possible that I would pursue ulterior motives on a college forum, where they wouldn’t have any true impact.</p>
<p>-If you have trouble going into high school, how will it be when you go into college? Colleges understand you may have problems, but not problems resulting in Ds and Cs.</p>
<p>I found your argument against my post quite pathetic and weak.</p>
<p>Jesus. You’re missing the point. I’m very happy for you that you’re not pursuing ulterior motives here, but that’s not the main issue here.</p>
<p>Colleges have orientation, counseling for freshman, etc etc exactly because people have difficulty with transitions. They try very hard to make it smooth. The difference is that the freshmen in high school are early teenagers, while freshmen in college are adults. They expect a little more out of the adults. I know that I can deal with issues better now than I could four years ago.</p>
<p>I still don’t understand how you could possibly think that adcoms consider freshman year grades to be as important as the other years’. Do you really believe this? If not, then stop arguing, because we’re mostly in agreement, and I don’t want to derail this thread further.</p>
<p>I never said they are as important. However, they are still grades. When colleges are trying to make distinctions between students based off of the slightest hints in an application, low freshman grades provide a potential warning that can make a significant difference between acceptance or being denied. </p>
<p>Do you really think counseling that fix transition periods from getting Cs to As/some Bs? This spends college resources and it is simply a problem that colleges would rather not deal with.</p>
<p>I’m not arguing with you; I really don’t care whether you agree with me or not. I’m just making sure OP knows both sides of the argument.</p>
<p>Freshman year I was getting A’s and B’s my first semester, there was a death in the family and I had mild depression. I sort of denied this, which added to the problem and things snowballed. I stopped attending sports and grades dropped. It didn’t have much to do with change, </p>
<p>If I explained this in the essay, could they give me a break?</p>
<p>Definitely explain that, it’s a valid explanation and if you have awesome grades, scores, and GPA for the next three years (shoot for about the school’s 75th percentile), you should be fine.</p>