<p>I had a really bad freshman year, mostly because I took honors geometry after transferring in from a system that does their math sequence in a different order than the one that I am at currently. Regardless, I did very poorly in the class and it has skewed my GPA and class rank dramatically (ex. I’m in top the top 20% vs. top 5% that I’d be in without freshman year). I’m hopeful that because it was my freshman year, outside of that one year my grades are almost straight A’s (including math courses), and my extracurriculars (3 years of Japanese school and I was the only non-Japanese student) that I’ll still be considered even though the Penn applicant pool is very competitive. What do you all think? No chance or might as well give it a shot?</p>
<p>I think that adcoms actually like when someone's grades have been consistently rising, and since it was just your freshman year I'd think you still have a pretty good chance. You could also have a teacher or counselor explain the situation in one of their recs. Good luck!</p>